Utah
Thomas rushes for 180 yards as No. 13 Utah pulls away for 42-7 win over Stanford
Estimated learn time: 5-6 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Do not blame Utah for waiting for subsequent week’s highway contest in opposition to Oregon.
In any case, the Utes have been favored by 24 factors in opposition to a Stanford staff that had just one win in convention play and three wins on the season. It was senior evening and the staff wished a win for the final time at Rice-Eccles Stadium this season, however missing vitality and frigid temperatures had Utah struggling to drag away from the Cardinal within the first half.
It was sufficient for Stanford to have an opportunity at making subsequent week’s sport nothing greater than an ordinary highway journey.
That’s till the second half, when beginning operating again Tavion Thomas established a dominant run sport in opposition to a Stanford protection giving up a median of 215.9 yards per sport. Thomas’ 180 yards on 22 carries helped Utah draw back from Stanford 42-7 in entrance of an introduced crowd of 51,951 late Saturday evening.
It was the primary 100-yard speeding efficiency for Thomas since he completed with 115 yards within the first week of the season in opposition to Florida. He completed the evening with extra speeding yards than Stanford’s total offense, who ultimately completed with 177 yards (together with simply 22 on the bottom) in opposition to the Utes (8-2, 6-1 Pac-12).
“Tavion Thomas had a giant sport,” Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham mentioned. “It was nice to see him in his final sport right here at Rice-Eccles get again to his previous self, and that was one thing that — actually happy with him and glad that he is weathered the storm, I assume you could possibly say.”
Thomas sparked a Utah offense that reeled off three consecutive touchdowns with ease within the third quarter, together with a 16-yard move from freshman quarterback Nate Johnson to senior tight finish Logan Kendall, his first at Utah.
After a primary half that seemed out of sync and torpid, Utah returned to regular type and simply put distance on the Cardinal (3-7, 1-7).
“Nice effort by our soccer staff,” Whittingham mentioned. “We weren’t as productive and environment friendly as we wanted to be within the first half, however within the second half we acquired issues going and acquired management of the sport fully in that third quarter — and by no means seemed again.”
Rising mentioned the staff “cleaned it up” within the second half after a primary half that featured a number of holding penalties to place Utah in long-yardage conditions. He mentioned as soon as that was all corrected on the halftime break, the sport returned to common type for Utah.
“Eradicated the errors and issues began to go our method,” he mentioned.
Rising, who mentioned Saturday that he “believes so” that it is going to be his final at Rice-Eccles Stadium, completed the evening throwing for 219 yards and three touchdowns and an interception on 20-of-33 passing.
His favourite goal of the evening, sophomore Devaughn Vele, completed with 61 yards on six catches, together with an athletic catch on a 28-yard move to arrange a 4-yard speeding landing by Thomas within the second quarter.
Utah’s offense deserved the credit score for placing distance on Stanford within the second half, however it was the protection that restricted the Cardinal to below 200 yards that gave the offense the runway it wanted. Defensive deal with Simote Pepa led the staff with six complete tackles and two of the staff’s seven sacks in an all-around defensive efficiency.
The protection completed with an addition 9 tackles for loss and had three move breakups in opposition to Stanford quarterback Tanner McKee, who completed with 155 yards on 11-of-23 passing.
“Coach at all times emphasize the preparation — being ready for the sport, realizing what to anticipate and realizing methods to react to it once you see it,” mentioned senior Mohamoud Diabate, who completed with three tackles and 1.5 sacks. “So we simply did a fantastic job listening to our coaches all through the week and placing within the work behind the scenes to have the ability to come out right here and produce like that.”
“The previous couple of weeks we have actually simply honed in: in case you do your task the performs will come to you,” mentioned defensive finish Jonah Elliss, who additionally had 1.5 sacks and 4 tackles within the win.
And although Utah completed with a dominant win, it was something however that within the first half.
As an alternative of a run-heavy scheme in opposition to Stanford’s porous protection, Utah opted for a extra pass-heavy scheme that was disjointed and out of sync for a lot of the primary half. Rising overthrew passes, receivers dropped balls, and the offense by no means acquired right into a constant rhythm because the Utes have been held scoreless within the first quarter.
There have been actually alternatives, and Vele made a exhibiting of it, however the offense lacked a spark. And that is even with Thomas ending the primary half with 77 yards on 15 carries.
However none of that was extra obvious than when Utah had a drive on the finish of the second quarter the place Rising was picked off at the back of the tip zone on an tried move to Dalton Kincaid. Utah had an opportunity to enter the halftime break up 21-7, however needed to accept a better 14-7 rating.
Utah was by no means in threat of dropping management of the sport, however the offense made it tougher on itself than it wanted earlier than ending the sport with six consecutive touchdowns.
The Utes end the common season with an ideal 6-0 streak at Rice-Eccles Stadium and can closeout the yr with back-to-back highway video games, beginning off in a pivotal contest in opposition to Oregon (8:30 p.m. MST, ESPN) on Saturday.