While definitely not the “perfect game” that head coach Kyle Whittingham preaches week in and week out, his Utes still managed to crash Wyoming’s Homecoming game and remain perfect, beating the Cowboys 30-6 in Laramie for their sixth win of the year.
For Wyoming, the reason for the loss can’t be blamed on a lack of chances. Jordan Wynn threw three interceptions in the game, two of which were picked off in the end zone, and had a PAT blocked. Despite all of this, the Cowboys couldn’t put a scoring drive together until the outcome of the game had long been decided.
“It shows how good this team can be,” Wynn said. “I’ve just got to take it upon myself to take care of the ball. There’s nothing else to say.”
On the opening drive of the game, Wynn and Co. needed just over three minutes to put their first six points on the board. On third and two, senior running back Matt Asiata took a handoff from Wynn, but instead of running the ball, he flipped it back to Wynn, who finished off the flea flicker by connecting with a wide open Luke Matthews for a 45-yard touchdown. It was Matthews’ first score in a Ute uniform.
It looked like the Cowboys might respond right back with a score of their own on the following drive, marching down to the Utes’ 37-yard line thanks in large part to the legs of Austyn Carta-Samuels. However, an illegal block on second-and-two cost the Cowboys 15 yards, kicking them all the way back to their own 48-yard line and killing the drive.
Wynn was almost perfect in the first quarter-he completed eight-of-nine in the first quarter for 100 yards-but the one incompletion was an interception that happened Wynn tried to hit his tight end Brad Clifford in the corner of the end zone. Cowboy corner Marcell Gibson, however, had Clifford blanketed and recorded the pick.
The play prevented a 14-0 deficit for Wyoming, but with just 98 yards of offense in the first half to the Utes’ 278, the play was more of just a temporary high for the team than a game-changer.
The second quarter has been by far the strongest period all year for the Utes-going into the game they had outscored their opponents 101-7-and this game was no exception as they exploded for 16 points that started with a 48-yard field goal six minutes in by Joe Phillups. Then, with about 2:30 remaining in the half, Wynn found his receiver DeVonte Christopher, who proceeded to juke, shake and spin his way into the end zone-Chris Prosinski blocked the PAT. The final touchdown of the half, which made it 23-0, was a 6-yard run by Eddie Wide in the final minute that capped off a 48-yard drive.
On the game, Utah gave up just 67 yards on the ground-averaging a mere 1.8 yards per carry. With this output, Wyoming joined the likes of Pittsburgh, New Mexico and San Jose State as the fourth team this year that the defense has held to fewer than 100 yards rushing.
The passing game didn’t work any better, with corners Brandon Burton and Lamar Chapman leading the way. Burton led all Ute defenders with six tackles and Chapman chipped in five and a sack.
“We take pride in our defense,” Burton said. “We try to play every play to our full potential.”
Whittingham said the defensive output improved as the game went on. “We weren’t playing square up front,” he said. “We weren’t playing with good technique-we settled down and started playing like we’re capable of and that was the difference.”
He added, however, that the defense was overshadowed by the turnovers.
“As the degree of difficulty gets higher, those things will become more pronounced,” Whittingham said about the Utes’ -6 overall turnover ratio.
With this win, the Utes officially became bowl eligible.
“It’s kind of a consolation, I think,” said captain and center Zane Taylor about becoming eligible. “It was a bit of an ugly game for us but we still came out with a pretty handy victory.”