‘Hot and cold’: How Kyle Whittingham views Utah’s offensive line in the early going

Through two weeks of play, Utah’s offensive line has embodied Katy Perry’s 2008 hit song.

“Hot and cold,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said postgame after the Utes’ 23-12 win over Baylor.

“We opened up some gashy runs there for a while and then it was tough sledding for a while. It was not consistently as good as we need to be,” Whittingham said. “And same thing on the pass rush. At times we protected well, but at times we had early pressure in the throw game.”

“We opened up some gashy runs there for a while and then it was tough sledding for a while.”

Kyle Whittingham on the Utes' offensive line play vs. Baylor

In the past, it’s sometimes taken a few games for Utah’s offensive line to gel and play up to its full potential. This season, however, the Utes identified their starting offensive line during spring practice, something they hoped would pay dividends at the start of the season.

So, after two games, how has Utah’s offensive line performed?

It’s always tough to isolate just the offensive line, when a lot of how it is viewed is dependent on how quarterbacks and running backs perform behind them.

One stat that can help quantify the performance of an offensive line is line yards, a metric that essentially attempts to measure the number of rushing yards that are attributed to the offensive line. Utah generated an average of 2.9 line yards per rush on Saturday against Baylor, per collegefootballdata.com . That’s a decent number, especially because it came against the Bears stacking the box for much of the second half with the Utes content to keep the ball on the ground and limit turnovers with Cam Rising out for the last two quarters.

The Utes rushed for 170 yards on 37 carries, which is not where they want to be for conference play — Whittingham wants to see an average of five-plus yards per carry and total rushing numbers of 230 yards or more.

“We got to finish at the second level. I think we did a nice job on the initial push, but I thought their linebackers did a nice job of disengaging,” offensive line coach Jim Harding said. “We got to do a better job of fitting that up and finishing at the second and third levels.”

In pass protection, the starting five linemen — redshirt freshman left tackle Caleb Lomu, junior left guard Tanoa Togiai, junior center Jaren Kump, junior right guard Michael Mokofisi and sophomore right tackle Spencer Fano — allowed six pressures and two sacks against Baylor. In addition, the offensive line had four of Utah’s five offensive penalties.

While there’s definitely aspects for the Utes’ front five to clean up and improve upon heading into Utah’s game at Utah State, then the Big 12 opener at Oklahoma State, there have been some encouraging signs.

Utah’s offensive line helped clear the way for an 11-play, 65-yard drive that was exclusively on the ground against Baylor, taking over seven minutes off the game clock and essentially sealing the win.

Everyone in Rice-Eccles Stadium knew the run was coming, but even against the stacked box, Utah’s offensive line was able to generate some good push, clearing the way for Micah Bernard, who rushed for 118 yards. His best run of the game, a 30-yard gain on third-and-3 on the game-sealing drive, was aided by great blocks by Fano and Mokofisi.

“I was proud of the way the guys finished,” Harding said.

More progress for the offensive line came from Fano and Lomu, the two young tackles. Both had their struggles in Utah’s opener against Southern Utah after Lomu allowed two QB pressures and Fano was given a pass-blocking grade of 18.5 (out of 100) by PFF after allowing four pressures and a sack.

Against Baylor, the tackle duo was vastly improved — Fano was the second-highest-rated offensive player, per PFF, and Lomu was the fourth-highest-rated offensive player.

“I think there was a lot of progress. I think those defensive ends that Baylor had, they had good length, they had athletic guys, and I thought Spencer played really well. I think Caleb took a step forward and played really well this week,” Harding said.

Fano started every game as a true freshman at left tackle last season before moving to his high school position at right tackle this year, and Lomu — one of the top offensive tackles in the 2023 class — is a redshirt freshman with just 25 career snaps prior to this season.

“Those two young tackles, they’re exceptional athletes and they’re going to be great by the time it’s all over with,” Whittingham said.

The athleticism the two bring to the line has allowed offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig to be more creative with run schemes.

“I think this is one of the more athletic lines I’ve had since I’ve been here, and Coach Lud is really good about designing different things as well, and so hopefully we can continue to build on it. But yeah, there is a little bit different schemes that we’re using too,” Harding said.

The physical tools are there, now it’s just continuing to process the game, something that Utah’s coaches have seen improvement in week after week.

“They’re still learning, but they have the athleticism and all the tools you need to be phenomenal players and they’re on their way,” Whittingham said.

On Saturday in Logan, the run game could be featured heavily, and with Utah State ranking 112th in the nation in rushing defense (193 yards per game), the Utes have an opportunity to finally satisfy Whittingham, who has wanted to see more from the ground game.

“I think we did fit the run game up better with the block schemes on Saturday,” Whittingham said. “Obviously the degree of difficulty was higher. It was a pretty stout front seven, but I still think there’s more for us in the run game.”

Last Saturday, in a 49-0 loss at USC, Utah State gave up 249 yards on the ground. To be fair to the Aggies, USU often played a 3–3–5 defense to slow down the Trojans’ passing attack , which left them more vulnerable to runs, but Utah still has an advantage in the trenches and will try and get their running backs going early.