Instant Takeaways From Utah’s 23-12 Win Over Baylor
Sep 7, 2024, 6:27 PM | Updated: 8:33 pm
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - SEPTEMBER 7: Cam Rising #7 of the Utah Utes talks with referee Tutashinda Salaam during a time out in the second half of their game against the Baylor Bears at Rice Eccles Stadium on September 7, 2024 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Rising was injured on a hit out of bounds in the first half. (Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)
(Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Football escaped Rice-Eccles Stadium today with a 23-12 win, and more importantly, an avoided disastrous injury situation.
Here are the instant takeaways from the win that put Utah at 2-0 for the 2024 season.
Utah Football held on to defeat Baylor and improve to 2-0! 🙌#GoUtes #Big12FB https://t.co/SdAeZP5IbP
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) September 7, 2024
Cam Rising’s injury ‘not real serious’
Coach Whittingham on Cam Rising’s status. pic.twitter.com/vx1BSxIaMh
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) September 7, 2024
The collective sigh of relief from Utah fans could be felt and heard in the valley. Utah’s star quarterback Cam Rising has avoided anything super serious. That could mean a couple of different things with a taped finger but Utah avoids a disastrous loss to their “Leader of the Leaders.”
Utah’s defense rises to the occasion in 2nd half
Utah limited Dequan Finn and the Baylor offense to -10 yards and three 3 & outs in the 1st quarter,
then 58 yards and 3 points in the 2nd quarter. It was an impressive start by the defense.
Yet, despite giving up 9 points and 175 yards, the second half of the game was a much more impressive effort by the Utah defense.
The contest obviously revolves around how much this game changed when quarterback Cam Rising left the game with a “not real serious” injury late in the 2nd quarter.
True freshman Isaac Wilson took over, which altered the dynamic ability of the offense. That put the onus on the defense to get Utah to the finish line with a win today.
Baylor obviously got going a little bit more in the second half but the defense made key plays and crucial stops.
It was an all-around effort by the unit. Players at every level made key plays to limit Baylor’s ability to sustain drives and add points to the board.
Three linebackers (Sione Fotu, Lander Barton, Karene Reid), two safeties (Nate Ritchie, Tao Johnson), and two defensive ends (Connor O’Toole, Van Fillinger) finished the game with at least 5 tackles, and three of those seven players had at least 2 tackles for loss. Oh, and two defensive tackles (Junior Tafuna, Simote Pepa) notched 4 tackles apiece as well.
Running game does just enough, steps up when needed
Again, considering how the way the game changed, the running game got the job done for Utah.
It seemed the Utes were going to get the running game established pretty impressively to start the game. Utah finished the 1st half with 102 yards on 18 carries for an average of 5.7 yards a pop. They were moving the ball efficiently on the ground and that’s what Utah needed to do in this one.
Obviously, without Rising in the game, Baylor knew to put a greater emphasis on the run game. That made things difficult for the offense in the 3rd quarter. The Utes finished with just 4 total yards and -6 rushing yards on 4 attempts in that quarter.
Fortunately, Utah was able to get some movement at an absolutely critical juncture of the game. The offense gained possession of the ball at the 11:03 mark in the 4th quarter.
- Micah Bernard 16 yard gain on 2nd and 13 from the Utah 7
- Micah Bernard 5 yard gain on 1st and 10 from the Utah 23
- Mike Mitchell 6 yard gain on 2nd and 5 from the Utah 28
- Micah Bernard 30 yard gain on 3rd and 3 from the Utah 41
There were other plays that contributed to the drive but those were significant gains for the Utah run game that allowed them to eat 7:23 off the clock.
This was an absolute must-have possession for Utah and the run game delivered. Micah Bernard led the way and finished with 118 yards on 19 attempts.
Noticeably sluggish 2nd quarter
Utah is normally a start-slow, get going in the 2nd quarter type of team. So, the offense humming the way that it was to start this game, generated a lot of excitement about what this game could turn into.
However, Utah’s offense surprisingly struggled in the 2nd quarter. The offense was only able to generate 46 yards of offense, while the only score was the Tao Johnson touchdown return on special teams.
Utah had two drives of at least 5 plays, one resulted in a punt, and the other ended with a missed field goal from 45 yards out.
It’s not super concerning but it just wasn’t the typical 2nd quarter performance we see from Utah.
