Utah CFB Offensive Awards: Week 9
5 games for 5 teams took place this last weekend involving Utah D1 schools.
BYU stayed undefeated and continued their storybook season by taking over FBC Mortgage Stadium in Orlando, dispatching the UCF Knights in impressive fashion with a 37-24 win that saw the Cougars up by as much as 24 at one point.
Utah State went into Laramie and knocked off Mountain West foe, Wyoming, in the battle for Bridger’s rifle, escaping the Cowboy state with a 27-25 win due to a last second 40 yard field goal off the foot of Tanner Cragun.
Southern Utah evened up their record at 4-4 and went 3-1 in UAC conference play in Carrollton, Georgia, toppling the West Georgia Wolves 28-17.
The Utah Utes went to Houston and dropped their 4th consecutive contest, falling to the Cougars in the 4th quarter as Houston overcame a 14-7 Utah lead to eventually hit a walk off 43 yard field goal, picking up a 17-14 win.
Utah Tech slipped to 0-9 on the season despite a 231-75 passing yards advantage to Eastern Kentucky. The Colonels would win in front of the home town faithful 28-17.
Weber State was on a bye week.
With 5 games, 5 teams and their athletes are eligible for our weekly awards, this time of the offensive variety.
Here’s what we are giving away:
Awards will be given to the following:
BEST QB
BEST RB
BEST PASS CATCHER
Reminder: We are naming the top offensive efforts from the following groups at the D1 level in Utah and Utah only.
Lets-a-go.
QUARTERBACK: JAKE RETZLAFF, BYU COUGARS
Every Utah QB not named Isaac Wilson or Brandon Rose threw at least two touchdowns this weekend making the competition tight for this weeks award.
So lets get into the nitty gritty here.
Utah State’s Spencer Petras: 25/39 (64 %), 194 yards, 2 touchdowns
Utah Tech’s Bronson Barben: 22/39 (56 %). 231 yards, 2 touchdowns
Southern Utah’s Jackson Berry: 16/20 (80 %), 257 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception.
BYU’s Jake Retzlaff: 16/24 (67 %), 228 yards, 2 touchdowns.
Barben and Petras had the touchdowns, but the pass attempt numbers (39) combined with overall yardage and the completion percentage doesn’t pack enough punch for me here.
Barben does however leap over Petras by totaling 54 total rush yards gained on the day.
Jackson Berry leads the way in overall yardage and did it on a crisp 20 attempts and the best completion percentage in the state, unfortunately however he did have a single interception that hurts his chances here.
Retzlaff is a happy medium in the sense that his total of 228 yards is respectable (3rd), he didn’t turn it over, and his 67 percent completion percentage is 2nd best on a 3rd highest attempt rate.
That isn't enough however to take down Berry alone, that is until you get to the ground game.
Retzlaff was the only quarterback to add a rushing touchdown to his resume this last weekend, landing him at 3 total touchdowns as he tallied a QB state high 61 rush yards gained.
Add the extra touchdown for Retzlaff, and factor in the interception for Berry and it gives the Cougars signal caller the edge here.
RUNNINGBACK: TARGHEE LAMBSON, SUU THUNDERBIRDS
There were some really great performances throughout the state out of the backfield for our Utah schools.
BYU’s LJ Martin rumbled for 101 yards on 15 carries and a score, good for 6.7 yards a carry, a state high.
Rahsul Faison was dominant for the Aggies with 134 yards on 23 totes for an average of 5.7 yards per carry and a touchdown.
Targhee Lambson returned from the bye week as impactful as every ripping off 136 yards on 30 tries at 4.5 yards per carry and was the only back to find the end zone twice.
Both Faison and Lambson had roles as receivers as well, Lambson securing two targets for 19 yards and Faison tying for second in receptions for Utah State racking up 43 total yards through the sky.
Faison deserves a chance here despite having one less touchdown than Lambson due to his productivity on 7 less attempts and his 24 more receiving yards.
Afterall Faison had 177 total yards gained and Lambson had 155.
The issue is it’s hard to place the value of an extra touchdown underneath 22 additional yards.
Lambson was individually responsible for half of SUU’s scoring and gets the slight edge due to overall consistency and the extra score.
PASS CATCHER: BRANT KUITHE, UTAH UTES
Let’s not think too hard about this one.
Josh Rillos of Utah Tech had a very productive 7 reception, 72 yard game VS Eastern Kentucky.
Shane Carr had two explosive grabs for SUU getting 96 yards on two grabs with a score to boot.
Chase Roberts played a similar role for BYU with 2 catches, 75 yards and a touchdown on a long of 62.
Otto Tia helped fill the loss of Jalen Royals for Utah State with 6 catches, 76 yards and a score.
But this award goes to Utah’s Brant Kuithe.
The Utes need a bone thrown their way and we will oblige.
For an offense that hasn’t scored more than 20 points in more than a month, Utah fans have to be excited to see the involvement of star Tight End Brant Kuithe.
He was the only pass catcher in the state to pass the 100 yard barrier with a grand sum of 113 yards.
He had 5 total catches and a long of 71 yards that resulted in his one touchdown early in the first quarter.
Utah had 216 total passing yards in the loss to Houston, meaning Kuithe had more than half of that output.
It was a good offensive showing for a player on a team that struggles offensively at this moment, making Kuithe the guy.