Colorado mercifully wraps up its 2022 season Saturday with a home game against No. 14 Utah that – while not Nebraska – could very fairly be described as a rivalry.
The Buffs haven’t beaten the Utes since 2016 and fell in their matchup last season, 28-13, while Utah was on its way to securing a berth in the Rose Bowl.
Under coach Kyle Whittingham, the Utes have become one of the steadiest teams in the Pac-12, a program that regularly competes with and even beats conference foes with more resources and inherent advantages. Over the past nine seasons, Utah has compiled a record of 76-34, with three double-digit-win campaigns and seven (soon to be eight) bowl appearances.
In the lead-up to Saturday’s season finale, let’s take a closer look at the Utes.
Game details
Who | Colorado (1-10, 1-7 Pac-12) vs. Utah (8-3, 6-2)
Where | Folsom Field
When | 2 p.m. MT Saturday
TV | Pac-12 Network
Utah Utes (8-3)
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Conference: Pac-12
Coach: Kyle Whittingham (19th season at Utah, 152-73 career record)
2021 record: 10-4
Scoring offense rank (of 131 Football Bowl Subdivision teams): 16th (37.3 PPG)
Scoring defense rank: T-24th (20 PPG)
Total offense rank: 25th (450 YPG)
Total defense rank: 24th (329.5 YPG)
Five players to know
1. QB Cameron Rising (No. 7): A first-team all-conference selection last season, Rising has largely played up to the high standard he set in 2021. He has thrown for 19 touchdowns and 2,395 yards, though his interceptions are up from last season, to seven. Three of those, however, came in a single game, a loss last week at Oregon. He’s a threat on the ground, as well, with 378 rushing yards and six touchdowns while averaging 6.4 yards per carry.
2. TE Dalton Kincaid (No. 86): Kincaid has been Rising’s favorite target this season, with the two forming a connection that has made the former one of the best, most accomplished tight ends in the sport. An Associated Press midseason all-American, the 6-foot-4, 240-pound Kincaid has a team-high 61 catches for 748 yards and seven touchdowns.
3. DB Clark Phillips III (No. 1): Phillips has been a menace in the secondary to the Utes’ opponents. His six interceptions tie him for the FBS lead and he’s made those takeaways count as wo of those interceptions were returned for touchdowns. The sophomore also had a team-high five passes defended, as well as a sack. For his career, he has four pick-sixes, making him just one of two FBS players with that many.
4. OL Braeden Daniels (No. 71): As a sophomore last season, Daniels earned second-team all-conference honors, an accomplishment he has built on in 2022. He has been a key piece on an offensive line that has only given up eight sacks, tied for sixth nationally, and is tied for 11th in tackles for loss allowed.
5. LB Karene Reid (No. 21): The sophomore has done a little bit of everything for Utah from the roving linebacker position this season. His four sacks are the most of any active player on the team. He’s third on the team in tackles, with 61, only five out of the team lead. He has made a difference in pass coverage, as well, with two passes defended and an interception.
What Utah does well
It can be difficult to narrow down what Utah does well because there are simply so many things. As it has been for so much of Whittingham’s tenure, the Utes are a strong, solid and fundamentally sound group with few, if any, obvious flaws.
They’re strong situationally, ranking among the top 30 teams nationally in third-down conversion offense and defense, as well as fourth-down conversion percentage offense and defense. They’re opportunistic defensively, with four defensive touchdowns, two of which came from Phillips. There’s the aforementioned offensive line and the way it has dominated the line of scrimmage against so many of its opponents. They control games, ranking sixth in time of possession. They make few mistakes, too, as they’re 20th in the FBS in fewest penalty yards per game.
Overwhelming as they may be, teams like USC and Oregon are relatively unbalanced, with explosive offenses and suspect defenses. Between the talent they have on the roster and the way they’ve been coached, the Utes are perhaps the most well-rounded team in the Pac-12.
Where Utah is vulnerable
If the last section were any indication, there aren’t many areas of the game in which the Utes aren’t at least decent. There are some special teams concerns, as Utah is 96th in kickoff return defense and 123rd in kickoff returns.
Despite the pieces the offense sports, the Utes’ red-zone offense hasn’t been particularly strong, with only 49 scores in 61 trips inside the opposing 20, placing them 92nd in the FBS in red-zone offense.
Key stat
Utah has won nine of the past 10 matchups against Colorado dating back to 2012. The Utes have won those games by an average of 21.2 points and during that stretch, they haven’t won by fewer than 15 points.
Key matchup
J.T. Shrout against the Utah secondary (but mostly Phillips). Since re-assuming the role as Colorado’s starting quarterback on Oct. 22, Shrout has thrown seven interceptions in five games, compared to just four touchdowns. He has been too inaccurate and mistake-prone to have the Buffs’ offense operating anywhere close to the level it needs to in order to make up for the nation’s worst scoring defense. Of those seven interceptions, five of them led to a touchdown from the opposing team on its ensuing drive. For Colorado to have any chance to keep up with a Utah offense that will put up points against the Buffs, it will need to be productive in a way it hasn’t been offensively for so much of this season. And to do that, Shrout can’t make the same miscues that have defined his stint as a starter, particularly with one of the sport’s best defensive backs lurking to capitalize on those mistakes.
