This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A strange, haunting thing happened on the way to what might have been a ridiculous Utah rout on Halloween night at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
The orange-and-black-clad Oregon State Beavers fought back.
Actually, it was more than that.
The teams — both of them — switched personalities in midflight, in a downright spooky, Sybil-type manner. Don't know where either Kyle Whittingham or Gary Andersen stands on dissociative identity disorder, but their teams appeared to be suffering from it, at least on this one occasion.
The result was a 27-12 win for the Utes, who notched their fourth Pac-12 victory against one loss. The Beavers? They remained winless in league, but, after looking overmatched in Saturday night's first quarter, especially on defense, they were neither toothless nor hapless for the next 30 minutes, although they weren't exactly … good.
Still, they caused the Utes problems as Utah fell into that inexplicable hole — a "long lull," Whittingham called it — for an unsatisfactory while. What that said about the South Division leaders is a question for Whittingham, and maybe Dr. Freud, to solve.
It could be that familiarity had something to do with the weird split, with no fewer than 17 coaches, coordinators, assistants, graduate assistants, quality-control guys, associate athletic directors, directors of football operations, directors of player-personnel at Oregon State with ties to either the Utah program or the state of Utah. Let's see, there's Gary, Kalani, Ilaisa, Chad, Keegan, Kevin, Dave, Zach, Derrick, Vincent, T.J., Evan, Nick, Lee, Kamaron, Gary, and Jason.
Did we miss anybody?
Is there anybody left?
Those old-home Beavers weren't spying or stealing signals from the Utes, but, for a while, it was as though they had a decent idea about what was coming at them.
At the start of the game, none of that mattered.
Utah came out smashing the Beavers in their buckteeth with a flurry of punches, a run game with bad intentions, hands of stone thrown at a team of defenders seemingly unmercifully ill-suited to … well, defend. On the Utes' opening drive, a 12-play, 75-yard piece of brutality, they ran the ball on every snap, and there was not a single thing Oregon State could do about it.
The Beavers looked like road kill.
On their next possession, the Utes mixed in a bit of the newfangled — called the forward pass. A five-play, 90-yard drive, composed of Devontae Booker runs, was punctuated by a smooth 39-yard touchdown throw from Travis Wilson to Harris Handley.
The Utes were cruising at that point and, plainly spoken, Andersen didn't look surprised. He knew his undermanned team had no business being in this game.
On the other hand, Oregon State didn't panic, either.
It did tighten its defense, as Utah's aggressive persona turned from a color-coded hard red to a soft white. The Beavers kicked a couple field goals and Utah went scoreless until the fourth, when it switched back enough to gain its spoils.
But there's a lot to work on with this team, leveling its ride being at the top of the fix list. Whittingham agreed, saying: "Consistency is something we have to figure out."
Nobody thought Oregon State had any chance of winning here. Against what is the Pac-12's worst outfit, the Utes outgained the Beavers by only 60 yards. They got only four more first downs. And, as mentioned, they disappeared offensively for half the game. That they looked so dominant at times only served to make the times of tepidity all the more indicting.
Utah's anchor, Booker, who rushed for 77 yards in the first quarter and appeared as though he would run for 200-plus for the game, ended up with "only" 121 yards.
It's true that criticizing the Utes after winning by 15 points against any conference foe seems like nitpicking. But it's actually a compliment, seeing that, despite their flop at USC last week, they've set a standard for themselves well north of what happened here against the Beavers.
The Utes now are barreling toward a shot at a championship, and will face four more teams during the regular season that, like Oregon State, are not as accomplished as they are — Washington, Arizona, UCLA and Colorado. Only their own stumbling and bumbling, or perhaps not even that, maybe a slip-up here or there, could cost them what will be — or would have been — theirs if … if they sharpen(ed) their game.
That means no more room for changes in personality, no more long lulls, no more Sybil analogies.
Utah might be red and white, but, as for personality color codes, red must — and can — rule the day from here on out.
GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson.