As Utah football coach Kyle Whittingham reflected Monday morning in the aftermath of a humbling 35-6 loss to Oregon, one of the recurring themes was that he and his staff needed to do a better job of putting the offensive players in place to make plays.
However, in the wake of yet another up-and-down performance by quarterback Bryson Barnes, Whittingham was asked about the possibility of playing Brandon Rose, considering he was in contention for the starting gig before getting injured in fall camp.
The coach didn’t sound like it was a particularly strong possibility, but neither did he rule it out — nor did he give Barnes a particularly glowing endorsement.
“Whoever gives us the best chance to win is who we’ll try it out there, and if Brandon becomes that guy, then yes, that would happen,” said Whittingham. “But right now Bryson Barnes is our guy, and our No. 1 quarterback at this point in time.”
The coach added that the program’s plan was still to pursue a redshirt (medical or otherwise) for Rose for this season, which can happen if he plays in four games or fewer. The Utes have four regular-season games remaining, plus a bowl game. They’re technically not yet eliminated from Pac-12 Championship contention either, though that seems far-fetched at the moment.
Whittingham praised the job Rose has done running the scout team, noting that he’s been “phenomenal,” and that he earned the Utes’ Scout Team Player of the Week honors for the job he did in the lead-up to the win over USC.
The coach remains uncertain about the possibility of elevating him to the game-day roster, though, whether it be as the starter or just the emergency third-stringer.
“[He] continues to improve. Missing all that time obviously set him back, and had he not missed all that time, he’d be more in the mix. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that,” said Whittingham. “But here we are with four games left, and we’ll see if he can elevate himself, but that’s really up to him and how he performs.”
As for Whittingham’s thoughts about the Oregon game after having the weekend to review the film:
Utah running back Sione Vaki runs to score a touchdown during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Southern California, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Sione Vaki’s offense, Saturday and beyond • Utah’s offensive fulcrum in the wins against Cal and USC didn’t do much vs. Oregon, totaling five rushes for 11 yards, and zero catches (though he did stop short on one route, leading to an interception). Whittingham conceded the coaches “could have and should have done a better job” of sending Vaki out on more routes and trying to feed him the ball in space, while also noting that the safety “wasn’t feeling up to par. He’s a warrior and he was out there, but I think you could tell he wasn’t his usual self.”
Whittingham clarified that it wasn’t a case of Vaki playing too many snaps: “We’ve only averaged like 50-something [defensive] snaps a game, and so that’s a very mild workload. And I think he only had like 12 or 14 snaps of offense, so 65 snaps [total] — that’s not a heavy workload.”
Meanwhile, asked about the possibility of making Vaki a primarily offensive player going forward, the coach threw some very cold water on the idea just one week after indicating it could happen: “No, I think with four games left, we’re in a position now where we’re settled in about a 70-30 split — 70% D, 30% O, and I think that’s where we’ll continue to stay.”
Utah wide receiver Devaughn Vele (17) catches a pass against UCLA defensive lineman Grayson Murphy (12) during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
More regrets in the offensive plan and execution • Beyond Vaki, Whittingham said he and his staff didn’t do enough to attack the perimeter and get the ball in space a little bit better. He repeatedly praised Oregon’s talent and scheme, calling them “one of the elite defenses in the league,” and adding that “they had a lot to do with our ineptness and inefficiency.”
However, he also repeated time and again that he and the other Utes coaches did their players no favors with a poor game plan. In particular, Whittingham noted that between the Ducks’ “physical and tough” front seven, and their safeties crowding the line of scrimmage, Utah could have opened up the running game by throwing the ball down the field more — “You’ve got to make them pay.”
He singled out receiver Devaughn Vele for having “his best game of the season,” and felt like the Utes missed chances to get him the ball even more: “Really could have had three or four more big catches had we been a little more patient and waited for him to come open. Because I think we came off him too quick a couple of times.”
Whittingham also said the Utes made a mistake by not going back to the uptempo two-minute offense they utilized at the end of the first half, which produced their best drive of the game: “It would have probably been a good idea to go to it more in the second half. So, hindsight. Yeah, good point.”
The defense didn’t do much, either • While much of the postgame attention was on the offense’s regression, it almost went unnoticed that the Utes’ normally stellar defense didn’t do a ton to affect the outcome.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune)Utah defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley did not see much go right for his group as the Oregon Ducks won 35-6 against Utah in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023.
Oregon finished with 390 total yards, which isn’t egregious, but Whittingham mostly attributed that to the Ducks being up so much so early in the second half that they called off the dogs, thus depressing what could have been some monstrous numbers.
For starters, he said, the Utes just weren’t as stout against the run as they typically are. The tackling was better than he initially thought postgame Saturday, but Oregon still exploited the gaps.
Beyond that, they simply didn’t do enough to make Oregon quarterback Bo Nix and his collection of playmakers uncomfortable at all. Utah’s defenders were simply invisible far too often.
“We didn’t make impact plays on D,” said Whittingham. “We had no sacks. We try to get six or seven impact plays a game — which is turnovers plus sacks — and we had one.”
