Utah Football: 3 takeaways from blowout win over Colorado in Week 14
By Dante Pryor
1. Colorado fell victim to Utah’s defense
The Utah defense is one of the best in the country. That might be something that many people didn’t know until Saturday night.
The Buffaloes were clearly over matched by the athletes the Utes have. Steven Montez had no time to throw, and the Utes did an outstanding job of scheming to have start wide receiver Laviska Shenault Jr. accounted for all game. Utah got to Montez without having to bring extra defenders to blitz. Anytime you can get home with three or four, that gives you the freedom to do what you want behind your pass rush.
Utah disguised coverage, and just beat up Colorado’s receivers all night long. The physical Utah defense disrupted the route timing all night leaving Montez to run for his life all night long.
It didn’t help that the Buffaloes couldn’t run the ball either. Their lack of an effective running game didn’t allow them to try to shorten the game. Once the Utes got the lead, they just smothered the Buffaloes’ offense.
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This is a defense that ranks No. 1 in every significant category in the Pac-12, and they demonstrated why on Saturday night.