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Just when opposing teams think they have a bead on Utah's offense, a new player emerges.
The hallmark of coordinator Kevin McGiven's offense this season has been his versatile use of his personnel. Backup quarterback Byrd Ficklin has played 145 snaps, including 35 lined up as a running back and 28 lined up as a receiver.
Seven Utes have already surpassed 100 receiving yards with at least five games to go, compared to six in last year's 13-game season. Braden Pegan has led the way with 505 yards and six touchdowns, but each week, there's a new target who steps up.
Last week it was tight end Hunter Andrews , who had his best game as a Ute with a 112-yard, two-touchdown performance against the Bearcats, including a 59-yard touchdown grab on a "free play" after Cincinnati jumped offsides.
Lead tight end Noah Bennee did not play against the Bearcats and Andrews stepped up in a big way.
"Yeah, really cool. A guy gets an opportunity. Noah out at the start of that last game, and so Hunter takes his role, so some of those may have been Noah's opportunities, but Hunter steps up and the ball finds him a couple times," McGiven said.
"Before you know it, you have another 100-yard receiver, but it's fun to have that type of talent level that the ball can be distributed to anybody and then attribute it to them for making the plays."
Pegan, Bennee, Andrews, Creed Whittemore, Wayshawn Parker, Ricky Johnson and Larry Simmons are all over 100 receiving yards.
While Parker has seen the lion's share of carries among the running backs, Daniel Bray stepped up in Cincinnati, rushing for 75 yards and a score in the win.
"Giving you that kind of one-two punch with Daniel, a little bit different type of back and then giving you the threat on the perimeter with his speed," McGiven said. "We were able to utilize that in the last game where we kind of got him out on the edge with some angles and so he was able to make some things happen on the goal line.
"When we can have both back there or three guys back there and use a little bit of misdirection to get him involved, then we want to get him involved for sure."
As McGiven schemes for one of the biggest games in Utah-BYU rivalry history, you can be sure the former Cougar graduate assistant has some unique formations and personnel usages up his sleeve.
"I think they mix it up really well," McGiven said about BYU's defense. "They're extremely well coached. They're extremely aggressive on defense.
"... So it's really tough to get a bead on what their looks are, what their tendencies are because they have so much variation to their defense and they play it all really, really well," he continued. "Usually with teams, when you see that much variation, it's like, 'OK, what are they good at? What's their identity?' But I think they have an identity. They do it all pretty well with the players they have."
Morgan Scalley talked about the Utah-BYU rivalry ahead of Saturday's high-stakes matchup, touching on the religious undertones, his relationship with Kalani Sitake, civility in the rivalry and his favorite rivalry memories.
