Utah will gladly welcome its coming bye week.
After soundly defeating West Virginia — which was dealing with major injury problems of its own — on Saturday, the Utes will get a week off to rest, recuperate and heal after a grueling first five weeks of the season.
No football team makes it through the season 100% healthy — just look at the availability reports around the Big 12 Conference — and that’s the case with Utah.
Already, the Utes have lost receiver Daidren Zipperer, tight end Hunter Andrews and safety Rabbit Evans for the season, and defensive end Paul Fitzgerald and starting defensive tackle Aliki Vimahi were out for the West Virginia game.
During Saturday’s 48-14 win in Morgantown, more adversity struck.
Safety Nate Ritchie, who has started all season in place of Evans, suffered a leg injury and left the stadium on crutches and wearing a brace on his leg.
Two-way player Jackson Bennee also left the game hopping on one leg, and starting defensive tackle Dallas Vakalahi, who has missed two games already this season, suffered an injury and didn’t return to the game.
Running back Wayshawn Parker also went to the medical tent during Saturday’s game but returned to the contest. He finished with 66 yards on nine carries, including a 40-yard run.
Ritchie’s injury in particular looked bad, and it would not be a surprise if he missed significant time, if not the rest of the season.
Whittingham said postgame that they would know more about the injuries on Monday.
“Reserve judgment until we get final medical evaluations. I don’t want to say something now that maybe isn’t accurate,” Whittingham said.
If Ritchie does indeed miss an extended period of time, Utah’s safety depth will be tested. Safety No. 3 has been true freshman Nate Tilmon.
As expected from a freshman who has been put in tough situations entering games right after injuries, Tilmon definitely has room for improvement and wasn’t stellar defending against a West Virginia touchdown pass on Saturday or a Texas Tech touchdown pass last week.
“He did some good things. He did some things that he’ll get better at. He didn’t quite overlap enough in that Cover 2, the ball, up the boundary, the hole shot. Some days he can intercept that ball instead of having it be completed,” Whittingham said.
“But he’s a tough kid. He threw it in there on the run two or three times and didn’t turn anything down. Wasn’t perfect in his tackling, but I don’t think anybody was. But he’s got a bright future. He’s got all the tools to succeed at that position.”
Someone who could also see time at safety with Ritchie and Evans out is Bennee, provided his injury doesn’t keep him out of Utah’s next game. Bennee originally played the position in his first season at Utah last year.
The defensive tackle position is another place where Utah couldn’t suffer any more injuries with a cadre of freshmen behind the three main rotation players.
Vimahi missed the entire West Virginia game, while Vakalahi was injured during it. Redshirt sophomore Jonah La’ea, who already has multiple starts under his belt, had a good game with eight tackles and a forced fumble with a 76.2 Pro Football Focus grade, the third-best on the team on Saturday.
After Vakalahi was injured, freshman Pupu Sepulona was the main player to fill in at the other defensive tackle spot, and he performed well, totaling three tackles.
PFF gave him a 71.7 grade for the day.
In some positive injury news for Utah, quarterback Devon Dampier’s ankle looked much better against West Virginia. His mobility was much-improved, and he was able to plant better on that ankle while throwing.
He threw for 237 yards and a career-high four touchdowns with one interception on 81% accuracy against West Virginia.
Utah, 4-1 on the season and 1-1 in Big 12 play, will get the week off before welcoming Arizona State to Rice-Eccles Stadium on Oct. 11.
For the first time in two seasons, the Utes head into the bye week after a win.
“You don’t want to sit on a loss ever, but to sit on it for two weeks is double the torture,” Whittingham said. “It’s really big to be able to end that almost first half of the season on a positive and get some guys healed up hopefully and gives us momentum into the next contest.”
The Utes have played one of the best teams in the Big 12 in Texas Tech and one of the worst teams in the Big 12 in West Virginia. The bye week comes at an optimal time not just to heal some injuries, but also to prepare for what could be the most critical two-game stretch of the season.
Utah hosts the reigning Big 12 champion Sun Devils (4-1, 2-0 Big 12) before heading to Provo to play rival BYU (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) on October 18.
We’ll learn a lot about the Utes during the two-week stretch, and if Utah wins both games, it’ll still have all of its goals in front of it.