⚡ CFB Dashboard

If you felt Colton Swan's Utah defense felt familiar, you weren't wrong. As expected, Swan's defense resembled Morgan Scalley's, albeit with a few wrinkles and surprises. One of them was that the Utes started in a 4-3. Last year Utah primarily used a 4-2-5, with the team's trio of cornerbacks arguably the defense's biggest strength. Against Idaho, Swan started three linebackers and played them together for most of the game. Trey Reynolds and Johnathan Hall got the start as expected, but the biggest surprise was seeing Elijah Elliss with the first-team defense. There had been so much offseason buzz about Cyrus Polu that most expected that if there would be a third linebacker, it would be him. Elliss lined up all over the front seven and often rushed the passer. It's clear Swan values his versatility and hopes an extra linebacker will help the Utes run defense improve from last year. While it was surprising Polu didn't get the start, it wasn't long before his first snap came. He lined up at defensive end on the first third down and showed his impressive speed as he helped force the interception. On that third down and in other obvious passing situations, the Utes brought in an extra linebacker or defensive end to add to their defensive tackles and improve their pass-rush prowess.   Utah may have only registered one sack, but they generated pressure on nearly every pass play. Lance Holtzclaw looked really good in particular. It was widely believed he would be the team's top pass rusher, and that came to fruition in the first game. While Utah did get home with four at times, they still blitzed the Vandals frequently to create chaos. They sent linebackers, safeties, and even cornerbacks on blitzes throughout the game to throw off the timing of the Idaho offense. Utah would walk down several players pre-snap to act like they were going to blitz. Sometimes they all came, and sometimes select players dropped into coverage instead. Even some of the defensive linemen would drop into coverage on certain blitzes. On one blitz, Utah brought cornerback James Chenault, who was covering a wide receiver close to the boundary. As soon as the ball was snapped, Chenault went, and Rabbit Evans had to sprint to the sideline to cover the wide receiver. These creative wrinkles make Utah's defense elite and a pain in the butt for opposing offenses. It was also great to have Evans and Nate Ritchie back on the field. Evans, in particular, gives the Utes a reliable last line of defense against the run. Jackson Bennee spent most of the game as the nickel corner and was outstanding. His coverage skills are exceptional, and the strength he added during the offseason definitely showed up on tape. Utah could miss Tao Johnson's coverage skills on the backend, but time will tell how Evans and Ritchie do at free safety. Both have been best utilized as strong safeties in the past, but it looks like they will spend most of their snaps outside the box this year. The last thing I know everyone will be curious about is the Vandals' two touchdown drives—especially the first one where Idaho ripped off a 13-play, 75-yard drive in the second quarter. The biggest issue Utah ran into on this drive was their defensive tackle depth. Jireh Moe and Karson Kaufusi were outstanding all game long, but the same cannot be said for Mike Tauteoli and Pupu Sepulona. Neither player was bad, but they lost a few reps and failed to control the middle of the field. Elliss and Polu also made a few mistakes on this drive, with both missing on one blitz in particular that could have ended the drive. On the second touchdown, the long run from Idaho quarterback Joshua Wood. Hotzclaw lost contain, allowing Wood to avoid Ritchie on the blitz and eventually run into the end zone. On both drives, the Utes made easily fixable mistakes, and I trust Utah's coaching staff to work with the team to improve. It was only one game, and it's easy to nitpick what was an outstanding defensive performance.