Nov 10, 2016; Tempe, AZ, USA; Utah Utes quarterback Troy Williams (3) throws a pass against the Arizona State Sun Devils during the first half at Sun Devil Stadium. Photo Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Defense continues to be Utah’s strength under coach Kyle Whittingham.
The No. 11 Utes, who host downtrodden Oregon this week, are second in the nation in interceptions and No. 1 in takeaways after last week’s 49-26 victory at Arizona State.
Utah (8-2, 5-2 Pac-12) controls its destiny in the Pac-12 South race but has to beat the Ducks and then win at division-leading Colorado on Nov. 26 to advance to the conference championship game.
“All of our focus, all of our attention, is on the Ducks this week,” Whittingham said.
“There is not a chance we will be looking past those guys. Not a chance at all. They’re very talented on offense. I mean, they’re Oregon. They have had some struggles on defense this year, but offensively, they’re scoring points, they’re moving the ball. They’ve got firepower.”
Fair enough. Oregon (3-7, 1-6) does average 37.1 points per game but will not qualify for a bowl game for the first time since 2004 and it is second-to-last nationally in scoring defense, yielding 43.5 points per game.
The Ducks are coming off a 52-27 loss to Stanford.
Fourth-year coach Mark Helfrich, who guided the program to the national championship game in the 2014 season, acknowledged it has been a difficult season.
“Yeah the frustrations are different,” he said.
“There’s always the segment of the team that’s frustrated, whether that’s a role or a position. There’s always something. This is different. It’s not any fun. Not having a ton of fun, which is something you have to squeeze out of it at this point and play to their competitiveness and play to all those aspects of why they’re here.”
Utah has 25 takeaways and also leads the nation in net punting (45.3 yards per game). The Utes have picked off 17 passes. They are fifth nationally in sacks with 35, including 11 versus Arizona State.
“Coverage in the secondary was very good. If you can cover for that extra second, second-and-a-half, then the pass rush can show up,” Whittingham said.
“A lot of the sacks were due to very good coverage in the back end, and a lot of them were due to the pass rush just getting on the quarterback quickly. It was a combination. That is how you play great pass defense.”
Utah will now take aim at Oregon freshman quarterback Justin Herbert, who took over as the starter in the sixth week. He has thrown for 1,432 yards and 15 scores while rushing for 122 yards and a touchdown, providing hope for the future.
“No question he cares a lot,” Helfrich said.
Last week, Utah defensive end Hunter Dimick rewrote some of Utah’s single-game records with five sacks, 37 sack yards lost, and 6.5 tackles for loss. He also reached 27 career sacks, trying the school mark set by John Frank from 1996-99.
Dimick is tied for the national lead with 12 sacks.
Offensively, Utah running back Joe Williams, who retired from football for about a month at the start of the season, has made a significant mark in the past four games, rushing for 864 yards in that span, including a school-record 332 against UCLA. The Utes are third in the Pac-12 in rushing, averaging 212.9 yards a game.
Quarterback Troy Williams had the best game of his career last week against Arizona State’s porous pass defense. Williams had a career-high 296 yards on 21-of-37 passing, with a career-best four touchdown passes.
The ground or air method should work against Oregon.
The Ducks rank 11th in the conference by allowing 255.9 rushing yards per game. Things might get worse as defensive lineman Austin Maloata, one of the team’s top run-stoppers, was kicked off the team Sunday after an arrest.
Oregon had allowed six consecutive Pac-12 teams to throw for 300 yards before Stanford, last in the league in passing, put up “only” 258 last week — which was nearly double its season average.
Utah enters the weekend in third place in the Pac-12 South, a game behind Colorado (6-1) and a half-game behind USC (6-2). The Utes already have a win over the Trojans. By winning out, Utah would, at worst, be in a tiebreaker situation in which it would hold the edge in all scenarios.
Utah beat Oregon 62-20 last season in Eugene.
“All three phases seemed to click in that game,” Whittingham said. “It was almost flawless execution on offense from start to finish.”
