Utah Utes survive in the ugliest game of the season
Do you want to know how ugly this game was?
On Saturday, with 9:25 left in the opening quarter, Utah Utes QB Troy Williams completed a 25 yard pass to WR Raelon Singleton down the left sideline. Not a big deal right? That’s a great play for the offense! Well.. That one pass accounted for 59% of Williams total passing yards on the day (he finished with 42).
Not surprisingly, the Beavers were just as bad through the air. Starting QB Darell Garretson finished 4-20 with 24 yards before leaving with an ankle injury. Backup Conor Blount didn’t fare better, missing on his only passing attempt before leaving with a knee injury.
Led by the newly-unretired Joe Williams, the Utes rushed for a season high 275 yards. Williams himself had 179 yards on the ground, looking like he had that extra gear that seemed missing in the beginning of the year.
The scoring started in the first quarter when Joe Williams got into the endzone on a 5-yard run. On the last play of the opening frame, a bad OSU snap went out of the endzone, giving the Utes a 9-0 lead after the safety.
By adding a 25-yard field goal, the Utes went into halftime with a 12-0 lead. Following the break. the Beavers went on a 7 play, 74-yard drive resulting in a 18 yard TD run. After trading punts and missed field goals, Troy Williams finally got the Utes back in the endzone with 3 minutes left in the game.
With some breathing room, and seeing two QBs go down due to injury, the Utes started to taste the win. Then, third-string QB Marcus McMaryion came in and had the best day of all. Going 5-9 for 76 yards, and providing the only TD pass of the day, McMaryion provided a late spark to a quiet offense.
Holding on to a 19-14 lead late, the Utes recovered the onside kick and seemingly put the game away. In the end, Utah had just enough to get by the pesky Beavers while welcoming Joe Williams back into the fold.
Like I’ve mentioned, the game was ugly and the Utes got the job done. A win is a win, but against stronger teams this performance won’t be enough. They’ll need to be much better in the coming weeks, with games against UCLA and Washington on the horizon.
Overall, a decent weekend for Utah. Moving up to #18 in the AP Poll and staying ahead in the race for the Pac-12 South.