Utah Football Shuts Out Bengals, 31-0

Saturday, September 14

Salt Lake City, Utah

2:15 PM

University of Utah

3-0

Idaho State

1-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Idaho State

UTAH

Photo by: Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports

9/14/2019 5:48 PM | Football

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SALT LAKE CITY – The University of Utah football team improved to 3-0 today, ending non-conference play with a 31-0 shutout against the Idaho State Bengals.

For the third game in a row, the Utah defense was smothering, holding Idaho State to just 116 yards on offense. Idaho State finished the game with 36 rushing yards, the third straight week that the Utes have held their opponent to under 100 yards rushing.

The Utes record 543 yards of total offense with a well-balanced 320 yards passing and 223 yards on the ground. Utah averaged 8.8 yards per play compared to Idaho State's 2.4, also taking a heavy advantage in time of possession with 37:10 to 22:50.

Senior Tyler Huntley finished the game 15-of-19 passing (0 INT) for 282 yards and three touchdowns, including a career long 82-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter. Zack Moss notched 106 rushing yards on 10 carries and a touchdown, pushing him into second all-time in 100-yard rushing games, career rushing touchdowns and career rushing yards.

Utah had nine different athletes catch at least one pass today with Bryan Thompson posting his first 100-yard receiving game, finishing with 105 yards on two catches and two touchdowns. Brant Kuithe also added three catches for 80 yards and a touchdown.

Devin Lloyd led the Utes on defense with nine tackles, including a career-best 3.5 tackles for loss and a sack. R.J. Hubert had his first career start at safety today, finishing with a career high six tackles with Francis Bernard also adding six stops.

The scoring started early for the Utes after Moss broke free for a 25-yard rush on the first play of Utah's first drive. The Utes were stopped at the Idaho State 17-yard line with Utah turning to Jadon Redding to knock in his first collegiate field goal (35 yards) to give Utah a 3-0 lead with 12:17 left in the first quarter.

The Bengals were forced to punt on their next offensive drive with Utah regaining possession on its own 29-yard line. The Utes would end up driving down field on the ground with Moss accounting for 50 of the 71 yards in the scoring drive, including a 39-yard downhill rush that set up his one-yard rushing touchdown to put Utah up 10-0 with 5:57 on the clock.

Huntley would strike on Utah's next offensive drive with a career long 82-yard bomb to Thompson to give the Utes a 17-0 advantage with 1:26 remaining in the first quarter. It was the longest pass by a Ute since 2009 and the 10^th longest pass in program history.

The Utes would continue to ramp up the score with 12:53 to play in the second quarter as Utah started its drive on its own 29-yard line. After a few rushes that resulted in a first down to the Utah 40, Huntley would link up with Kuithe for a 60-yard pass with the tight end putting on the moves to get into the end zone for a 24-0 Utah lead.

After the remainder of the second quarter went scoreless, the Utes jumped back on the board in the third quarter on a 23-yard receiving touchdown by Thompson, his second touchdown catch of the game and Huntley's third passing score of the game. It was Utah's third straight scoring drive for over 80 yards, ending with eight plays to take 4:15 off the clock and give Utah a 31-0 lead.

Huntley's 23-yard passing touchdown would be the last scoring drive of the game as Utah held Idaho State scoreless for the remainder of the game. The Utes held the Bengals to 27 yards of total offense in the fourth quarter with Utah holding the ball for 12:08 compared to 2:52 to secure its 31-0 win.