How Utah destroyed ASU: Opening up the playbook, an epic O-line performance, and total defensive dominance

Well, if the Utah football team was looking for a bounce-back game after last week’s disappointing decimation at the hands of Oregon, it would be hard to come up with a better gift than what Arizona State provided them on Saturday.

The Utes wrecked the Sun Devils on both offense and defense, and the Utes’ 55-3 victory at Rice-Eccles Stadium could have been even worse if the special teams had been a little better.

As it was, there wasn’t a whole lot to quibble with in this result.

An exceedingly easy afternoon saw No. 18 Utah improve to 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the Pac-12, while Arizona State fell to 2-7, 1-5.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the keys to the big win.

More diverse play-calling

Head coach Kyle Whittingham took the blame for the blowout vs. the Ducks, saying the coaching staff didn’t put the players in a good enough position to succeed.

He lamented not utilizing more of the uptempo offense that was quasi-effective near the end of the first half vs. Oregon. And it’s been a season-long issue being able to push the ball down the field for chunk plays.

Against ASU, there was some legitimately inspired play-calling — as evidenced by 513 yards of total offense.

They went uptempo early and often, particularly on the first two drives, which both culminated in touchdown passes from quarterback Bryson Barnes to wideout Devaughn Vele.

The Utes also trusted Barnes to make good reads at the line of scrimmage, and he rewarded the faith with several big runs on keepers, amassing 56 yards on the ground himself.

They uncorked a rarely-seen screen pass. They ran a reverse for speedy wide receiver Money Parks.

The offense wound up being effective enough that they didn’t even need to go to safety Sione Vaki, who had been an offensive sparkplug on multiple occasions this season, but didn’t play one offensive snap Saturday.

They didn’t need him to.

“I mean, we have a lot of offensive weapons in that locker room right now. It’s just getting those play calls called and making sure we execute,” said Vele, whose TDs were his first of the season. “… We have a lot of weapons. I mean, we saw Munir McClain make an amazing catching the end zone; Money, we know what he can do; even Mikey Matthews — we have a lot of dudes that can do some good stuff. So it’s just one of those things. We just trust the game plan, and when our number’s called, we’ve just got to make sure we execute. That’s what really showed up today for the offensive side of the ball.”

Whittingham was asked if Barnes has had more put on his plate as the season has progressed.

He said that was true to an extent, but thought it was more about offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig finally being willing to open the playbook a bit wider.

“We put more on his plate, but I think Andy’s opening up the offense a little bit more,” said Whittingham. “It’s not necessarily [Barnes has] learned more and he’s assimilated more, but Andy’s a little less close to the vest and trusting in him.”

Jackson has a big day, but hurt again

It’s been a star-crossed season for Utah running back Ja’Quinden Jackson.

The converted QB who took over as the team’s primary running back last season owing to injuries figured to be their bell cow in the 2023 season. And he has been — when he’s healthy.

But a nagging right ankle injury has made it difficult for him to be consistently productive.

He was having one of his best games of the season Saturday vs. Arizona State — right up until he got injured again.

A 54-yard touchdown run in the third quarter not only put the Utes up 31-3, but gave him 111 rushing yards on just 13 carries. It also spelled the end of his day.

Jackson was tackled as he crossed the goal line, and went down awkwardly. He stayed down for a time, before being helped off the field by a few teammates. After a few minutes of examination on the sideline, he eventually limped back to the locker room. He was subsequently ruled out for the remainder of the game.

“Same injury, yeah. And we’ll see how he responds. He’s a warrior and he keeps coming back, but it keeps recurring,” Whittingham said postgame. “They fell on the ankle when he dove in the end zone. He’s been battling that for essentially the whole season, and is just trying to muster through it.”

O-line was mashing

It wasn’t just Jackson having success on the ground.

Utah finished with a ridiculous 352 yards rushing, and many, many players got involved.

Barnes had his 56 yards on keepers. Backup running back Jaylon Glover had one of his best games of the season, carrying 14 times for 66 yards. Backup QB Nate Johnson had two huge runs, totaling 79 yards, one of which was 59 yards for a score. Even Charlie Vincent got in on the act late, carrying four times for 33 yards and a score.

