Analysis: No. 12 Utah’s clutch 4th quarter sealed the win over Kansas, but the Utes have things to clean up

After throwing a 1-yard touchdown pass to “rhino” tight end Semi Taulanga to put Utah up 34-24 over Kansas with 10:45 left in the fourth quarter Saturday at Rice-Eccles Stadium, Utes quarterback Devon Dampier belted out a yell, letting his voice ring to the sky while pumping his fist.

On the most important play of the game — fourth and 1 from the Kansas 1-yard line — Utah and Dampier threw the ball to a 317-pound defensive tackle-turned-tight end who had two receptions in his career before Saturday.

Taulanga, who is frequently used as a blocker in Utah’s offense, lined up beside Dampier, who faked the handoff to running back Wayshawn Parker. Taulanga initially looked like he was going to be Parker’s lead blocker, but he instead veered to the right.

No Jayhawk defender covered him, and Dampier, who had a Kansas defender in his face, placed the pass perfectly.

In the biggest moment of his career, Taulanga grabbed the ball and turned into the end zone for his first career touchdown.

“We’ve been working that play for Semi to get the ball,” Dampier said. “As an offensive group, we all wanted that play to be executed. I’m happy we got that close to the box. We were able to run it.”

It’s a play Utah has practiced all year, waiting for the right time to use it. Offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven decided fourth and 1 was the moment and trusted Taulanga with the most important play of the night.

“A lot of guts, but a lot of trust, too. It’s not like that was the first time we practiced that,” said Utah coach Morgan Scalley. “… That’s a guy that has bought into team football and that’s why everyone was so fired up when he got his opportunity.

“I mean, he just blocks and blocks and blocks and sacrifices his body for the running backs, for the quarterbacks.”

On the ensuing Kansas drive, Jayhawks quarterback Isaiah Marshall carved up Utah’s defense through the air — something that happened a lot during Saturday’s game — and got Kansas down to the red zone quickly with passes of 41 and 30 yards.

In the red zone, though, the Utes stiffened up, forcing an incompletion on second and 1. A false start by the Jayhawks in front of a rocking Rice-Eccles Stadium backed them up to the 6-yard line, and the Utes stopped receiver Carson Bruhn just short of the goal line to set up a pivotal fourth and 1.

Marshall kept it, but Rabbit Evans and Johnathan Hall were there to make sure he didn’t get in the end zone, preserving Utah’s 10-point lead.

Running back Wayshawn Parker then ripped a 90-yard touchdown run on third and 1 to essentially ice the game for Utah.

“They put the trust with the ball in my hands,” Parker said. “I tell coach McGiven every time, ‘You get the ball in my hands, I’m going to make it work.’ That’s what I did.”

In a game wherein the Utes played poorly for long stretches, they delivered when it mattered most, improving to 5-0 with a 41-24 victory over 2-3 Kansas.

“It’s a game of momentum and you got to be able to steal it back if you don’t have it,” Scalley said.

With the win, Scalley secured the best start to a career by a Utah coach, surpassing Jim Fassel’s record of 5-0, but Scalley will have a lot to go over with his team in film review.

“Now, there’s a lot to clean up. There’s a lot to learn from in this one,” Scalley said, while emphasizing that it’s tough to win in college football.

The most glaring deficiency in was in pass defense.

Marshall entered the game having completed just 54.8% of his passes for 810 yards and six touchdowns with three interceptions. Against FBS opponents, Kansas ran the ball nearly 60% of the time — one of the higher percentages in college football.

Utah bottled up Kansas’ rushing attack that featured running back Dylan Edwards and the dual-threat Marshall, forcing the Jayhawks to beat the Utes through the air.

Marshall responded by throwing for 333 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. While his completion percentage was just 55%, when he did connect, it often went a large gain.

Marshall had 11 completions that went for 15 or more yards.

When facing dual-threat quarterbacks this season, the Utes have opted to place a priority on containing the quarterback. That part of the plan was a success — Marshall rushed for just 21 yards — but the lack of pressure meant Marshall often had plenty of time to throw the ball.

“You got to mix it up. You can’t be one dimensional. You can’t be predictable, and I thought (defensive coordinator Colton Swan) did a really good job of mixing it up,” Scalley said.

“Bottom line is (Marshall) is elusive and he’s made a lot of people look silly, so we’ll face some more of those and we’ll look at the film and find out exactly where the breakdowns were. I think a couple of those were just losing contain when you’ve got contain responsibility.”

Marshall had an average of 2.85 seconds before throwing the ball, and the lack of pressure put a lot of strain on Utah’s secondary, which was playing man coverage. That unit couldn’t hold up for the length of time Marshall had to pass, and he continually punished the Utes.

“Some of it’s aligning quicker, getting aligned quicker. Some of it is you’re in man coverage and you got to find the ball, and some of it is — guess what — they had scholarship players too and they made great plays, so we’ll look at the film and improve where we can improve,” Scalley said of the pass defense.

