Utah Football: After Bounce-Back at Pitt, Utes Head to Bay Area vs. Cal

Utah bounced back in a must-win last Saturday at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh for their 2011 season to conclude with their ninth-straight bowl appearance with a 26-14 victory over the Pittsburgh Panthers.

Some concerning and rare letups on special teams put the Utes down 14-3 in the second quarter, but Utah fought back in the face of that adversity and was able to pull within one just before halftime with a pretty darn lucky completion play that resulted in a touchdown.

Pitt went into the locker room at the half with only a 14-13 lead because Utah QB Jon Hays got rid of a pass just in time as he was rushed and hit by a Pitt defender, and the ball, which in the first place was a short and inaccurate pass headed for the ground short of WR Luke Matthews thrown off Hays' back foot, was tipped up by another Pitt defender which then landed right in Matthews' hands streaking across the middle behind the Pitt secondary and he ran the 30 yards into the end zone.

Pitt would not score once on offense and all their points would come from their special teams' scores on a kickoff returned for a touchdown and a blocked punt deep in Utah territory which was also returned for a touchdown. Those both came in the first half and Utah's defense impressively shut out the Pitt offense and their musical rotating quarterbacks, Sunseri and Anderson.

Utah's running game was on target as John White IV ran for over 170 yards and the Utes' kicker Coleman Petersen connected on four out of four field goals including the go-ahead score in the third quarter when Utah took the lead, 16-14. Utah would go up 19-14 later in the second half and would then close the game out with an interception returned for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter by lineman Derrick Shelby to cap the scoring off with a final score of 26-14.

It was certainly Utah's defense that did most of the work in this game. It is being said that the Utes' identity this season, with a stingy defense and a limited offense with regular starting QB Jordan Wynn injured and out for the rest of the season and a very experience-limited backup QB now starting in Jon Hays, is one that involves relying on the defense to make big plays and stuff the opponents' strengths on offense. It is also one that has the Utah offense avoiding big mistakes and turnovers and just managing the game, not doing anything spectacular.

It should be interesting to see what happens the rest of the season, as the Utes have a much easier schedule to finish out the second half of the season than they did in the first. Their remaining six opponents (Cal, Oregon State, Arizona, UCLA, Washington State and Colorado) have a combined record of 13-26 while their first six opponents they have already faced have a combined record of 29-11. Quite an opposite difference.

Will the Utes get their first Pac-12 conference win tomorrow in San Francisco at AT&T Park against the Cal Golden Bears? It will depend on if their defense can limit Cal's offense and if the Utah offense can do some good solid things with avoiding turnovers.

Expect to see a close game tomorrow in the City by the Bay, but don't expect it to be a pretty one. Both teams will be fighting for their first conference win and a winning record as both stand at 3-3 overall and 0-3 in Pac-12 play.