Utah Utes football: Ute defense the real unsung heros in Utah victory

Lost amid the euphoria following another game-winning drive by Brian Johnson for another three-point victory, was another outstanding performance by the Ute defense.

Without the solid play of the Ute D, the offense would never have had the opportunity for Johnson to lead the team to another huge victory.

After spotting the Horned Frogs 10 points in the first nine minutes of the game, the Utes kept them from scoring over the final 51 minutes.

The first to praise the defense was Johnson, who said, "The defense played unbelievable tonight."

TCU had come into the game with all the hype for its defense — first in rushing defense, first in sacks, second in total defense, third in scoring defense — and the Horned Frogs did play well in holding the Utes to 275 total yards and just 45 on the ground.

Although the Utes gave up 416 yards, they did a great job of pushing the Frogs out of the red zone, which they did twice with sacks and they were also a bit lucky, seeing Ross Evans clank a short field goal off the upright and send another one wide.

"We weren't very effective early," said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham. "But we buckled down, and that's a reflection of their toughness and speaks of their character. This team has a tough-as-nails mentality and that was demonstrated today."

After the first quarter, it looked as if it might be a rout, as the Horned Frogs piled up 202 yards. Big plays killed the Utes, as Andy Dalton completed a 52-yard pass to set up an early field goal and Aaron Brown got loose for a 41-yard gain to set up the touchdown.

At that point some adjustments needed to be made and defensive coordinator Gary Andersen switched from a man to a zone coverage. That made a difference and in the second quarter, the Utes held the Horned Frogs to just six total yards.

One of the biggest plays came on the third play of the quarter with TCU at the Utah 21 when Ute linebacker Stevenson Sylvester broke through to sack Dalton for a 17-yard loss, putting the Frogs out of field goal range.

"That was a huge play," said Whittingham. "We made a bunch of huge plays tonight."

Sean Smith came up with one of those huge plays late in the first half, picking off a Dalton pass and returning it 37 yards to set up a Louie Sakoda field goal to cut the halftime lead to 10-6.

"We felt we hadn't received the credit on defense that we deserved and went out tonight to prove ourselves," said Smith.

Andersen said it took awhile for his defense to "settle in and do our job," and that pressure on the quarterback was the key.

"The difference was our ability to get to the quarterback," he said. "The pressure was good and we were able to get a couple of big sacks and knock them out of the red zone."

Paul Kruger pressured Dalton all night and came up with a key sack in the third quarter.

"They had a few big plays that got us off track, but we stepped up and eventually figured it out to get the win,"

Sylvester led the way with 10 tackles, while Joe Dale had nine and Kepa Gaison and Robert Johnson had six apiece.

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