Well, that certainly wasn't as easy as Utah football fans hoped. Still the Utes were able to suit up with their freshman, backup quarterback under center and come away from The Battle of the Brothers with a win over Utah State.
In the process Kyle Whittingham's team very much stays in the playoff and Big 12 championship talk after being down early and looking like they didn't have much in the way of rizz early on Saturday afternoon.
What are the big takeaways we can get from the win over Utah State? Some stuff definitely stuck out.
Utah football took some body blows and bounced back
With Cam Rising out, the Utes' offense took a while to find its footing. It seemed like the defense did too. Early in the second quarter, Kyle Whittingham's squad was down 14-3 and it looked like they might be in for a big upset.
Then the team scored 14 straight points, took a 17-14 lead into the half, and looked in control for most of the rest of the game. That kind of turnaround is going to be big from here on out.
Isaac Wilson grew up in front of our eyes
With Cam Rising out with a hand injury, Isaac Wilson got his first start after coming in as a reliever in each of the season's first two games. For a while, it looked like he might not be up to the challenge.
However, things started clicking and they started clicking big time. You could actually see the young quarterback finally say to himself "ok, I've got this."
Big throw after big throw in the second half saw him finish 20-of-33 passing for 239 yards, 3 TDs and just 1 interception. That pick was also not really his fault as it bounced off a receiver's hands.
Utah has a two-headed monster
Utah's rushing offense has actually been pretty good this season, though it's disappeared a lot. On Saturday, Micah Bernard and Mike Mitchell combined for 198 yards on 31 carries (6.4 yards per carry)
That included a 64-yard run by Bernard. The rushing offense was able to give Wilson some time in the pocket as it kept the Utah State defense guessing and also help wear the Aggies defense down in the 38-21 win.