The Utah football team’s season-long offensive woes — and the potential reasons for them — have been discussed ad nauseum.
Will Cam Rising be cleared? Is Nate Johnson getting enough practice reps? Is the offensive line physical enough? Are wide receivers getting enough separation? Can the running backs be more efficient? How can the tight ends get more involved? And so on and so on.
Meanwhile, no one disputes that the Utes’ defense has kept the team in contention as the offense struggles to generate yards and points.
And yet …
It’s not as though the defense, as excellent as it’s been, doesn’t have room for improvement.
When a stagnant Utah team was manhandled by Oregon State two weeks ago, head coach Kyle Whittingham preached the need for the Utes to not turn on one another, for defenders to not start resenting their offensive counterparts for failing to hold up their end.
Actually, to the contrary, several members of the defense said this week that they’re taking it upon themselves to do more to put the offense in better positions going forward.
“We’re gonna do our job, but obviously we need a little more to happen,” said defensive tackle Junior Tafuna. “… We’re just talking about wearing a badge of honor — go out there and just play our half of the ball and get the ball over to the offense and get them more opportunities.”
That line of thinking tracks with myriad others on the team.
Whittingham, asked during his weekly media session on Monday where the defense might yet improve, had two distinct areas of focus in mind.
“We’re not getting quite as many takeaways as we typically have gotten through the years. We’re not bad — I think we’re fourth or fifth in the league in takeaways — but not as many as we’re accustomed to,” he said. “[And we] can always get more pressure on the quarterback, even though we’re fourth or fifth in the league in sacks.”
For the sake of fact-checking …
Utah arguably has been better at getting to the quarterback than Whittingham thinks. The Utes’ 17 total sacks and 3.4 per game average this season are, indeed, fourth in Pac-12 — but both figures also rank tied for 12th in the entire. Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Among the conference rivals ahead of them, USC leads the way with 22 sacks in six games (3.67), while Oregon and UCLA have 18 sacks in five games (3.6 per game) — so, one more sack apiece than the Utes.
It could be argued that they’d be in big trouble if they didn’t have Jonah Elliss and his 7.5 sacks (second in the entire FBS, and 44% of Utah’s total), but they do.
And for what it’s worth, despite a season-ending injury to his edge counterpart Logan Fano (who had 3.5 sacks), Elliss thinks the Utes can generate more pressure and get home more often, too.
“Every third down, we should be getting there,” he said. “My mentality towards it is we can’t be blocked — that’s how you have to take every rep, like you’re unbeatable. We all need to win every single rep to create that pressure that Coach Whitt wants. And honestly, I love that he holds us to that expectation, because then it forces us to do it.”
As for the turnovers, Whittingham is quite correct there.
Utah’s defense has come away with eight turnovers (two fumble recoveries, six interceptions) in five games — a total which puts the Utes in a tie for 57th place in the FBS.
Among Pac-12 teams, Cal (14 total; 7 FR/7 INTs), UCLA (13; 5/8), Colorado (12; 4/8), and Oregon State (9; 4/5) all have more (though the Bears, Buffs, and Beavers have played six games apiece), while Washington (0/8) and Washington State (3/5) also have eight in five games, like Utah.
The Utes’ coach would like to see more.
“It’s something we emphasize. As I’ve mentioned before, the last six or seven years, we have created more takeaways than any defense in the country, and right now our offense needs that,” Whittingham said. “We need to get turnovers, give them short-field situations, help them out a little bit, not have them have to go 70, 80 yards every time they take over.”
Linebackers coach Colton Swan, whose unit has contributed to the team’s turnover totals with pick-sixes from Lander Barton (vs. Weber State) and Karene Reid (against UCLA), nevertheless echoed his boss’s sentiment.
He noted that it’s something the Utes defense practices all the time.
“It’s a constant work in progress from the linebacker position, creating turnovers. Not only from the linebackers, but from the defensive standpoint, our whole job is to get the ball back to the offense, give them as many opportunities to score as possible. If we can do it, that’s a bonus,” said Swan. “Creating turnovers is one thing at the linebacker position that we’re constantly working on. Two of those — one from Karene and one from Lander — [were from] drills that we do throughout the week, and it’s nice to see it come to life in a game.”
Elliss, seemingly never content, argued the players can do more to generate additional takeaways, noting that the five fumbles Utah has forced and the two they’ve recovered simply aren’t enough.
That said, he believes that simply better application of technique will make a difference.
“There have been a few times where I see the ball and I could have maybe gone for it, but instead I’m securing the tackle; I need to secure that tackle and someone else needs to come and hit that ball out, you know? That’s just the mentality you need to have going into it,” Elliss said. “Shoot, they’ve always taught us first guy wraps up, second guy comes to get the ball, so that’s what we need to do to get those takeaways.”
Of course, none of this should detract from the big picture.
Which remains that while the offense tries to find its footing, the team’s defenders have done an incredible job of keeping Utah in games.
“Yeah, there’s room for improvement, but they’ve done a lot of good things,” said Whittingham. “A whole lot of good things.”
