A painful one: Key Ute players injured early in loss to Beavers

CORVALLIS, Ore. — It was a night of heavy losses for the Utes.

Thursday's season opener at Oregon State featured three significant setbacks for Utah — the game, tailback Matt Asiata and quarterback Brian Johnson.

After losing Asiata to broken leg in the first quarter and Johnson to separated shoulder in the second, the Utes simply lacked the firepower to defeat the Beavers. They wound up dropping a 24-7 decision before a crowd of 40,409 at Reser Stadium.

"I know two things. If you can't run the football on offense and if you can't stop the run on defense, you don't have a chance," coach Kyle Whittingham said. "And we didn't do either of those tonight."

The Utes finished with 18 yards rushing, while the Beavers racked up 241.

"The running game was anemic offensively and defensively they just wore us out," Whittingham said. "They kept hammering the ball at us, just like we thought they would.

"It was no surprise, no secret and we didn't respond on either side of the ball."

The loss is Utah's second straight to a Pac-10 foe in a season opener. UCLA defeated the Utes 31-10 last year in the Rose Bowl.

This one, however, was marred by casualties to key personnel.

"Things hit us early," safety Steve Tate said. "We're a young team, but there's no excuses."

Asiata, the heralded transfer from Snow College, suffered his season-ending injury with 4:46 to play in the first quarter. He wound up with just 16 yards on four carries.

Johnson, who missed all of last season while recovering from knee surgery, injured his shoulder with 3:14 remaining in the second quarter. His status is uncertain pending further tests.

"That's the nature of the game, Johnson said. "When somebody goes down, somebody's got to step up to make a play and we just didn't do that tonight."

Johnson's first outing in nearly two years resulted in 8-of-13 passing for 119 yards and a touchdown. He also netted 28 yards rushing on nine attempts.

Backup Tommy Grady was unable to get the Utes back into the end zone as a tight game slipped away and evolved into a blowout.