Utah Football: 3 keys to victory vs. Washington State in Week 5

1. Play clean

Second-and-5 for the Utes and, oh, there’s a whistle before the snap. “False start, offense. Repeat second down.” Now it’s second-and-10 and then third-and-3 for the Utes. There’s a first down run, but there’s a flag down in the backfield. “Holding, Utah. Ten-yard penalty, repeat third down.” It’s third down and 13.

That was the story of the night for the Utes. It’s would be disrespectful to say the Trojans didn’t deserve to win the game, but the Utes did all they could to help them win.

Utah had so many drives in plus territory and didn’t score because penalties kept them off schedule. When you’re a run-based team, you aren’t built to convert third-and-7 or more. Utah certainly isn’t.

All in all, the Utes committed 16 penalties for 120 yards. Many of those penalties killed drives that had momentum. The Utes moved the ball well all evening against USC, but stubbed their toes with penalties. Not only did many of those penalties kill drives for Utah, but some extended drives for the Trojans. Matt Fink did just fine carving up the Utah secondary; he didn’t need any help from the Utes defensive penalties.

They need to do two things to win this game Saturday night. They need to stay on the field and score, and they need to get Washington State off the field on third down. In order to do that, they can’t hurt themselves or help Wazzu with penalties.