Scalley noted that “17.5 (yards) per completion is not good enough. Not playing clean enough, not executing at a high enough level. We’ll win, but we won’t win at the highest level, so we’ve got to clean some stuff up, but it’s nice to be able to do that after a win and our guys are pretty resilient and they’re pretty focused on getting better.”

Utah’s offense overcame a rough second quarter that saw it score on just one of four possessions. Dampier looked hesitant in his decisions and was underthrowing deep balls. A couple of the underthrows were bailed out by pass interference calls, but he did throw an interception in the second quarter.

After halftime, Dampier looked back to his normal self, throwing two second-half touchdowns and connecting with receiver Ricky Johnson for a 45-yard gain.

In all, Dampier threw for 132 yards on an 80% completion rate.

“That’s a huge shout out to my whole entire team,” Dampier said. “They could tell I was frustrated. I hold myself to a high standard and just the fact I had every single teammate just come up to me, ‘Dev, we know what you’re capable of. We’re good. Settle in. We got you, man,’ just to hear that from so many of my teammates, we preach running off of love. We preach full team bonding, and it definitely showed at halftime and I think that’s why I was able to come out the way I did in the second half.”

The Utes notably went away from Parker during the second quarter, giving him the ball only three times, but went back to him in the second half. Parker had eight carries for 134 yards in the final two quarters of the game.

“My job is trusting (McGiven), and the fact that we’re not predictable allows for the chunk plays that we see,” Scalley said. “Sometimes that’s going to mean that Wayshawn doesn’t just get the ball every down, but we think it adds to the efficiency of what we’re doing.”

With the way that the game started, it looked like Utah was going to run away with another blowout victory at home. McGiven’s creativity was on full display on the Utes’ first two drives, both of which ended with touchdowns.

On their game-opening touchdown drive, their fifth game-opening touchdown this season, three players took a snap — Dampier, Byrd Ficklin and Parker.

On one play, Ficklin faked the pitch to Dampier and took it himself for eight yards. Parker found the end zone from the wildcat to open the scoring.

After the opening touchdown drive, Utah forced a three and out and Dampier connected with Johnson for a 44-yard gain. A Dampier read option fooled Kansas — and half of the stadium — as the Utes went up 14-0 after less than nine minutes of game time.

Cornerback James Chenault then picked off Marshall, and it looked like Utah was about to overwhelm the Jayhawks before the first quarter ended. Instead, the Utes didn’t do anything with the turnover, going three and out in a bit of foreshadowing for the rest of the first half.

In an incredibly long and strange second quarter, the Utes continually shot themselves in the foot offensively.

After Dampier fumbled near the end of the first quarter (and a face mask was called on the Utes), Kansas had favorable field position for the first time all game at the Utah seven-yard line. The Jayhawks cashed in with a Marshall touchdown pass to close the gap to 14-7.

Utah’s offensive responded well, driving 75 yards in seven plays to push the lead to 21-7. That drive included a Ficklin run for a first down after a fake pitch to Dampier and another fake pitch from Ficklin to Dampier, except this time he threw it to Braden Pegan for 20 yards.

Two pass interference penalties on the drive, including one on 3rd and 14, kept the Utes’ drive alive. After the second of the two pass interference calls, Kansas coach Lance Leipold ran out onto the field to scream at the referees and was called for unsportsmanlike contact. That moved the ball to the Kansas six-yard line, where Dampier connected with tight end Noah Bennee for a score.

The second-quarter weirdness was just starting. During the two-hour first half, there were many reviews and 12 combined penalties.

After the touchdown, Utah forced yet another Kansas three and out, but the Utes were unable to take advantage.

Dampier tucked the ball and ran five yards, but saw Ficklin streaking down the field and pitched the ball to him for a total gain of 20 yards, but it was called back for an illegal forward pass. The long pitch started at the Kansas 47-yard-line, but by the time Ficklin caught the pitch, he was at the 46-yard line, which meant it was a forward pass.

That play halted Utah’s momentum and started the run of three fruitless drives to close the first half.

With 1:53 left in the second quarter after Dampier was stopped on third down, Scalley decided to go for it on fourth-and-3 from the Kansas 33-yard-line instead of kicking a field goal that could have put Utah up 24-7. Many of Scalley’s aggressive decisions have paid off this season, but that one backfired as Dampier was sacked.

Kansas was able to seize the moment and started finding success attacking Utah’s secondary, first with a five-play, 66-yard touchdown drive that featured a 32-yard completion.

Dampier’s next pass was intercepted and Kansas cashed in with a pair of competitions — 36 and 15 yards — that led to a field goal.

At halftime, Utah led by just four points, but the Utes outscored the Jayhawks 20-7 in the second half and held Kansas scoreless in the fourth quarter to stay undefeated.

“Not a clean game by any stretch, but it’s tough to win in college football and we’re 5-0 right now,” Scalley said. “I’m proud of the guys. I think we’re really resilient. Stuff happens and they’re able to bounce back.”