Utah poised to play rare spoiler role against undefeated BYU

It’s not a situation Utah has been in much during the last two decades of the Utah-BYU rivalry game. For the first time since 2012, the Utes are a home underdog as BYU rolls into Rice-Eccles Stadium as a three-point favorite.
Basically everything written preseason about Utah should have been written about BYU. It’s the Cougars, not the Utes, who are having a storybook season so far, with a No. 9 national ranking, a spot atop the Big 12 standings and a perfect 8-0 record. After failing to make a bowl game in their first year of Big 12 membership, BYU has undergone a stunning transformation.
Meanwhile, Utah is reeling. The Utes, who lost starting quarterback Cam Rising to a season-ending injury, have lost four straight games as offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig resigned in the midst of a string of unproductive performances from the offensive side of the ball.
To say the least, the season has not gone as planned for Utah, and this year it’s the team fighting for bowl eligibility.
“All the talk that they talk about how it’s kind of their Super Bowl, it’s kind of our Super Bowl this year. We’re 4-4, they’re undefeated and what better way to ruin their zero than take it away from them,” Utah tight end Brant Kuithe said.
Since the two programs met in September for a decade with Utah in the Pac-12, it’s been quite a while since the Utes’ preseason hopes and dreams were extinguished by the time the rivalry game rolled around. In fact, you have to go all the way back to 2005 to find the last time that the Utes entered a November game against BYU with a .500 or worse record.
“Certainly, seasons have gone completely different directions than what was anticipated at the onset,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “I guess that shows that those preseason rankings and thoughts really don’t mean a whole lot and you got to go out and play the games and things happen during the course of the season to alter the paths of teams, and so that’s what happened this year.”
For BYU, Saturday’s contest might be the most important rivalry game since 1996. A win would lift the Cougars to 9-0 and keep them in the driver’s seat in the Big 12 title race, with a guaranteed trip to the College Football Playoff awarded to the conference championship winner.
With nothing left to play for but pride and bowl eligibility, Utah would love to hand its rival its first loss of the season.
“It would just give us a flipped script to own the state of Utah, to sour out those guys’ season,” Utah running back Jaylon Glover said. “It’d be big for us and the team, and I just feel like we come out, give us a boost for the remainder of the season.”
“Obviously I would prefer to have that record, but to be on that side where you can ruin their season and kind of have that ‘nothing to lose’ edge, hungry mentality, it’s dangerous,” Utah linebacker Karene Reid said.
On paper, this game shouldn’t even be close.
BYU’s offense might be the best Utah has faced all year, led by quarterback Jake Retzlaff, who has gone from a pedestrian season a year ago to one of the more efficient quarterbacks in the nation. He’s thrown for 1,872 yards and 18 touchdowns with seven interceptions and added 303 yards and three scores on the ground.
Running back LJ Martin leads the way on the ground, rushing for 357 yards and five scores this year, and Darius Lassiter (504 yards, four scores), and Chase Roberts (497 yards, four scores) are Retzlaff’s favorite targets.
No individual offensive player for the Cougars ranks in the top 40 nationally, but pretty much everyone on BYU’s offense does their job well, and it’s working like a well-oiled machine.
“I’d say the QB is the catalyst,” Whittingham said. “You look at individual rushers, individual receivers, there’s nobody that just jumps out statistically. It’s a collaborative effort, but the quarterback is the catalyst in my opinion, and playing good football.”
Defensive coordinator Jay Hill, in his second year in Provo, has engineered a complete turnaround from last year’s performance with most of the same players. BYU ranks 38th in total yards allowed per game (331.5), and is in the top 25 in passing defense (185 yards per game) and sixth in the country in taking the ball away (14 interceptions and four fumble recoveries on the season).
“Very opportunistic football team, they’re playing good complementary defense, offense to each other,” Whittingham said. “Defense has taken the ball away like crazy. Offense is protecting the ball. They’re No. 2 in the conference in turnover margin, so they’re doing a really good job playing off each other offensively and defensively.”
Put it all together, and BYU is scoring 35.1 points per game while allowing just 19.62 points per game. Add in some sensational special teams play and a couple clutch moments, like BYU’s eight-play, 75-yard game-winning scoring drive with under a minute left when the Cougars looked dead in the water against Oklahoma State, and it starts to feel like perhaps the Cougars are a team of destiny.
Utah, meanwhile, has struggled to score. The Utes haven’t eclipsed the 28-point mark since early September — and the defense has been good, even great, but not elite — needing to generate more havoc plays, sack the quarterback more and be better against the run.
The fun thing about college football is that it’s not played on paper, and every week — especially in the Big 12 — there are upsets. Who had Texas Tech beating Iowa State or Houston knocking off Kansas State last week?
Again, BYU should — and most likely will — beat Utah at Rice-Eccles Stadium for the first time since 2006. But it’s the rivalry game, and crazier things have happened. If Utah is to pull off one of the bigger upsets in the series’ history, what do the Utes need to do?
It’s not rocket science. Utah’s probably going to have to put more points on the board than it has been, barring an absolutely heroic effort from the defense. It all starts with quarterback, and it may be Brandon Rose starting for the Utes.
Rose, inserted in the third quarter of the Houston game, didn’t light the world on fire during his first real action as a Ute. He completed 7 of 15 passes — a couple were dropped by receivers — for 45 yards and threw an interception on the Utes’ final drive of the game.
If it’s Rose, he doesn’t have to be a world-beater, but if Utah gets the same production through the air as it has over the last four games, it’s extremely difficult to see this game being close.
Facing a good Cougar defense, and without second-leading receiver Money Parks, it’s going to be an uphill battle.
Obviously, Utah needs a lot more from its offensive line and run game than it got against Houston, and some of that stems from the pass game. If Rose can find some success through the air, BYU won’t be able to stack the box and tee off on the run game as much.
Utah scored its first first-quarter touchdown since the Utah State game against Houston, and getting out to a fast start on offense is going to be crucial, because if the Utes get down early, they probably don’t have the offensive firepower to mount a comeback.
It’s cliche, but defensively, Utah absolutely has to force a turnover — or a few of them — something the Utes haven’t done as much this season. Retzlaff was picked off twice against Oklahoma State, a big reason why the Cowboys had a shot at the upset, and the Utes need to replicate that performance to have a chance to win. A few sacks, something Utah hasn’t excelled at either, wouldn’t hurt. The defensive line, which has been banged up all year, is expected to be in good health coming out of the bye week.
Utah’s defense will also have to be much stronger against the run — Martin is a good running back.
The Utes haven’t turned in an elite defensive game thus far, and to have a chance at an upset, will have to do so on Saturday.
Utah is relishing the spoiler role heading into the rivalry game, and a win over BYU would do a lot to help salvage the latter part of the season.
“Great attitude as you would expect in a game like this. A lot of emotion, a lot of passion, and this is for sure one game that you don’t have to worry about getting ready to play because they’ll be ready to play,” Whittingham said.