Utah Utes football: It's an up-and-down day for Ute QBs

SALT LAKE CITY — It's never a good thing when your starting quarterback goes down on the second play of the game with an injury and your second-team QB throws a pick-six on his first pass of the game.

Thankfully for the University of Utah football team, it was just the annual Red-White game Saturday afternoon at Rice-Eccles Stadium and not the opener against Pitt, which is still 137 days away.

The largest crowd ever to watch a spring football game at the U., estimated at 10,000, filled much of the west side of the stadium and was treated to an offensive extravaganza that culminated a month of spring football practices.

The Red team, coached by Brian Johnson, the newest member of the Ute coaching staff, defeated the White team 28-23 in a 40-minute game with a running clock in the second half. Not only did the 46 players on the Red team get bragging rights over their teammates, they avoided cleanup duty at the football facility on Monday.

"It was a watered-down defense and we wanted it to be a clean game," said Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham. "Our defense was very limited and we wanted to see the offense step up and do some things. We had a bunch of guys that played well."

The Utes and their fans got a scare on the first play of the game when quarterback Jordan Wynn hurt his left (non-throwing) shoulder diving after a fumble. He came up holding his shoulder and left the game for good. Afterward, Whittingham said Wynn had already been X-rayed and that he "might have tweaked the joint a little bit," but should be fine.

With Wynn, who was only going to play one quarter anyway, out of the game, the White team turned to redshirt freshman Griff Robles, who played the rest of the way, completing 18-of-26 passes for 234 yards and a touchdown on a pretty 38-yard pass to DeVonte Christopher down the left sideline.

Terrance Cain, who started Utah's first eight games last season before giving way to Wynn, had his first pass intercepted by sophomore safety Jake Orchard, who returned it 20 yards for a touchdown. However, Cain settled down after that to complete 14 of his next 15 passes for 217 yards and two touchdowns.

"I started off a little shaky, but we ended up with a win," said Cain. "The receivers got open and made plays."