Utah pulls away from Colorado in Boulder

Week over week, the Utes continue to improve in almost every aspect of the game. I’d say that was the case on Saturday against Colorado with a 38-21 win on the road, giving the Buffs their first loss of the season. It wasn’t always pretty, and there were plenty of points left out there for the Utes, but at the end of the day they got rolling in that second half and didn’t look back.

The Utes got things stated fast, really as they have all season outside of the USC game. Right off the bat they drove the field and took a 7-0 lead as Jake Bentley and crew carved up the Buffs. It was a series of chunk plays, as Kuithe was a focus, and the Utes capped off the drive with a seven yard touchdown pass from Bentley to Solomon Enis. After that, the offense went cold, mostly due to their own errors. Bentley missed an open Kuithe on the second drive for what would have been a walk in touchdown, and that was a bit of a theme for Bentley on the day. He struggled for a large chunk of the game with his accuracy, as he missed multiple guys either high, low or wide. He finished the game strong and ended up with nice numbers overall, going 20 of 32 for 240 yards, two touchdowns and one pick. At least half of those incompletions should have been completed with a good pass, and the one pick was an overthrow as well, even though his hand was hit while throwing. He missed another for sure touchdown on 3rd and goal, when he read the wrong read and then missed the throw to a wide open guy in the end zone.

The team really got jump started at the end of the first half, when CU was trying to burn clock they handed the ball off on their own side of the field, and ended up fumbling the ball giving the Utes a shot with 13 seconds left. After a couple of completions and a timeout, the Utes lined up for a 42 yard field goal that Jadon Redding nailed pulling the Utes to within 14-10.

The second half start less than encouraging as they gave up a 61 yard touchdown pass right off the bat to the Buffs. After that it was all Utah. Utah countered with a three pay 60 yard drive with a 18 yard touchdown by Ty Jordan. Utah then a few minutes later had a 10 play 80 yard drive that ended with a 20 yard touchdown pass to Britain Covey. A couple more field goals bookend a massive 66 yard touchdown run from Jordan who continues to announce his arrival on the scene with 147 yards on 17 carries.

Utah ended up with 432 yards on the game, while the defense held CU to 377. Utah also won the turnover margin 3-1, which has been major. The offense took a step forward today, even with the missed by Bentley, and the questionable pass protection at times. There were too many pass pro assignment errors today.

On defense, they played another nice game, as they held Jarek Broussard to just 80 yards after he has been playing great ball all season. They did get beat in the secondary down the field in the first half, and of course that long TD pass, but they really locked in that second half and essentially pitched a shut out in the last two quarters.

Now the Utes see who they will play in the last game of the season, as match ups will be determined by the conference in the next day or so, and which day they play.

Utah now sittting at 2-2, and let the UW game get away, the progress is noticeable, and they are setting themselves up nicely for what should be a big and normal 2021 season.