Utes offense goes stagnant as TCU comes away with 13-7 win

SALT LAKE CITY — The loudest cheer of the first half came when Isaac Wilson connected with Dorian Singer on an 11-yard pass down the sideline with just over a minute left in the first half.

It was that kind of night for Utah's offense.

The Utes were held scoreless in the first half and had only 86 total yards of offense as the team struggled to get the ball moving in any fashion. It was so bad that the fans in attendance at Rice-Eccles Stadium booed Utah as the team headed to the locker room at halftime.

There wasn't much to cheer for Saturday night.

"Fans pay their money, they have a right to do whatever they want," Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. "They paid money for the tickets, and if they're not happy, and that's the way they want to react. Guys have played a lot of good football through the years and given them a lot of positive things to to be excited about, but certainly the last few games have not been anything to be excited about for those guys — two of them being at home."

Even with all the problems on offense — of which there were many — Utah's defense kept it a two-score game before Wilson found a streaking Money Parks down field for a 71-yard touchdown pass to change the attitude of the game.

But TCU never wavered and kept the pressure on Utah, forcing the Utes offense into stalled drives. The Utah defense did its part, too, keeping the Horned Frogs out of the end zone. As such, TCU held serve and finished the night with a 13-7 win over Utah on their home turf.

"To hold that crew to 13 points from what they've been doing this year with really essentially no help, field position wise or staying off the field, very proud of the defenders. Very proud," Whittingham said.

"If you would have told me we'd hold them to 13 points, I thought we'd win 20 out of 20 times, and wasn't to be."

Utah (4-3, 1-3 Big 12) had its chances late but couldn't convert, with Wilson throwing an interception on fourth down midway through the fourth quarter, and than an incomplete pass on a subsequent fourth down with 2:30 left in the game to essentially season the game.

All that was left was for TCU to convert a first down and then assume victory formation as the clock ended Utah's misery.

Wilson finished his fourth career start, throwing for 199 yards, one touchdown and one interception on 17-of-33 passing. But Wilson was far from the only problem on the night.

"Obviously, we've got some work to do on the offensive side of the ball. I guess we're fine, other than not being able to score points, make first downs, run the ball, throw the ball efficiently, make a conversion on third or fourth down," Whittingham said in a dry attempt at humor. "Other than that, I think we're OK.

"I guess the positive is we know exactly where our problem lies, and what we got to do to fix it is our job as coaches. Players are playing hard, give them that; they're all playing hard. I'm not throwing any player under the bus, just tough to tough to figure out."

Wilson credited TCU for doing "a lot of stuff on defense, a lot of mixed coverages," but said the ultimate problem came down to a lack of execution from the team.

Whittingham said he was mostly surprised by a lackluster rushing performance after a solid few weeks running the ball. Utah finished with just 68 rushing yards, with Micah Bernard making up 55 of those yards.

"Didn't expect the run game to be so poor tonight," Whittingham said. "That was really the biggest disappointment. It's something that we had been decent at, and all of a sudden not real good at that, either."

TCU (4-3, 2-2 Big 12) quarterback Josh Hoover finished the night throwing for 263 yards on 22-of-41 passing, but had no passing touchdowns in his trip to Salt Lake City.

Savion Williams, who replaced Hoover at times under center, finished with a team-high 72 rushing yards on seven carries in what turned out to be the most effective strategy to beat the Utes in the second half. TCU managed 394 yards of total offense on the night, compared to Utah's 267 yards.

"We played good defense," defensive lineman Keanu Tanuvasa said. "Holding a team to 13 points is — I don't know how many first downs — but we played our butts off. I'm very proud of my defense, and we didn't get it tonight. But we're not a team that folds, and we're not a team that quits. We're gonna find a way to go get it next week."

Wilson said it's a team effort in the loss, but he apologized for the offense's lack of help for a standout defensive performance.

"We're not going to blame anyone, we stick as a team," Wilson said. "As a whole offensive unit, we want to apologize to the defense. It's a team game, but they played their butts off. We need to step up with more than 7 points a game."

TCU started out the night converting a first down on three consecutive plays, and easily got into the red zone as the Horned Frogs threatened to score. But Hoover lost the ball and Van Fillinger jumped on it to force the stop.

Utah went three-and-out on their opening series, and had their punt attempt blocked, setting up the Horned Frogs deep in Utah's territory. But like the opening drive, Utah's defense held firm and forced a field goal attempt that was eventually blocked by safety Tao Johnson.

TCU eventually got a field goal, and Hoover scored on a 1-yard rushing touchdown to give the Horned Frogs a 10-0 lead that carried itself to the halftime break.

"Everything's up in the air right now, everything's up for evaluation," Whittingham said. "And we will evaluate."

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