It wasn’t just the runners getting it done.

A week after Whittingham critiqued the offensive line for not being particularly effective, they dominated the line of scrimmage vs. Arizona State.

“Well, they were just in sync, playing physical, knocking people off the ball, and missed very few assignments,” he said. “I’ll have to watch the tape to get exactly what transpired assignment-wise, but as the game was going on, you could see that we’re fitting up the run game and getting movement. And that’s what it takes.”

Barnes threw even more credit their way.

“Alignment, assignment, and technique — that’s kind of just how it rolls up there up front. I mean, we’ve got some bullies up there,” he said. “It’s definitely good to see us put up those type of running numbers. It’s all O-block. Our running backs were definitely making plays, but they ain’t getting anywhere without O-block pushing ’em up.”

Defense manhandled an overmatched ASU offense

Sure, Utah’s defenders weren’t upset that Arizona State came in playing third-string quarterback Trenton Bourget because its top two options were already injured.

And when Jonah Elliss dealt Bourget a hit that temporarily knocked him out of the game, leading to fourth-stringer Jacob Conover going in, well, that was quite the bonus.

Neither quarterback looked particularly good, and they certainly weren’t done any favors by a piecemeal offensive line that looked under siege all afternoon.

Still, even with all those caveats accounted for, the final stats were staggering.

Historically ugly, some might say.

Arizona State was held to 83 yards total — 43 on the ground and 40 through the air.

Conover finished 5 of 22. Bourget completed 3 of 6 passes — for minus-1 yard. ASU had negative passing yardage until 48 seconds remained in the first half.

The Sun Devils managed just 1.5 yards per carry, and 1.4 yards per play. They converted only 1 of 15 third-down chances.

“The front seven was outstanding, the back end was good too. … We just played a complete game on all three levels,” said Whittingham. “… When the defense is clicking and in sync and not on our heels like we were last week, we’re really good.”

He had said in the lead-up that he didn’t expect a ton of sacks against ASU because their scheme is designed to get the ball out quick, but the Uyes totaled four sacks, including 1.5 by Jonah Elliss, who now has 11.5 on the season.

Meanwhile, cornerback Miles Battle had an outstanding game.

He nearly got an interception in the second quarter off a deflection, and had a 20-yard return afterward. However, the ball was ruled to have hit the ground upon review. He wound up getting a pick later on, though, as he outleaped an Arziona State receiver on a jump-ball heave to the midfield mark in the third quarter.

“That was very satisfying,” Battle said. “… I had a little bit of a feeling [the first one] might be called back from the jump, but if the whistle doesn’t blow, you got to keep playing. So when it did get called back, I wasn’t too sad — I knew they’d try it again. So I had to make the play, and I did.”

Special teams didn’t have a great week

If we’re going to nitpick any area of Utah’s performance, the only real option would be on special teams.

There were a trio of miscues:

• After Vele’s second touchdown, they allowed a 78-yard kickoff return, which directly contributed to ASU’s only points of the game, a 35-yard field goal with 3:08 left in the opening quarter.

“The kickoff return obviously was a big downer,” said Whittingham. “I have to watch the tape, [but] I think somebody got double-teamed, and we lost a guy, there was an open lane, and we rotated the wrong way with a couple of guys.”

• Kicker Cole Becker missed a 37-yard field goal with 9:30 left in the second quarter.

• ASU returned a punt for a touchdown in the third quarter, and while a holding call negated the score and pushed the ball back, Utah’s coach still saw a few flaws from his team on the play.

“Our gunners got hung up — we rely on those gunners, those outside guys, to go down and make the play,” said Whittingham. “But the main thing wrong with that was we didn’t have any hang time on the punt. It was like a 3.5 hang, and that’s a recipe for disaster — a long punt with no hang time. That’s what it was. Jack [Bouwmeester]’s been great for us all season long, but that was not one of his better punts.”

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