Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Utah's defense struggled, allowing 472 rushing yards to Kansas State.
- Despite the defensive lapse, Utah won, marking a rare FBS occurrence.
- Coach Whittingham and Scalley aim to improve defense before the Kansas game.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah football was in rarified territory Saturday night.
The Utes gave up an uncharacteristically high 472 rushing yards to a Kansas State team who averaged just 137.8 yards per game coming into the penultimate game of the regular season.
To put that into perspective a bit, the Wildcats rushed for 518 yards in the prior four games combined; and only one other game this season did Kansas State rush for over 200 — a 266 yard performance against a two-win UCF team in conference play.
The team's leading rusher that night was Joe Jackson, who was seemingly left free and untouched all night en route to 293 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Prior to Utah, Jackson had only one game over 100 yards, with each of his games falling short of a game-high 80-yard run he made for a touchdown.
And yet, Utah won the game.
It was such a rare occurrence that only 10 other teams in FBS history have allowed more rushing yards and still won a game — and most were against a service academy or offenses that relied heavily on the triple-option.
- San Jose State (W, 70-63; 2004) vs. Rice (570 yards)
- Hawaii (W, 52-30; 2001) vs. Air Force (545)
- No. 25 Tennessee (W, 42-41 2OT; 2017) vs. Georgia Tech (535)
- North Texas (W, 52-49; 2017) vs. Army (534)
- Ball State (W, 34-31 OT; 2007) vs. Navy (521)
- Boise State (W, 60-49; 2014) vs. New Mexico (505)
- UNLV (W, 56-42; 2013) vs. New Mexico (497)
- Northern Illinois (W, 41-40; 2012) vs. Army (486)
- UNLV (W, 38-35; 2017) vs. New Mexico (482)
- Eastern Michigan (W, 48-45 2OT; 2022) vs. Southern Illinois (481)
Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said Kansas State didn't do anything "elaborate" with their offensive schemes, it was "the most basic plays in football." It was more about Utah not being in the right alignment and poor tackling ... over and over and over again.
"Obviously, not our best game on defense. Got really — there's no real easy explanation to it," Whittingham said. "I mean, we just did not play the run game in any way, shape or form with any consistency, with any degree. It just wasn't good. And everything we could do wrong we did."
It was a "rare occasion," Whittingham added, and one that has never been featured over his 21 years as head coach.
Defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley simply laid the blame squarely on his own shoulders for not having his side of the ball ready, though the run defense has been a bit of a struggle all season.
"I did not do my best to get them ready," Scalley said. "Obviously, that will always be on me. So, you know, bottom line is, we've got to look at the film. We weren't good enough in gap fits, not good enough tackling. There's a lot wrong, and it's on me. It's on me."
It was far from the standard Whittingham and Scalley have preached over the years, where the defense — especially against the run — has been the hallmark of the program. It starts in the trenches and is followed through with the remaining defenders behind the defensive line.
But a continual breakdown in assignments opened up the floodgates and Kansas State took advantage.
Fortunately for the defense — now in back-to-back weeks in varying degrees — the offense pulled its weight and did enough to secure wins and to preserve what could be a double-digit winning regular season.
After the Baylor game a week prior, Utah offensive tackle Spencer Fano described it as being "about time" the offense stepped up after years of the defense having to pull its fair share to keep Utah in games.
It worked Saturday, but Scalley and the defensive personnel are far from satisfied with letting the offense do the heavy lifting. With one game left in the regular season, Scalley believes he's got "fighters" on the team who will respond, and that nobody has given up hope.
Just look at the late-game heroics, in which the defense stepped up to force a three-and-out series, which allowed Devon Dampier to lead Utah down field with a 59-yard run of his own and then a go-ahead 1-yard rushing touchdown.
And then senior linebacker Lander Barton called game with a game-sealing interception.
"I've got no doubt that those guys will bounce back this week," Whittingham said. "They're a prideful group and have a lot of competitiveness in them, and so we'll hopefully get that thing turned back around and where it should be for this week."
"We got punched in the mouth," linebacker Johnathan Hall said. "Now it's time to get back up, now we've got to see what we can do, now we've got to see how we bounce back again. I think we'll bounce back very well."
With a 10-win season on the line — and a glimmer of hope for a Big 12 title game appearance and a spot in the College Football Playoff — it's all on the defense to make the necessary adjustments ahead of a Friday morning road finale against Kansas.
"I'm excited for this week," Scalley said.
