That was as impressive as a performance from a Utah team as I can remember in a long time. The Utes were dominant in their 52-7 win over Oregon State, after coming off of a bye week. It started early, and didn’t let up for the Utes as they rolled all night long on the road.
The defense set the tone early on with an early 3 and out against a potent, and highly touted Beaver offense. Once Utah took the ball, they just marched down the field and opened the scoring with a gorgeous 21 yard touchdown pass from Tyler Huntley to Brant Kuithe, and they made it look rather effortless.
After another short offensive possession for the Beavs, the Utes struck lightning fast with a 2 play, 90 yard touchdown drive that was capped off with a 91 yard touchdown run by Zack Moss, who made his first appearance since the 1st half of the USC game three weeks ago. Moss finished the night with just five carries, but he ended up with 121 yards.
After another short possession by the Beavers, the Utes went 87 yards in five plays to put it in the end zone with a 30 yard touchdown pass to Samson Nacua from Huntley. At that point, with a 21-0 lead, the game was basically over in the first quarter. Utah would punt on their next possession, but they would pick off Luton for a touchdown in the ensuing drive, giving the OSU QB his first pick of the season. Devin Lloyd was the recipient of a tipped ball by Bradlee Anae for the INT.
After OSU went for it on fourth down in their own territory, and didn’t get it, the Utes went 39 yards in three plays to go up 35-0 going into the half, on another Zack Moss TD. Utah would score two more rushing TDs in the second half, one by Brumfield and one by Wilmore, both their first TDs in their careers. It got up to 52-0 before Oregon State scored, and that was off of a fumble at midfield.
Going into the game, there was a lot of talk about this surging Oregon State offense, and their ability to put up yards and points, well, the Utah defense was having none of it. The Utes held OSU to just 217 total yards, and less than 50 (48) on the ground. The Beavs also led the Pac-12 in 3rd down efficiency going into the game — they were just 2-of-13 in the game on 3rd down. And we heard about Isaiah Hodgins all week, and Utah put Jaylon Johnson on him all game, and held up 50 yards under his average.
Meanwhile, the Utes just put up over 500 yards, 50-plus points, had 256 on the ground and 247 through the air, while Huntley was 14-of-17 on the night with two touchdowns and no picks. It was domination from beginning to end, and something that Utah teams in the past would not have done. They went for the kill early.
Now Arizona State comes to town next week, the team that has gotten the Utes the last two seasons, and almost derailed last years division title hopes. It should be a fun one next week at Rice-Eccles.