by Scott Funk (@scottfunk0)
Salt Lake City – After dropping their third straight loss of the year last week, the Utes (4-3,1-3) are looking to get back on track when they visit the Oregon Ducks (4-4,1-4), who is also looking to end its own three-game losing streak, tomorrow afternoon up at Autzen Stadium.
Tomorrow’s game marks Darren Carrington’s return to Oregon. After being suspended from Oregon, Carrington joined the Utes as a graduate transfer at the end of July. Carrington has been Utah’s leading receiver, and leads the Pac-12 with 92.7 yards per game. He has a total of 45 receptions on the year for 649 total yards and five touchdowns.
This will be the first and last time that the senior will get a chance to face his former team, and to him, it’s just a normal game.
“It’s kind of like a high school game,” said Carrington. “I mean your boys are right down the street and you hang out with them for so long, but you just went to a different school. It’s just like goin’ back to play them. It’s just like any other game, but it’s just cool to go back there and play.”
Carrington was asked about going out there to prove himself, and to give Oregon a “remember me?” performance. He said there was some motivation for that, but ultimately to him, it’s about playing the game he loves.
“There’s no hostility or nothin’,” said Carrington. “I played there for four years. I still love those fans. I love the Ute fans. I love coach Taggart and coach Whitt. It’s just playin’ football and it’s just gonna be fun and be a fun game.”
Whether Carrington has a big performance or not, all rides on who is going to be starting at QB for the Utes come kickoff. Currently, Tyler Huntley is still listed as the starting QB on the depth chart.
After missing two games due to injury, Huntley returned as the starter when Utah faced Arizona State last week. On his first drive of the game he threw his first of what would be four interceptions in the game. Huntley finished the game 19-35 for 155 yards as the Utes would fall to the Sun Devils 30-10.
After the game, head coach Kyle Whittingham was asked if Huntley would return as the starter to face Oregon.
“There is no way to answer that question right now,” said Whittingham. “We’ve got a lot of things to evaluate and look at. And so, we can’t answer that right now.”
As of now Huntley is still listed as the number one QB on the depth chart and is expected to play and start against Oregon. At the post-game press conference, Whittingham also said that they believed that Huntley gives them the best chance at winning, and is the best fit for what they are trying to do on offense.
Along with the QB debate, Whittingham also mentioned in his post-game press conference about the location of offensive coordinator, Troy Taylor. Taylor has been on the sidelines every game this year, by his choice, so he can be with his quarterbacks.
After the game, last Saturday, Whittingham expressed his concern about Taylors location. He said that in a typical game plan scheme, the defensive coordinator is on the field with the offensive coordinator up in the booth. He said that as a staff they would talk about it and decide where Taylor should be for the Oregon game.
On Tuesday, after practice, Whittingham announced that Taylor made the decision that he would go upstairs in the booth.
Currently the Utes rank seventh in the Pac-12 in total offense with 407.7 yards per game, and 10th in scoring offense with 28.1 points per game. The Ducks rank fifth in the Pac-12 in both total offense and scoring offense with 449.1 yards per game and 34.9 points per game.
The Utes are third in the Pac-12 in both total defense and scoring defense with 349.6 yards per game, and 21.4 points per game. The Ducks rank fourth in total defense in the Pac-12 with 367.8 yards per game and 10th in scoring defense, giving up 30.4 points per game.
In their last game against the Ducks, the Utes found themselves on the wrong end of a Darren Carrington touchdown, that sealed a 30-28 win for the Ducks in Rice-Eccles Stadium. This week, the Utes are hoping to see more plays from Carrington now that he’s in a Ute uniform.
Kickoff is scheduled for 3:45 MT. The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks and can be heard on ESPN700.
