Utah’s offense has spent the first three weeks of the season making one thing clear: there isn’t just one player defenses can key on.
The No. 15 Utes are 3-0 and head into Saturday’s Big 12 opener at Iowa State with a group that has already spread the production around in a way that makes game-planning tricky. Head coach Morgan Scalley pointed to that balance as a major reason Utah has been so difficult to defend.
“Because of the different threats that we have, you get one wide receiver that's a dude, or you get one running back that's a dude; you can really work your game plan around taking those guys out, but when you have multiple threats, it makes it a lot easier," said Utah head coach Morgan Scalley about how difficult it is to plan for Utah's offense. "(The) offensive line's doing a really good job in protection too.”
That variety starts at quarterback, where Utah has Devon Dampier as the starter and Byrd Ficklin giving the offense another layer. Dampier has been vocal about wanting Ficklin involved, and Scalley said the second quarterback brings real value every time he’s on the field.
"I'm so blessed to have him," Scalley said of Ficklin. "He can run and catch, and he's a legit quarterback. He wants to be involved."
The numbers back up the idea of an offense with no easy answers. Utah has five players with more than 80 yards already this season, and Braden Pegan leads the group with 235 receiving yards. He also has three touchdown catches, matching Wayshawn Parker, who has scored three times on the ground.
Dampier said the way the ball gets spread around is a big part of what makes the unit work.
“If you go down the game stats, who catches the ball, I mean, I think all of them get targets," Dampier explained what it's like to work with so many threats in the pass game. "All of them get catches just because defenses have to respect every single person out there.
They're so versatile. They all have their own special things that they do.”
Wide receivers coach Chad Bumphis sees the same thing from the sideline, where the competition and versatility have made the room easier to manage and harder for defenses to predict.
“For myself, for the room, for the quarterbacks, it just makes it easy, right?" Utah wide receivers coach Chad Bumphis said.
"It keeps everybody on their toes. And again, like you said, the hot hand will play.”
Utah’s next test comes as conference play begins Saturday, and the Utes are eager to carry what they learned in non-conference games into a new stretch of the season. Dampier said those early games have already given the team useful tape and lessons to lean on.
“I'm happy we've had the learning curves from game one to game three, just to be able to see those things, to be able to go into conference play, already having games under your belt, already having situations on tape where we can learn from those in conference," Dampier said.
With Big 12 and College Football Playoff goals in mind, Utah knows the margin for error gets smaller from here. Offensive lineman Zereoue Williams said the weekly grind is part of making a statement in the league.
“You really want to tell the rest of the league in the conference, like what you're all about," Utah offensive lineman Zereoue Williams said. "Proving yourself on a week-to-week basis is like really important.”
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