Utah football: Cain-to-Reed a familiar refrain

Needing a big play in overtime against Air Force, Utah quarterback Terrance Cain forced a pass into David Reed, whose catch set up what would be the winning touchdown run by Eddie Wide.

That play exemplifies what has become the good and bad of Utah's offense. Reed, a 6-foot, 190-pound senior, is Cain's favorite target and more often than not delivers when the ball is thrown his way.

He leads the Utes with 45 catches for 695 yards and four touchdowns, making him almost twice as productive as the next receiver, Jereme Brooks who has 27 catches for 288 yards and three touchdowns.

His productivity is the good. The bad is receiver Aiona Key was wide open on the play in which Reed made his spectacular catch and the

ball should have been thrown to him instead, offensive coordinator Dave Schramm said.

"David made a great play, but that throw shouldn't have been made," he said.

No one is surprised that Reed and Cain have found a good combination. The two spent a lot of time working together in the spring and summer and both were known to be highly proficient in the passing attack.

Cain was the NJCAA Offensive Player of the Year last season when he passed for 3,138 yards for Blinn CC in 2008. Reed led the Utes averaging 17.1 yards per reception in 2008 and was second on the team with six touchdown catches.

"He is a great quarterback and I feel like I am a great receiver," Reed said. "We've connected on the field."

Earlier in the game, Reed caught a short pass and turned it into the Utes' second-longest pass play in school history when he broke a tackle and ran 90 yards for a touchdown.

Those are just the kinds of plays that the Utes knew Reed was capable of making when he came to Utah with comparisons of former Ute Steve Smith.

"We like all of our receivers, but David is becoming a sort of go-to guy; that isn't unexpected," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.

Helping his numbers is his position on the field, which in the past rendered big games for Freddie Brown and Derek Richards.

"He's going to get most of the balls thrown to him, unless people want to roll the coverage to that side, which lets the rest of the field open, he's going to get the most passes," Schramm said. "Teams have to decide to take away the field or David, and most are going to take away the field because you can't leave all that room out there."

However as much talent as Reed has, the Utes believe their other receivers have the ability to make similar plays. Getting them involved is critical from Schramm's viewpoint as the Utes search for a solution to their inconsistent play.

"David is a special player, but we have other special players too," Schramm said. "Especially when you are having a rough time, like anything in life, you go with what is comfortable," Schramm said. "That play that David made [against Air Force] it should have gone to Aiona and that is the stuff that will catch up to you and it did in the game for [Cain]. In the middle of the third and fourth quarter he leaned on him a little too much and it came back and bit us a bit. Luckily we played great defense and we were able to overcome our lack of production in the end because the defense was so good."

Cain said he has gone to Reed when he sees him in one-on-one situations but acknowledged all the receivers are playmakers.

"I try to get them all involved," he said.

Schramm and Cain are spending a lot of time together watching film and studying plays to improve production. It's all part of what Schramm described as Cain's "maturation process" as Utah's quarterback.

"He has to understand in the spread offense one of the weapons we have is the ability to spread it around," Schramm said. "That is what the offense is, but he'll keep learning from the things he does well and correct things and keep going."

In the meantime, Reed isn't a bad safety net to have.