“College GameDay” in town. A November Top-25 matchup. A night game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in front of a sold-out crowd and a national TV audience.
It doesn’t get much bigger than this for Utah.
The No. 24 Utes, fighting to stay alive in the Big 12 race, will take on No. 17 Cincinnati on Saturday at 8:15 p.m MDT.
A win against the toughest team remaining on the Utes’ schedule would open up a path to win out and perhaps go to the Big 12 championship game if other results break in Utah’s favor.
The Bearcats and their potent offense stand in Utah’s way.
“Cincinnati coming in here, red-hot team. Had the tough loss in the opener right down to the wire with Nebraska and has since rattled off seven wins in a row. And so they’re playing exceptionally good football,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.
Can the Utes take care of business in a big-time game and a game that they’re favored by 10.5 points in?
Here are three keys to the game:
Brendan Sorsby vs. Utah’s secondary
Brendan Sorsby is the main reason that the Bearcats have rolled to seven straight wins after dropping a close one to Nebraska to open the season.
The junior quarterback has been sensational, throwing for 1,843 yards and 20 touchdowns on 65% accuracy with only one interception. Sorsby has also added 425 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground.
Thanks to his quick release, elusivity and a solid offensive line, Sorsby has been sacked only twice.
Simply put, the Utes will have their hands full with one of the best quarterbacks they’ll face all season.
“He’s just a smart football player, knows when to get rid of the ball, can read coverages,” Utah defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley said.
Like Utah, Cincinnati utilizes the RPO often, and Sorsby is masterful at running it.
“Does a great job of understanding how he can use the RPO to his advantage based on how you’re aligned and reading coverage,” Scalley said. “So you really have to do a good job of disguising what you’re doing. He’s also a very good runner. He’s athletic. He’s what gives coordinators fits and so we’ve definitely got our work cut out for us.”
Utah plays plenty of man coverage, and its secondary will be tested against Sorsby and Cincinnati.
Sorsby has plenty of targets and does a good job of getting everyone involved. There’s not just one receiver Utah can key on, four Bearcats have over 300 receiving yards. Cyrus Allen leads the way with 381 yards and nine touchdowns on 34 receptions, but Caleb Goodie (359 yards), tight end Joe Royer (340 yards) and Jeff Caldwell (337 yards) are all heavily involved in the offense.
Cincinnati is good on the ground, too. The Bearcats will be missing their leading running back, Evan Pryor (478 yards and three touchdowns on 66 carries this season), but the Utes still have to deal with running back Tawee Walker, who has 466 yards and four scores on 90 carries, and Sorsby’s running threat.
Tackling and coverage have been issues for the Utes’ defense at times this season, and they’ll need to make sure that those issues do not rear their heads in key moments on Saturday.
“I would say continuing to tackle the right way. Continue to find opportunities to get the ball. Takeaways, still probably not enough, but I think we’ve improved each week in terms of tackling and playing physical football. So yeah, I would say maybe a little bit more takeaways,” Scalley said. “We’re getting some havoc plays, we’re getting the sacks and TFL, but maybe a little bit more opportunistic in punching the ball out.”
Utah’s run game vs. Cincinnati’s run defense
If Utah can run the ball well, the Utes usually win.
The only teams to keep the Utes under 240 rushing yards this season have been BYU (226) and Texas Tech (101), both losses for Utah.
Utah is coming off its best rushing performance of the season with 422 yards with Byrd Ficklin (151) and Wayshawn Parker (145) leading the way.
It’s no secret that Jason Beck’s offense is run-first, and if Dampier is back to being able to run like he normally does, that adds another dimension to the Utes’ run game.
“Going back to the identity of our offense and what we’re best at being a run first,” Beck said.
Utah is No. 4 in the nation in rushing yards per game (267.1), and will face a Cincinnati defense that is allowing 141.5 yards per game (No. 65 in the country). While the Bearcats aren’t tops in the country against the run, they’ll be a much tougher test than Colorado.
Defensive tackle Dontay Corleone and linebacker Jake Golday, in particular, have been good against the run this season, but as a whole, Cincinnati’s defensive line is not the best that Utah has faced this year, so there’s an opportunity for the Utes to establish the run game.
Can Utah’s offensive line live up to its reputation and clear the way for the Utes’ running backs?
Devon Dampier’s health
Perhaps the biggest key of them all will be Dampier’s health on Saturday. When healthy (or close to it), Dampier has been dynamic leading Utah’s offense. He had his best game of the season in a 42-10 win over Arizona State, rushing for 120 yards and three scores and throwing for 104 yards.
The next week against BYU, he re-aggravated his ankle injury and couldn’t run on it in the fourth quarter.
Dampier, Utah’s coaches and medical staff were all in agreement of him taking the game against Colorado off. The Utes gave Byrd Ficklin the start as Dampier watched from the sideline.
Exactly how beneficial that week off was for Dampier’s health will remain to be seen, but the plan — as of now — appears to be for Dampier to start against the Bearcats.
For Dampier and the Utes’ offense to perform at its best, Utah’s quarterback must be able to run effectively. In the two games he hasn’t been able to do that — Texas Tech and BYU — the Utes have suffered their only two defeats of the season.
“It was good to see Devon back practicing, healthy. Looked really well,” Utah quarterback Byrd Ficklin said.
