Utah's Offense Falls Flat, Lose First Game Of The Season To Oregon State

The Utes suffered their first loss of the season against Oregon State

For the fifth week in a row, the No. 10 Utah Utes were without a handful of stars like quarterback Cam Rising due to injury.

However, unlike in weeks past when the team was able to overcome their missing players, the No. 19 Oregon State Beavers came out hungry and capitalized on Utah's weak offense. The Utah defense was doing the best it could to keep the Utes in the game, but the offense led by Nate Johnson continued to struggle against one of the best defenses in the country.

The Utah offense has now strung together back-to-back dud showings with Johnson at the helm, something the quarterback actually apologized for after the 14-7 UCLA win. Johnson finished Friday's game 8-of-23 for 101 yards and one touchdown and was unable to get things going with his legs.

Utah actually pulled Johnson in the third quarter when they were trailing 14-0 and opted to put in Bryson Barnes, who seemed to have some momentum but was eventually picked off in the red zone. Barnes also was injured and eventually hospitalized after a hard hit by a Beaver defender. 

Utah went up by a score of 21-0, but Johnson connected with tight end Thomas Yassmin who took it 41 yards for the score with five minutes remaining. The Utes couldn't establish the run against one of the best-run defenses in the country averaging just 1.8 yards per carry, and were 2-of-13 on third down, and while the defense played quite well they needed to play even better to keep the Utes in the game.

While the loss will likely bump Utah down in the rankings, saw them lose more players to injury, and highlighted their offensive struggles, they have two weeks to recover and prepare for Cal before heading to USC.