To no surprise Terrance Cain took the field on the Utes first drive and took only two plays to throw his first FBS touchdown pass with a slant to David Reed for 65 yards. The notice has been put out to college football Matt Asiata is a stud and had a workhorse load with 36 rushes, 156 yards, and two scores. Thene there is David Reed who put up huge numbers with 10 catches for 172 yards and a score.
Terrance Cain looked very good 20 for 29 with 286 yards and two scores. The only concern is that Cain did not throw a down field pass which could come back to bite the Utes when they play good teams with speed, and when he did challenge down field he was not as accurate. He looked good with the quick passes and using the check receivers. The only concern was the pick that was not off tip, or trying to use his legs to get out of the pocket which was successul in junior college but he needs to be more conserviative because this is not JUCO football any more. The other thing that Cain needs to learn was on that fourth and one on the one where he decided to go off tackle instead of running behind the big boys up the middle.
With this offensive performance Ute fans need to send thank you letters to Andy Ludwig for leaving town, because this offense looked good and was not being fancy to just be fancy. The offense was good by getting the ball to their receivers with slants and quick throws, and just running the ball up the middle with Asiata. This may seem boring football by running up the gut, but Utah plays from the gun and has multiple wide receiver sets which spreads the defense and allows the running game to open up.
Now the game was not all rosy for Utah, the Utes had three turnovers --albeit one pick was a tipped pass-- also the loss of Koa Misi may be a bigger issue if he is not back by the Oregon game. Well, maybe not because Oregon did not look good agaisnt Boise State.
Give Utah State credit defensive front for Utah was considered to be one of the best in the country but gave up a very easy 96 yard run touchdown run by Robert Turbin who also had 148 yards on the night. Fleet footed quarterback Diondre Borel to make plays with his feet by evading the rush.
The Aggie team showed effort and did not give up like they did in past games, while this game was in Utah's favor for the majority but the Aggies did not just roll over. The Aggie defense did give up 519 so they were outplayed in the game by Utah, but if you take away that 96 yard touchdown run and short field they were given this game would have been a much bigger blowout.
The Utes looked good and if they can cut down on turnovers and mental mistakes they have a chance to be in and win every game.