Disappointing losses likely already dashed College Football Playoff hopes for both Utah and Washington State. Now the focus turns to not losing any more ground in the Pac-12 title chase when the two teams clash in Salt Lake City on Saturday.
The No. 19 Utes saw a top-10 ranking and preseason hype vanish with a 30-23 loss to USC. It was a game where Utah dominated statistically but couldn’t make plays at critical times. The Utes outgained the Trojans 457 to 381 yards and held the ball for more than 38 minutes.
It didn’t matter in the end.
Utah’s efforts were undone by a slew of penalties, a fumble inside the USC 5 that cost the team points just before halftime, and an inability to stop Trojans receivers from stretching the field with chunk plays.
“The bottom line is that we just didn’t do enough good things to win the game,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.
A mountain of errors also took down the Cougars in their 67-63 loss to UCLA and led to them tumbling out of both major Top 25 polls. Washington State saw a 32-point third-quarter lead unravel after committing four second-half fumbles to let the Bruins back into the game. Two fumbles occurred in the final three minutes, allowing UCLA to score the go-ahead touchdown and seal the win.
The Bruins scored 29 points off of six turnovers. They also returned a first-half kickoff and a second-half punt for touchdowns.
“We felt like UCLA should just go away and the game should just be over,” Washington State coach Mike Leach said. “We got to be tougher than that. I thought we were kind of babies on the sideline to be honest with you.”
It offset a brilliant performance from quarterback Anthony Gordon. The redshirt senior threw for 570 yards and tallied a school-record nine touchdown passes. His total passing yardage ranked as the third most in a single game at Washington State.
Gordon is the first Cougar quarterback to throw for at least 400 yards in each of his first four games to start a season. With him at the controls, Washington State leads the country in passing (499.5 yards per game), is second in total offense (605.3 yards) and ranks fifth in scoring (52.8 points).
Leach thinks the best is still ahead for Gordon and the rest of the team.
“I don’t think we’ve hit our full potential yet,” Leach said. “We’ve done some good things. We’re improving. We can get better. We haven’t hit any full potential or anything like that.”
Utah will likely be without its top offensive player on Saturday. Running back Zack Moss exited in the first half during the loss to USC after suffering a shoulder injury. Whittingham declined to give an update on Moss, other than to confirm he didn’t have a season-ending injury. Moss entered the week as the top rusher in the Pac-12, with 393 yards and four touchdowns on 63 carries.
His expected absence would put more pressure on Tyler Huntley to get things done on offense. Huntley got banged up against the Trojans but finished the game. Assuming Huntley plays, his consistency and accuracy will be a major asset for the Utes.
The senior quarterback ranks sixth in the FBS in completion percentage (76.2) and is third in the Pac-12 in pass efficiency (177.0). Huntley has completed at least 70 percent of his passes over four straight games, the longest such streak of his career. He also has tallied three straight 200-yard passing games.
As a team, Utah ranks fourth among FBS teams in completion percentage (76.9) and is 16th in team passing efficiency (173.5). The Utes are one of only 14 FBS teams who have not thrown an interception yet this season.
“He has prepared as well as any player we’ve had here for each game,” Whittingham said of Huntley. “His completion percentage right now is off the charts. … He is just playing his best football as a Ute, and he is our guy. He is our leader.”
Washington State holds a 9-7 edge in the series and has won the last four games with Utah. The Utes last beat the Cougars in 2012, winning 49-6 in Leach’s debut season in Pullman.
