Utah defense eager for redemption in Alamo Bowl after Pac-12 Championship Game struggles

Utah Utes defensive tackle Leki Fotu (99) and Utah Utes defensive tackle John Penisini (52) watch the final seconds tick off the clock as the Utes come up short losing to Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Friday, Dec. 6, 2019. | Steve Griffin, Deseret News

Utes seek to get back on track against Texas in the Alamo Bowl.

SAN ANTONIO — Utah’s defense didn’t live up to its billing in the Pac-12 Championship Game. The Utes didn’t put up much of a fight in a 37-15 loss to Oregon on Dec. 6. The national leaders in rushing defense gave up a season-high 239 yards — well above their average of 70.3 per game. They also surrendered 432 yards of total offense, the highest number of the year.

Now comes Texas in the Alamo Bowl. Can Utah’s defense get back on track?

“Guys need to be disciplined and just be fired up, ready to hit.” — Utah defensive end Bradlee Anae

“I don’t want to spend too much time on Oregon because Texas has all our attention. But, you know, bottom line is sometimes in those situations guys try to do too much and we saw a little bit of that and we saw a little bit of them making plays,” said Utah defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley. “So sometimes when you run zero pressures, guys got to make tackles when they’re there to be made. That’s our job as coaches is to put them in the right situation, and unfortunately we did not do our best coaching job.”

The Utes are determined to get things right. They enter the game ranked third in the country in total defense (256.2 ypg).

“The numbers that Oregon had against us was just out of character for us — for the whole defense. But also we took that as a learning experience to grow from that,” said defensive tackle Leki Fotu. “We’ve had quite some time now to watch the game and to see what the problems were and to fix it for this upcoming game, for Texas. But I think if everyone just does their job — that was the one big issue in the Oregon game, a lot of people not doing their job and just a lot of missed tackles and everything.”

Steve Griffin, Deseret News

Utah Utes defensive end Mika Tafua (42) and Utah Utes defensive tackle Leki Fotu (99) tackle Oregon Ducks wide receiver Johnny Johnson III (3) during the Pac-12 Championship game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Friday, Dec. 6, 2019.

Fotu added that the defense has since come together and regrouped.

“So hopefully coming in to this game we won’t have that,” he said.

Linebacker Francis Bernard is confident things will get fixed. He’s seen progress in practice and in watching film.

“I feel like we’re back in the groove of being the Utah defense that we’ve established this whole season,” he explained. “We won’t be able to display that until Tuesday. But we’re excited just because of the work that we’ve put in thus far and going into this game we know we’ve got a lot of momentum right now. ... I know we’re back to the defense that we know we can be and we’re just excited to prove that one more time.”

Bernard acknowledged that the defense is ticked off. The Oregon game isn’t who they are, he said, and the chance to prove it against a quality opponent like Texas is motivating.

“To be able to have the last opportunity to prove to the country that we’re the dominant defense that we’ve established ourselves as throughout the season is exciting,” Bernard said. “We’ve just need to go out and do it.”

Defensive end Bradlee Anae disagrees with any talk about the Utes being overpowered on the line of scrimmage against Oregon.

“We went to watch the film and they weren’t pushing us off the ball or whatever, like however anyone thought it was,” Anae said. “Guys missed their assignment by a little bit and they pierced, whether it’s a linebacker or a defensive lineman who kind of peeked in on another gap too much.”

Little stuff like that made the difference, he noted, adding that minor mistakes on the line of scrimmage can be especially costly.

“You need to play assignment sound, technically sound and, you know, be perfect,” Anae said. “Because that little time when you mess up is when they will capitalize and I just feel that’s how that went. That’s all we need to clean up right there is to be the most assignment sound that we can be.”

Making stops was also an issue.

“We decided to have our worst tackling game in the most important game of the season,” said Anae, who explained that the Utes will be itching to make some tackles in the Alamo Bowl.

As for the shortcomings, he’s sure everything is fixable.

“Guys need to be disciplined and just be fired up, ready to hit,” Anae said.

2019 Alamo Bowl

No. 11 Utah (11-2) vs. Texas (7-5)

Alamodome, San Antonio

Tuesday, 5:30 p.m. (MST)

TV: ESPN

Radio: ESPN 700AM

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