LOGAN, Utah, Sept. 14, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Freshman Isaac Wilson won the battle of current and former Utah backup quarterbacks, outdueling Utah State‘s Bryson Barnes in a 38-21 victory Saturday.
With starting quarterback Cam Rising sidelined with a hand injury, Wilson made his first start and completed 20 of 33 passes for a career-high 239 yards and three touchdowns to rally the 12th-ranked Utes to a road victory. It was the most passing yards by a Utah freshman making his first start since 2012.
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said the 6-foot, 202-pound freshman from Draper’s Corner Canyon High School was “much improved over his first two appearances of the season.”
“I thought, as the game went on, he settled in and got more comfortable, more confident and made some great plays for us,” Whittingham said.
Barnes, who played at Utah from 2021-23 before transferring to Utah State, was 16-of-31 passing for 223 yards with two passing touchdowns, one rushing TD and a pair of interceptions. The 6-2, 205-pound junior from Milford was the Utes’ starting quarterback last season while Rising sat out with a knee injury.
Utah (3-0) shook off a slow start to score 25 unanswered points in the second and third quarters on its way to a comfortable victory at Maverik Stadium. It was the Utes’ 15th win over the Aggies (1-2) in the teams’ past 16 meetings.
“I thought Utah State played really well [and] had a good plan,” said Whittingham, who earned his 250th win at Utah as an assistant and head coach. “Bryson Barnes [is a] competitive kid. They were more ready to play than we were at the onset. We kind of sleepwalked through that first quarter. [We] got things going after that.”
Senior running back Micah Bernard topped the 100-yard rushing mark for the second consecutive game, finishing with a season-high 123 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries for Utah.
Senior tight end Brant Kuithe led the Utes in receiving with three catches for 68 yards and topped the 2,000 career receiving yard mark in the game. The Katy, Texas, native now has 2,024 receiving yards at Utah.
Utah’s defense came up with two interceptions in the first half — one from sophomore cornerback Smith Snowden and the other from freshman cornerback Cameron Calhoun.
“[It was] a huge turning point,” Whittingham said of the turnovers.
Senior defensive end Van Fillinger led the Utes and tied his career-high with eight tackles, including one tackle for loss and a share of a sack.
Utah State senior running back Rahsul Faison also topped the 100-yard rushing mark, gaining 115 yards on 19 carries.
Aggies wide receiver Otto Tia, a junior who played at Layton’s Northridge High School, was the game’s leading receiver with five catches for 78 yards.
Utah State jumped out to a 14-3 lead early in the second quarter following a pair of touchdown passes from Barnes to tight end Broc Lane (20 yards) and wide receiver Jack Hestera (12 yards).
The Utes responded with a pair of 11-yard touchdowns tosses in the second quarter from Wilson to wide receiver Money Parks and tight end Caleb Lohner to take a 17-14 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Utah opened the second half with the second of senior kicker Cole Becker’s three field goals on the day, this one from 25-yards, followed by a 3-yard touchdown run by Bernard and a two-point conversion from Wilson to Kuithe.
Barnes cut the deficit to 28-21 with a 1-yard run — his third touchdown of the day — with less than a minute to play in the third quarter, but the Aggies were shut out in the final frame.
Junior tight end Carsen Ryan made a one-handed catch from 2 yards out early in the fourth quarter to put the Utes ahead 35-21.
Becker later closed out the scoring with about 3 1/2 minutes to play with an 18-yard field goal to make the final score 38-21.
Next up for Utah is the Big 12 Conference opener at Oklahoma State at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21.
Utah State will travel to take on Temple in a non-conference game at noon Saturday, Sept. 21.
