Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
- Utah's football is grappling with significant offensive challenges, managing only 36 points over three games and struggling during their recent loss to TCU.
- The team's inability to make first downs, run effectively, or threaten midfield is prompting fan frustration and consideration of changes in offensive strategy and personnel.
- Freshman quarterback Isaac Wilson showed potential despite the teams struggles, while running back Micah Bernard is currently the primary offensive asset.
SALT LAKE CITY — Kyle Whittingham said the offense was in "OK" shape Saturday night.
Unless the offense wants to "score points, make first downs, run the ball, throw the ball efficiently, make a conversion on third or fourth down" ... and just generally move the ball down field. Outside of that, he cheekily said, the offense is OK.
Utah has managed just 36 points in the last three games and failed to get more than a touchdown on the board in a loss to TCU on Saturday. And outside of a 71-yard touchdown pass from Isaac Wilson to Money Parks, Utah rarely threatened to even cross midfield for much of the night.
It's an offense that is anything but OK, and one that is now forced to face serious introspection to avoid further problems — if that's even possible. It's already to a point where fans at Rice-Eccles Stadium have let the coaching staff know of their disapproval with boos raining down.
"There's no mystery as to what our issues are, and it's been showing up for three weeks in a row now," Whittingham said. "We've got to look at everything really hard in the next 24 to 48 hours, and make some tough decisions and see where we're at."
It's a timeline that leads up to Whittingham's weekly press conference on Monday, where there's an opportunity for him to outline a new path forward for the team or risk losing any positive momentum it could potentially gain over the last five games of the season.
Could that mean an adjustment in offensive staffing, namely a change at offensive coordinator after several weeks of poorly schemed game plans? Whittingham didn't rule out the option.
"Everything's up in the air right now, everything's up for evaluation," Whittingham said when asked if offensive personnel changes were on the table. "And we will evaluate.
"The last three games have not been very encouraging, but I know I'll keep working and trying to figure things out," he added. "And just have to see what happens."
While a change in offensive staffing could be an option that Whittingham utilizes, it goes beyond just the play-calling — though that's largely been an issue this season.
Utah was forced to sub out several offensive linemen throughout the game in an effort to protect and give freshman quarterback Isaac Wilson some time to orchestrate the offensive game plan — especially in the interior.
It's also a run game that didn't develop against one of the worst run defenses in the county. Utah managed just 68 total yards of rushing offense and continues to largely rely on Micah Bernard as the sole option in the run game.
Though Bernard has been one of the biggest reasons for Utah getting any of the offense moving the last few weeks, it hasn't been enough. And on Saturday night, his 55 yards didn't cut it.
It's one of the areas that stuck out to Whittingham most Saturday night.
"Didn't expect to be — 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."
Bernard has been effective this season — recording over 100 rushing yards in four games this season — but Utah has no options outside of the veteran back. A running back room that appeared deep coming into the season has suddenly been non-existent.
Mike Mitchell (three snaps on Saturday) and Jaylon Glover (zero snaps for most of the year) have been mostly absent, with walk-on running back Charlie Vincent given just a few more reps.
Where Utah would have gone if they needed to when Bernard was forced to go into the medical tent with an injury before returning remains to be seen. But it remains Bernard or bust ... and even that's not been good enough despite his success on the field.
And then there's working through the follies of a what a freshman quarterback presents for an offense. Outside of holding onto the ball too long at times and taking risks with tight windows, Wilson has been good enough to lead Utah's offense — even if it doesn't look that way at times.
On Saturday, Wilson graded out as the fifth best player on offense, according to Pro Football Focus, and was just behind the most effective offensive linemen for the Utes, who graded well in pass blocking.
"Well, he's a fighter," Whittingham said of Wilson. "He's a kid that is a competitor, maybe even a better word. He's got a lot of confidence himself, he doesn't get skittish. He just keeps coming back and playing hard. ... He's freshman, he's a true freshman. It's a learning curve, and it's not completely surprising that we're not performing better throwing the football."
But Whittingham went back to the run game's inefficiencies as being the most disappointing aspect of the offense.
To Wilson's credit, he took the mature route and owned the problems for the offense — even though he becomes the scapegoat for problems that go behind the freshman's performance on the field.
"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."
So where does Utah's offense go? Whittingham's timeline is shrinking to get it figured out.
