Utah football notes: Carrington wished he had bigger impact on Saturday


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SALT LAKE CITY — It’s about execution.

That’s the answer players and coaches of any team give when an offensive scheme fails to work. And in Utah’s case Saturday, there was certainly not enough execution on the offensive side of the ball in a 23-20 loss to Stanford.

But citing execution as the problem is a vague reference and one that doesn’t clearly get to the point of what went wrong. In Utah’s case, you could start with the red zone problems, pass protection, passing distribution, etc.

Quite simply, Utah beat itself in a game that was easily a winnable game.

“The protection wasn’t great,” head coach Kyle Whittingham started his weekly press conference on Monday, speaking about Troy Williams’ struggles passing the ball Saturday. “We had a lot of guys — lot of people in Troy’s face. But some of the pockets were clean and he didn’t really need to flush (out).

“There were things that — a combination of things — that added up to a very average to below average night throwing the football,” he added. “We had some open guys that we missed or a missed throw. We’ve just got to coach them better and get better this week.”

Most notably, Williams failed to get the team’s leading receiver, Darren Carrington, into the game until the second half. In the first half, Carrington was targeted once — an incomplete pass on a bad throw. Carrington would finish the game with 99 receiving yards and one touchdown on seven catches as the team’s leading receiver.

Williams targeted Raelon Singleton eight times Saturday for a total of 62 yards, easing pressure on other receivers, but the effort wasn’t enough and lacked diversity in the passing distribution.

“They weren't stopping us, to be honest with you,” Carrington said about Stanford’s defense. “We stopped ourselves. We missed a couple of open players and messed up on a couple of routes, missed a couple blocks, but they didn't do nothing too special on defense. I wish I could have been more effective in the first half. But, I mean, it just didn't work out like that and Troy didn't find me that much in the first half.”

Carrington said he wanted to be more of an asset in the game early on to help alleviate the stagnant offense. However, he said he didn’t want to be “that guy” and complain to Williams that he wasn’t getting the ball enough.

“I would like to think and say: I'm like one of those guys that I can get like the offense going,” Carrington said. “So if (Williams) did need something to get going, I would just like say throw me a couple of balls and let's get it going, and then everybody starts getting into a groove. But it didn't really work out in the first half. But hopefully, we’ll get it.”

Williams said his decision making came down to how Stanford was covering his receivers. Those that were in single coverage — man-to-man — were the receivers he prefers to target.

“I like all of our guys one-on-one, regardless of who it is,” Williams said. “So I’m going to take that every time I can.”

But in several instances, receivers were wide open and Williams failed to target them, instead choosing to roll out of the pocket when it wasn’t needed, which resulted in a pressure play or an incompletion to coverage. Williams recognizes his struggles and said it “wasn’t really clicking.”

It’s a concern that has the coaching staff opening up the competition in practice this week to see what quarterback is best suited to be the team’s starter should Tyler Huntley be out another week. Whittingham said no position on the team is secure, including the quarterback, and will be subject to examination this week.

Senior Cooper Bateman’s role has been marginalized in the program with Huntley and Williams getting most the reps, but Whittingham said the possibility exists where Bateman could be utilized Saturday against USC.

“I mean, whoever is in there, we’re going to make plays for and go our hardest, so it doesn’t really matter,” Carrington said.

Utah will travel to USC Saturday in hopes to bounce back against the Trojans at 6 p.m. on ABC. Both programs have one loss and the winner of the game Saturday will likely have implications on the South division title race.

NOTES: Utah released its depth chart Monday with a few changes, including Marquise Blair moving into the starting free safety role, with Corrion Ballard moving into the backup strong safety role behind Chase Hansen. Javelin Guidry jumped Boobie Hobbs as the team’s starting nickel and Hayes Hicken jumped Chayden Johnston and the backup placekicker. Harrison Handley and Alex Whittingham will split the snapping duties, with Handley taking the long snapper role and Whittingham taking the short snapper role. … Utah’s game against Arizona State at home on Oct. 21 will be at either 1:30 p.m. or 2 p.m. on FS1 or FOX. The networks have reserved a six-day window and will make a decision at the end of the week.

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