Utes respond to poor showing

A day after a sub-par showing in a scrimmage, Utah's offense returned to the practice field with renewed vigor.

Quarterback Brian Johnson acknowledged it was like night and day.

"Guys came out focused — ready to go and ready to work," he said. "We came out with a great attitude today."

Before reaching the midway point — the 14th of 28 practices before the Aug. 30 opener at Oregon State — the Utes held a team meeting.

"I think as a team we needed to regroup. Anytime you hit that midway point in camp, everybody's down. I think everybody has a tendency to get down on themselves," said senior safety Steve Tate, who is confident Wednesday morning's practice will be a turning point in defining the team's character. "We're going to go through some ups and downs. It's just how we handle it."

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham is hoping, for obvious reasons, that his team avoids lulls and fights through adversity.

Just stay up, he explained, with no peaks or valleys.

"We've got to come out to work every day — whether guys are down, whether guys are tired and injured right now," Johnson said. "This is the toughest part of the year, camp and getting into the middle of two-a-days. So you've got to find a way to fight through it."

Work to get better each day, he continued, and do so with a great attitude and focus.

"Everybody's tired, everybody's sore and everybody's legs hurt," Johnson said. "It's hot and whatever, but so what? Do it."

It's a message the offense is taking to heart, especially after Tuesday's performance.

"We talked. We definitely talked," Johnson said. "We weren't happy at all with the way things went."

Johnson agrees with Whittingham's assessment that the offense simply wasn't good enough.

"It's not acceptable. If you want to be an 8-5 team or a 7-5 team that was an acceptable scrimmage," Johnson said. " ... But we set our goals higher than that as a team. We set our standards higher than that."

And rightfully so, Whittingham explained.

"I have high expectations of those guys, very high expectations," he said. "You've got an excellent quarterback and you've got 10 returning starters. There's no reason why we shouldn't be effective on offense."