Jordan Wynn is back!
Though he didn't play the entire game (he didn't have to), the Utah quarterback looked pretty solid in his first start since injuring his thumb against the Pittsburgh Panthers to start the season.
The Utes rolled the San Jose St. Spartans 56-3, the second consecutive week Utah has scored that many points. It's the largest margin of victory of the Kyle Whittingham era (besting the 50-point margin against Wyoming in 2007) and it probably could have been worse had Utah not done mass substitutions in the second half.
Of course, the story isn't necessarily how many points they scored or how big they won by - rather, the play of Wynn. Wynn looked sharp, throwing for two touchdowns and finishing 14 of 18 for 124 yards. Though it only came against an obviously bad Spartans team, it was reassuring nevertheless.
Other than Wynn, the Utes finally produced a stellar ground game. They rushed for 272 yards on the night, with Eddie Wide going for 61 and a touchdown, while his partner, Matt Asiata, rushed for 51 and a touchdown on 11 carries.
Utah also had zero turnovers. That's great news after the three they had last Saturday against the New Mexico Lobos.
In fact, outside of poor coverage on their kickoff after a Reggie Dunn touchdown put the Utes up 7-0 and positioned San Jose State for their lone score (a field goal), the Utes looked pretty flawless. The defense had three sacks, they held the Spartans to 170 total yards, their worst total of the year (even less than what Alabama held them to at the start of the season) and didn't give up a touchdown. In fact, San Jose St. really never sniffed the Utah goal line after their initial field goal.
Overall, it was probably the most dominant performance I've seen from a Utah team since Urban Meyer roamed the sidelines. They just killed it all around and if it weren't for one little special teams mistake, the Utes probably would've won this game 56-0. Instead, they won it only by 53. Oh well.
Speaking of special teams, they were once again solid tonight. Yes, they gave up a huge return in the first quarter, but outside of that, they looked pretty impressive with two blocked punts.
The most surprising stat, though, might be that the Utes went nearly the entire game without a penalty. It wasn't until late in the fourth quarter that they were called for a five-yarder. Their lone penalty of the night.
For a team that entered the game leading the conference in that regard, that's pretty awesome.
Now we relax for a week before Iowa State.
GO UTES!