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In the last two games, Utah’s offense has scored a total of seven points in the first quarter.
But in the second quarter against SUU and San Diego StateUtava scored 59 points.
Utah scored 38 points in the second quarter against the Thunderbirds and 21 points in the second quarter against the Aztecs.
“Obviously we’re working on starting a little bit faster this week. In the first quarter, the last couple of games, we’ve been a little bit off. This will be a big focus going forward.” — Utah offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig
How The Utahns jump into Pac-12 play Saturday (8:30 p.m. MDT, ESPN) at Arizona State, they know they need to get off to a much faster start — scoring more points in the first quarter.
“It was two games. I don’t think this is a crisis mode or a time to panic. We just didn’t start the way we wanted,” he said coach Kyle Whittingham. “There was a fall in the first ride on Saturday night. … It would be ideal to start better than that offensively. We’ll make some adjustments in practice this week to try to get an early start and fix that.”
Offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig said he was generally pleased with the offense’s play, but acknowledged the emphasis this week is on getting out of the gate quicker.
“Obviously we’re working on starting a little faster this week,” Ludwig said. “In the first quarter the last couple of games, we’ve been a little bit off. This will be a big focus going forward.”
Ludwig added that “several factors” played a role in Utah’s slow starts.
“There are some executions, some play calls, there are some things the defense does as well,” he said. “They have something to do with it. But I am pleased with the tenacity of the group and the way they see things through.”
Against SDSU, Utah punted on its first two drives, then failed to convert on fourth-and-3, turning the ball over on a punt. The Utahs were then forced to punt on their first possession of the second quarter.
“We just couldn’t get into a rhythm offensively,” Whittingham said. “We just found a way to kill the discs.”
Then, Whittingham said, the floodgates opened late in the period with three straight field goals to take a 21-0 halftime lead.
Whittingham attributed some of the early problems to SDSU’s active 3-3-5 defense.
“You don’t see that much anymore. It’s almost like a pick-and-roll defense,” he said. “It has to be planned and practiced. It takes a little time to get used to it.”
Hard end Brant Kuite said it’s important to score early.
“It starts soon. We cannot start slowly,” he said. “We did it last week. We must quickly start from the beginning. … You saw that in the beginning we didn’t score much. Especially against ASU, the team they have, no matter what their record is, we have to start fast. This is a Power Five team and they have players on their team that can win for their games. We have to start soon.”
Wide receiver Solomon Ennis said the offense is working on quicker starts.
“Just getting ready in the sense that we have to go fast. We don’t have the time or luxury to have everything go the way we want,” he said. “Sometimes we have to go right away. I think that’s the main thing we have to work on this week.”
What changed for Utah’s offense in the second quarter against SDSU?
“The poise and composure of the group,” Ludwig said. “It would have been very easy to get upset and frustrated and things would have gone very badly. But the guys got together and started playing.”
From the beginning of the game, the attacker needs to play hard.
“We want to play great for four quarters. We’re going to address that in some of the things we do in practice,” Ludwig said. “We will start training a little faster. The only thing our players do is respond to challenges.”
Whittingham wants the offense to reach its potential.
“Offensively, we weren’t as productive as I thought we could be,” he said. “Unfortunately, we are a veteran group. It was disappointing how we controlled the ball early in the game. We go normally as the games go. As we pick up the speed of the running game, the action game follows suit. Everything opens up. We played decent football (on Saturday) but not up to our standards. We were below 200 yards. When we press, we’re over 200 yards.”
A big part of Utah’s ability to reach that potential starts quickly — with higher performance in the first quarter.
Utah is on the air
#13 Utah (2-1) at Arizona State (1-2)
Saturday, 8:30pm MDT
Sun Devil Stadium
TV: ESPN
radio: ESPN 700