SALT LAKE CITY — The University of Utah football team improved to 3-0 Saturday, ending non-conference play with a 31-0 shutout against the Idaho State Bengals at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
The Utah defense held Idaho State to just 116 yards on offense. Idaho State finished the game with 36 rushing yards, the third straight week that the Utes have held their opponent to under 100 yards rushing.
The Utes recorded 543 yards of total offense with 320 yards passing and 223 yards on the ground.
Senior Tyler Huntley finished the game 15-of-19 passing and no interceptions for 282 yards and three touchdowns, including a career-long 82-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter. It was the longest pass by a Ute since 2009 and the 10th longest pass in program history.
Zack Moss notched 106 rushing yards on 10 carries and a touchdown, pushing him into second all-time in 100-yard rushing games, career rushing touchdowns and career rushing yards.
Utah had nine different athletes catch at least one pass with Bryan Thompson posting his first 100-yard receiving game, finishing with 105 yards on two catches and two touchdowns. Brant Kuithe also added three catches for 80 yards and a touchdown.
Devin Lloyd led the Utes on defense with nine tackles, including a career-best 3.5 tackles for loss and a sack. R.J. Hubert had his first career start at safety, finishing with a career-high six tackles with Francis Bernard also adding six stops.
Head Coach Kyle Whittingham was pleased with the result.
“We came out just as we hoped and should have, 3-0 in the non-conference," Whittingham said. "Number one is getting three wins and secondly, the offense that’s been installed is running well so far.”
But he said there was still room for improvement.
"We committed too many penalties and got sloppy at the end," he said. "We need to be smarter in those situations. We had our first turnover of the year."
“We left a lot of points on the field and we can improve in that area," Huntley said on entering conference play next week.
The 11th-ranked Utes play the 24th-ranked USC Trojans Friday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
