Defense wins first scrimmage of fall camp

Though Utah's offense has done surprisingly well since fall camp began last week, it was the defense that stepped up in the first scrimmage.

It wasn't that the offense was awful, rather the defense just did what we're used to seeing from Utah defenses of years past - they played with some intensity.

Because of that, Jordan Wynn and Jon Hays didn't look particularly stunning. Wynn was 8-16 for 132 yards, one interception and two touchdown passes. Hays was 2-5 for 55 yards and zero touchdowns. Wynn's two scores were to Luke Matthews and DeVonte Christopher - his interception came in the red zone when Mo Lee stepped up and picked off a panicked pass.

Utah's running game could not get much traction, which should be no surprise considering the Utes' defense. Kelvin York was the most productive back of the scrimmage and he finished with 41 yards on 8 carries. James Poole had 65 yards, but much of that came against the twos and threes.

John White IV did not participate in the scrimmage.

The offensive line had issues today. But it's also important to point out that Brian Johnson wanted to put as much pressure on the line as possible in this scrimmage and that's probably why they wilted and struggled. At least, that's what I'm going to tell myself so that I can sleep tonight.

Other than that, as you can clearly tell, the defense stole the show. Eric Rowe had one of the more impressive plays of the day when he glided across the field for a phantom pass breakup.

Yesterday, we spoke of the field goal kicking and how Nick Marsh looked like the safer bet over Coleman Petersen. After today's scrimmage, though, that isn't the case. Marsh had a horrible day, as he connected on only three of eleven field goals, though Petersen improved considerably, only missing two field goals out of eleven - two 49 yarders, with one because of a bad snap.

I'll tell you, while the offensive line is worrying me, I might be more worried over the kicking game. It's not consistent in the least and we need it to be or it's going to cost the Utes at least one game this season.

Hopefully both Petersen and Marsh can clear the doubt from their heads and start making 'em.

On the injury front, some good news on Miles Mason, as he's expected to be back at the end of next week. He'll have short amount of time, however, to jell with the rest of the line.

Now I'm more thankful the Utes' first game of the season is against Northern Colorado and not a stronger opponent - this team still has a ways to go.