Utah gamers run onto the sphere forward of sport in opposition to USC at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake Metropolis on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. After a bye week, the Utes take their present on the highway to Pullman, Washington, the place they'll face Washington State on Thursday evening. Scott G Winterton, Deseret Information
PULLMAN, Wash. — Per week after a demoralizing loss at UCLA, Utah rebounded to defeat USC at house to maintain its Pac-12 championship hopes alive.
Then got here a bye week.
“We’ll should play our greatest, little doubt about it. We’d like to maintain that momentum heading into this sport. We performed with confidence on offense. Hopefully, we are able to construct upon that.” — Utah coach Kyle Whittingham
Because the common season heads down the stretch, the Utes aren’t taking something as a right. A 12 months in the past, on the identical level of the season, they misplaced a sport within the Pacific Northwest at Oregon State.
No. 14 Utah visits Washington State Thursday (8 p.m. MDT, FS1) at Martin Stadium.
“They’re at all times a fantastic crew. Washington State’s at all times been a crew that provides us a great combat. They went toe-to-toe with Oregon and nearly gained that sport. We are able to’t overlook these guys,” mentioned huge receiver Devaughn Vele. “If we let that get to our heads, that’s once we get punched within the mouth.
“… We method each sport prefer it’s a championship sport or we method each sport like we did in opposition to USC. Each sport is monumental towards our purpose of making an attempt to make it to the Pac-12 championship.”
WSU opened the season 3-0, together with a victory at Wisconsin, and led Oregon within the second half at house again on Sept. 24.
However the Geese scored 29 fourth-quarter factors to beat the Cougars 44-41.
After beating California, WSU has dropped two straight video games to USC and Oregon State.
In opposition to the Beavers, the Cougars gave up a season-high 203 speeding yards on 47 carries.
Washington State’s protection has had its moments this season and it’s struggled at instances. It's going to face a tricky problem in opposition to the Utes offense, which is coming off a 43-42 win over USC.
In that sport, quarterback Cam Rising threw for 415 yards and was liable for 5 touchdowns; tight finish Dalton Kincaid caught 16 passes for 243 yards and a TD weeks after tight finish Brant Kuithe went down with a season-ending damage.
Cougar coach Jake Dickert is aware of his protection can’t let Kincaid get free like he did in opposition to the Trojans.
“The man simply caught 16 passes for 200-plus yards. It’s superb as a result of on the finish of the day, (Kuithe) was even higher. Kuithe’s not enjoying anymore. I believe it means that you can focus a bit extra on Kincaid and the place he’s at and what he’s doing,” Dickert mentioned. “However to flex out and be a mismatch for a nook, come again into the field and have the flexibility to kick out a D-end, then hand him the ball — I’ve seen Utah do this — the flexibility and the ability set is next-level and he has a vivid future.
“I don’t assume you ‘shut down’ a man like that however you’ve acquired to know the place he’s at. And we’ve acquired to have a possibility for our guys to make performs in opposition to him.”
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham figures WSU’s protection will give attention to slowing down Kincaid.
“I do know I'd if I used to be the defensive coordinator. It could be the first goal for those who take a look at our tape, notably our final sport, and noticed what he was capable of accomplish and do one thing to say, ‘Should you’re going to beat us, it’s acquired to be another manner than the tight finish catching 16 balls.’ We’ll see what they take into consideration,” he mentioned. “Dalton’s an actual gifted child. I don’t know which you could fully take him out of the sport however I’m certain they’ll attempt to gradual him down.”
If the Cougars give attention to limiting Kincaid, that opens up a possibility for the huge receivers to make performs.
“They’ve acquired to step their sport up and ensure they’re getting open,” Rising mentioned. “(Offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig) has a fantastic plan laid out for them. They’ve simply acquired to make the most of it.”
A kind of receivers hoping to make an affect is Vele, who had 5 receptions for 62 yards and a landing in opposition to USC.
“Dalton is a heckuva participant. Clearly, they’re going to sport plan round him and ensure he doesn’t get the touches that he usually would get,” Vele mentioned. “As receivers, we’ve acquired to know that and exploit these weaknesses. In the event that they’re doubling him, then meaning we’re going to have one-on-one matchups and anyone’s going to be open.
“However we’ve acquired to guarantee that we’re executing. We’ve acquired to guarantee that when the ball is thrown our manner, we catch the ball and that we’re working the best routes and blocking the best particular person.”
Whittingham is happy with the way in which the offense has responded after the lack of Kuithe.
“Yeah, I believe so, as evidenced by Dalton’s large day (in opposition to USC). That was by design. We knew he was going to have a giant day. Not that large. However he was very a lot the point of interest of many of the throw sport,” he mentioned.
“Devaughn Vele added his regular manufacturing and Cash Parks caught a giant one down the center on a deep ball. Yeah, we’ve had some guys step up and decide up the slack for what we miss with Brant.”
“I don’t assume we’ll ever actually fill within the position that Brant had,” Kincaid mentioned. “He’s an outstanding and particular participant which you could’t actually mimic, until you take a look at (the Los Angeles Rams’) Cooper Kupp. I believe we’re doing a great job of making an attempt to fill the void of that and placing playmakers in place to make performs.”
Rising mentioned the offense nonetheless miss Kuithe’s presence on the sphere.
“It’s by no means going to be simpler. No. 80 is a difference-maker at any time when you will have a man like that that may get open at will nearly. He’s an outstanding participant however the guys are doing the whole lot they will to proceed to step up and fill that void.”
Within the wake of a monumental win over USC, Whittingham needs his crew to select up the place it left off in opposition to Washington State.
“We’ll should play our greatest, little doubt about it,” he mentioned. “We’d like to maintain that momentum heading into this sport. We performed with confidence on offense. Hopefully, we are able to construct upon that.”
Utes on the air
No. 14 Utah (5-2, 3-1)
at Washington State (4-3, 1-3)
Thursday, 8 p.m. MDT
Martin Stadium
TV: FS1
Radio: ESPN 700