Upon Further Review: Utah Football’s 22-19 Win Over Oklahoma State

Sep 23, 2024, 9:44 AM | Updated: 4:20 pm

Utah Insider

SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Football has improved to 4-0 in 2024 after a 22-19 victory over Oklahoma State. The game was never all that close as Utah had clear control of the game until the final five minutes of the final quarter.

Upon further review, a few things stood out.

Utah Football's first test was always coming in week four when they would venture into the Big 12 heartland to saddle up against Oklahoma State…#GoUtes #Big12FB #CFB https://t.co/dz1tUVWq91

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) September 22, 2024

The immediate takeaways from Saturday’s game were obvious. But, there are a few additional takeaways from the game.

Upon further review, the right side of the line is moving people

Offensivelive linemen rarely get the credit they’re due. Utah’s offensive line plays a vital role in their success as a program. That was certainly the case against Oklahoma State.

Running for 273 yards, 249 after sack adjustments, speaks to good overall success. The right-side duo of Spencer Fano and Michael Mokofisi were particularly effective in generating movement along the line of scrimmage.

The Utes ran for 140 yards on 17 carries to the right side of the line (outside shoulder of the guard and out). Fano and Mokofisi consistently collapsed the right side of the line, which provided plenty of space to operate on play-side runs or cutback opportunities on the backside.

This is also reflected in the per-carry averages for the season. Utah is gaining an average of 5.3 yards to the B-gap (between G and T), 9.6 yards to the C-gap (outside T), and 5.6 yards to the D-gap (outside TE).

Upon further review, Utah effectively countered OSU’s quick pass attack

Though not in the manner we’ve grown accustomed to. Utah has one of the top sack rates in the country and one of the higher pressure rates as well. That’s primarily how Utah has disrupted opposing passing attacks through three games.

Oklahoma State has limited the impact of opposing pass rushes with a quick passing attack. Coming into the game, Alan Bowman had the seventh-fastest time to throw at 2.26 seconds.

He beat that quick trigger with an average of 2.13 seconds to throw. He took the snap, planted his foot, and got the ball out.

However, Morgan Scalley countered correctly by putting the onus on the defensive backs. Six Utah defensive backs combined for 3 pass breakups and 2 interceptions. They made the Cowboys an inefficient attack as they allowed just 14 receptions on 34 targets, which led to 170 yards, good for just 5.0 yards per attempt.

They accomplished this by playing with effective physicality but also by mixing up coverages to create confusion.

Elijah Davis was a standout performer in the game. He limited the Cowboys to just 2 receptions on 6 targets while hauling in an interception like a receiver. His quick development has been truly impressive to follow over the past few weeks.

Smith Snowden and Alaka’i Gilman were also really effective in the game. Gilman made an incredible effort on an interception, while Snowden seemingly just missed on a couple of interceptions himself.

Scooby interception 👉 walk-in Brant Kuithe TD #GoUtes https://t.co/0TwUpjvbaw

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) September 21, 2024

Upon further review, whatever Ollie Gordon gained, he earned

Stopping the run is always priority No.1 for Utah, which was evident this weekend. The Cowboys ended up with 48 yards on the ground and only 56 yards before sack adjustments.

Though Utah only ended up with 3 tackles for loss, they were consistently making at or behind the line of scrimmage. Utah finished with 17 stops (tackles for 0-2 yard gains) in the game, 6 of those were Ollie Gordon runs.

Gordon was the big focus in the game and Utah limited him to just 42 yards on 11 carries, 40 of those yards came after contact. Whatever he got, he earned and Utah did a good job of limiting that number.