Utah Football Sweeps Pac-12 Player of the Week honors

It was a huge win for the Utes this past week over USC, so much so they jumped back into the rankings, and the conference recognized the Utes for each player of the week award. Tyler Huntley was awarded Offensive Player of the Week, after slicing up USC up and down the field for 41 points. Chase Hansen knocked out JT Daniels, and was making plays up and down field, being named the Defensive Player of the Week. And the one that surprised me a bit was Matt Gay. It was a pretty normal week for Matty, but he was named Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week. Both Hansen and Gay were both previously named this season.

Check out the full release below that dives into a bit more, but it’s cool to see the Utes sweep the awards. That just shows how much notice they put out there by smoking USC.

SAN FRANCISCO – The Utah football team swept this week’s Pac-12 Player of the Week awards after its convincing 41-28 win over USC on Oct. 20. Tyler Huntley (offense), Chase Hansen (defense) and Matt Gay (special teams) marked just the fourth time in Pac-12 history that a team swept the player of the week awards.

It is Hansen and Gay’s second Pac-12 Player of the Week recognition this season and in their career, while Huntley was honored for the first time. The Utes were able to put up 541 yards on total offense while holding USC to 205 along with keeping USC to just 3-for-14 on third down conversions.

Huntley tied his career high with 341 yards on 22-of-29 passing (76%) and four touchdowns. He also rushed for 33 rushing yards and a touchdown. Huntley’s 46-yard touchdown pass to Britain Covey on third down and five in the first quarter sparked a run of 34 unanswered points by Utah. The Utes took their first lead of the game (17-14) when Huntley racked up 58 of Utah’s 67 yards in a second-quarter scoring drive, including his 3-yard rushing touchdown to finish the drive.

Hansen led the Utes with 11 tackles (3.0 TFL) and his second interception of the season. Hansen played a major role in holding USC to just three converted third downs (3-of-14), including 0-10 in the first three quarters. Ten of his 11 tackles against USC prevented the Trojans from a first down. Hansen now has 14.0 tackles for loss on the season, ranking second in the Pac-12 and fourth in the nation.

Gay was 2-for-2 on field goals and 5-for-5 on PATs. He knocked in a 33-yard field goal to close Utah’s deficit to four (14-10) at the start of the second quarter. His 30-yard field goal as time expired in the first half gave Utah a 20-14 cushion at the break. Gay improved to 6-for-6 this season in the 30-39-yard range and he leads the Pac-12 in scoring by a kicker per game (8.0) and field goals per game (1.43).