It's been hard to get a fix on all that was missing for the Utes, through the first three games of the football season. At times, their concern was the secondary. Other times, it was the absence of a veteran quarterback. Still others, the kicking game.

So many worries, so few revelations.

Mostly, there was an obvious dearth of big plays.

Don't look now, but that could be changing. The Utes are — dare they say it? — starting to look a tiny bit showy. For the first time this year, they came through consistently with big plays, claiming a relatively easy 30-14 win over Louisville.

They did it with a little bit of everything.

Call it maturation day in class.

And they don't even need the school nurse to explain the details.

"We were just out there making plays," said wide receiver David Reed. "Everyone was making plays."

It's a ways from previous Utah teams that did big things every game, but after last week's loss to Oregon, and fairly unconvincing wins over Utah State and San Jose State, they weren't about to complain.

"Last couple of weeks we played a lot like we were trying not to lose," said offensive tackle Tony Bergstrom. "Tonight we came out and had fun."

Now that the Utes are unranked and unheralded, finding themselves seems to be coming easier. Beating a Big East team — even one picked to finish seventh in its league — says something.

A gift is a gift, even one you might toss in the closet.

While the Utes got some love, they also got headaches, too. Starting running back Matt Asiata and starting tackle Zane Beadles left the game with injuries. Asiata is out for the season with a torn ACL, which will almost surely hurt their progress. But it would be hard to prove that on Saturday. Backup Eddie Wide finished with a career-high 129 rushing yards.

Beadles, who sustained a gash in his leg, expects to be back when the Utes resume in two weeks.

Though disconcerting, the injuries didn't entirely dampen the Utes' mood. It's hard to be gloomy when you're rocking and rolling. They made only a handful of big plays in the previous three games, but this time they loaded up early. They blocked a field goal, recovered two fumbles and intercepted a pass — all in the first half. Meanwhile, Reed pulled in a 42-yard scoring pass and kicker Joe Phillips made two field goals before the break.

How Louisville — a member of a BCS conference — got from there to here is fairly interesting. For decades, it was a quiet football program attached to a big-time basketball school. True, Johnny Unitas played there, but Denny Crum coached hoops there. Case closed.