5 hours Ago
Stillwater, Okla. • Kyle Whittingham doesn’t like to talk about injuries. And the Utah football coach certainly plays it close to the vest when it comes to seventh-year quarterback Cam Rising .
Asked this week if Rising would be ready to play after injuring his throwing hand on Sept. 7, Whittingham was coy. ”We sure hope so,” he said.
“That would be ideal.” And it looked like the ideal would be reality as Rising warmed up at Boone Pickens Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The quarterback wore a white glove on his right hand and seemed comfortable tossing passes to his wide receivers.
As kickoff approached, reports leaked that Rising would indeed be Utah’s starter. Then freshman Isaac Wilson trotted onto the field. “What were those indications? I missed those,” Whittingham said after the game when asked about those reports.
“Do we got a mole in the building? I don’t know.” The Utes don’t appear to have a mole. But they do have a seventh-year quarterback who has now missed the last two games with a hand injury, and a true freshman backup who has kept the team undefeated regardless.
“Cam’s a real smart guy, so he knows if he’s going to go out in the field, he needs to be 100% to help the team,” Wilson said after leading the Utes to a 22-19 victory. “If he has a feeling that (he’s) going to hold the team back with an injury or anything (he’s) going to do then (he’ll) step back. He’s a smart guy.
He knows what he’s doing. He’s always ready to help the team.” Utah QB Cam Rising throwing 90 minutes before kickoff.
pic.twitter.com/jUJAmL9PgP Whittingham said the decision to not play Rising happened nearly 20 minutes before the first kick.
“When he’s ready, he’ll be ready,” Whittingham said. “That’s all I can say. We’re hoping he’d be ready this week, but it was literally a game-time decision.
It wasn’t game day. It was game time. We came into the locker room after all the warmups, had a little conference, and we decided Isaac gave us the best chance to win.
Cam agreed, so that’s the direction we went.” While Rising cheered from the sidelines, No. 12 Utah (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) defeated No.
14 Oklahoma State (3-1, 0-1) in a pivotal conference opener that had massive College Football Playoff implications. “We don’t ever talk about injuries as far as what they are or the extent, or anything like that, but we just felt that Isaac gave us the best chance to win today,” Whittingham said. The Utes next play on Saturday when Arizona comes to Rice-Eccles Stadium.
After that, they have a bye week before hosting the rival BYU Cougars. Utah quarterback Cameron Rising (7) warms up before an NCAA college football game against Oklahoma State Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Stillwater, Okla.
(AP Photo/Mitch Alcala) Time will tell how Rising’s hand progresses. In the meantime, you can forgive Utah fans who officially feel like they’re back in 2023. Before each game during the first half of last season, the Ute head coach said Rising had a chance to play.
Then Utah shut him down for the season. There’s no indication Rising’s hand will be a long-term issue. “It was give and take the whole week,” Whittingham said.
“It was literally all the way up until we’re 20 minutes from kickoff.” But until the quarterback steps out onto the field again in 2024, the most skeptical Utah fans aren’t trusting anything, even if reports suggest otherwise. Utah linebacker Johnathan Hall (3) and safety Tao Johnson (15) tackle Oklahoma State running back Ollie Gordon II (0) in the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept.
21, 2024, in Stillwater, Okla. (AP Photo/Mitch Alcala) Utah’s defense stymies OSU’s offense The Utes proved why they have one of the top defenses in the Big 12 on Saturday. Maybe even the whole country.
Led by defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley , Utah held Oklahoma State to 285 yards of total offense. The Cowboys starting quarterback, Alan Bowman, was benched in favor of backup Garret Rangel before being put back into the game late in the fourth quarter. He finished 16 of 33 with 206 passing yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Outside of a late-game push from the Cowboys, Utah’s defense dominated for 3.5 quarters “It’s all about our culture,” Utah sophomore defensive back Smith Snowden said. “Scalley does a great job to get us prepared and kind of have a good feeling of what they want to do and what they want to run.
So, I feel like it’s definitely coach just having us prepared.” After struggling against the run against Utah State a week ago, Utah shut down OSU running back Ollie Gordon II despite not having its star linebacker Karene Reid for the second week in a row. Gordon finished with 11 carries, 42 rushing yards and a 3.
8 yard per carry average. “The tape last year is very impressive,” Whittingham said. “He hasn’t really gotten on track yet this year.
I’m sure he will, but he hasn’t yet. We were pleased that he waited one more week to get on track, because he’s a terrific back. Over 2,000 yards on offense last year, but this year, he just hasn’t found his groove just yet.
But he will. He’s too good a player not to.” Whittingham said OSU’s late-game offensive push came in part due to a lack of execution.
But, Utah’s offense closed out the game when it mattered most. “They made some plays, and we didn’t play as well as we needed to,” Whittingham said. Utah quarterback Isaac Wilson (11) runs the ball towards Oklahoma State safety Kendal Daniels (5) in the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept.
21, 2024, in Stillwater, Okla. (AP Photo/Mitch Alcala) Isaac Wilson wins in second career start While Wilson didn’t play a perfect game, he stepped up when the Utes needed him Whether it was a key run on fourth down or a big throw to advance the offense down the field, the freshman quarterback made enough plays to win the game. In fact, Wilson became the first true freshman quarterback in program history to beat an AP ranked team.
He finished with a 17-for-29 line for 207 passing yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He also ran the ball six times for 41 yards. Wilson’s best throw came on a 45-yard touchdown dart to senior tight end Brant Kuithe.
His score helped Utah to a 22-3 lead before the Cowboys scored 16 unanswered points late in the game. “I felt like we could have put a lot more on them, honestly, but there were some mishaps on my part,” Wilson said. “But I feel like the offense executed pretty well.
I’m looking at this right now and I see that we had 42 minutes and they had 17. That’s how you control the game. Defense did their part keeping them off the field.
” This week, Whittingham said Wilson took starter reps for multiple days in practice in case the Utes starting quarterback wasn’t able to go. “As we got closer to the game and when Cam wasn’t progressing as much as we had thought he would, we shifted the balance of the reps,” Whittingham said. Ultimately, Wilson’s toughness in key moments earned praise from Utah’s coach.
“He just kept hanging in there,” Whittingham said. “He never got down on even if he threw a couple picks, and he didn’t flinch. You saw his ability to run.
...
He’s just a competitor. He’s a competitor just like Cam is. They’re both just competitive guys that want to win, and they’re both very confident guys.
” With Rising’s health still up in the air, Wilson could very well be the starter, once again, when the Utes take on Arizona (2-1) at 8:15 p.m. next Saturday in Salt Lake City.
And that decision could very well come just minutes before Utah’s next game. “I have to be prepared,” Wilson said. “I felt like I did some good, did some bad, but defense and this guy (Micah Bernard) right here really pulled it out for us.
”.
