On a below freezing night in Salt Lake City you’d think that if anybody was going to start slow in this one it would have been Stanford. But after getting their hands on the ball to start the game it was Utah that couldn’t get on the scoreboard after spending 4:34 moving the ball just 30 yards–against the team that allows the most rushing yards in the conference–down to the Stanford 40 where they had to punt. Their next possession was even worse as they were held to a three-and-out while Stanford, on their second chance in the Qtr drove the ball 67 yards in seven plays with most of those coming on a 51 yard Tanner McKee pass to Elijah Higgins to get the Cardinals 1st and goal at the Utah 8 yard line. Two plays later McKee ran it into the end zone and going up 7-0 to take the lead through the 1st Qtr.
I digress. The next three quarters reminded me of the defensive motto of the football team where my son went to high school—Long Beach Poly. Founded in 1895 and named in 2005 by Sports Illustrated as Sports School of the Century. Poly has produced 73 former and current NFL players like Willie McGinest, Gene Washington, Tony “Thrill” Hill, DeSean Jackson, Ju Ju Smith Schuster, Willie Brown, Winston Justice, Mercedes Lewis, Earl McCullouch—the list seems endless. But the guy I was thinking about regarding these last three quarters was Jurrell Casey who was the backbone of the defensive line for Long Beach Poly when they met and beat Orange Lutheran in a CIF Playoff game, 2-0. You’re not reading that wrong, that was the final score. Craziest game I ever saw and one in which a coach’s ego cost his team a win. Orange Luthern was sitting with the ball 1st and goal around the 5 yard line of Poly and trailing 2-0 on a Safety with very little time left in the game. They ran the ball three times right up the gut and were unable to get the ball into the end zone, stuffed each time by Jurrell Casey. Down to the final few seconds the coach called his last time out and instead of deciding to kick a field goal which would have won the game was insistent in the huddle that they were the better team, had the better offensive line, and were going to show Poly that they couldn’t be stopped. Big mistake, their pitch-out was broken up and they lost a game they could have won by just checking their ego at the huddle. The motto of the Long Beach Poly defense for many years was; “We can’t lose if they can’t score.”
Back to this game and the final three quarters where Stanford was held scoreless by Utah. Scoring 14 in the 2nd, 21 in the 3rd, and another 7 in the final quarter while stopping the Cardinal on all eight of their remaining possessions including six punts, five of those three-and-outs, and two turnovers on downs, this turned into a 42-7 blowout. With UCLA dropping the ball against Arizona, in the Rose Bowl no less, Utah is right in the thick of things to be one of the final two teams with the best conference record and play in the PAC-12 Conference Championship.
Cam Rising had another solid performance for the Utes connecting on 60% of his passes for 219 yards, 3 TD’s, and 1 pick while also rushing three times for 34 yards. Freshman QB Nate Johnson also threw for 16 yards and a TD on just 1 attempt. Utah had eight receivers, five with multiple catches, and four who caught a TD. Junior RB Tavion Thomas was a beast on the ground rushing 22 times for 180 yards, averaging over 8 yards a carry, while picking up both rushing TD’s for Utah. For Stanford, QB Tanner McKee had a tough game connecting on less than 50% of his passes for 155 yards and although he lost 15 yards rushing 11 times he did provide the Cardinal’s only score of the game on a 1 yard run into the end zone with 3:40 left in the 1st Qtr.
Against a Stanford team that’s not even a shadow of its former self from years gone by Utah led in 1st Downs, 29-9; Total Yards of Offense, 514-177; Rushing Yards, 279-22; were successful on third downs 50% of the time compared to 21%; and had possession of the ball for 9 more minutes while recording 7 sacks and 9 tackles for loss. Huge game coming up for the Utes this next Saturday as they travel to Autzen Stadium in Eugene to take on an Oregon team who just got beat at home by the Huskies and like Utah cannot afford to lose another conference game. Down in the Rose Bowl USC will be taking on UCLA. If the Trojans win that one they’ll advance for sure to the PAC-12 Championship as their season, as far as the conference is concerned, will be over and they will have lost only 1 game while UCLA has already lost two games and the loser of Utah at Oregon will also have two conference losses. We should know quite a bit after next Saturday. For Stanford, currently at 1-7 and in the basement of the PAC-12, they have one more game to lose which will be at Cal next Saturday. After that we’ll see what if anything will be done on The Farm.