For the second week in a row, Isaac Wilson was in the game before the first half was over.
In the season opener against Southern Utah, the four-star freshman quarterback took the field after Cam Rising went to the bench following a career-high five-touchdown performance.
On Saturday vs. Baylor, the circumstances were much different.
Rising was tackled into a Gatorade cooler on Baylor's sideline minutes before the end of the first half, injuring his throwing hand, and missed the rest of the game. Later, Utah's starting quarterback was seen with his middle and ring fingers taped together as he watched the rest of the game from the sideline.
As soon as Rising went to the sidelines, then the locker room, to have his hand checked out, Wilson took a moment to ground himself before heading onto the Rice-Eccles Stadium turf.
"At that point, I got to stay calm, cool, and collected. I got to trust in my teammates," Wilson said. "My teammates got to trust in me and like (offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig) always says, take care of the ball and great things will happen."
Rice-Eccles Stadium, which was happy and buzzing after Utah scored 23 unanswered points, deflated when Rising went to the locker room and the offensive play in the second half didn't help matters.
"We were doing some really good things and then Cam went out and everything kind of deflated, which was disappointing," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. "Exact opposite should happen. If you lose a key player, then everyone else needs to pick up their game and pick up the slack. It's not just on Isaac Wilson to come in and pick it up, it's everyone around them."
It wasn't a banner day for Wilson, who went 4 for 9 for 30 yards through the air, and Utah's offense failed to put a single point on the board with the former Corner Canyon High quarterback running the show, though the Utes did get into field goal range twice and kicker Cole Becker missed from 45 and 43 yards out.
Postgame, Wilson said there were a lot of plays he wished he could have back, like an overthrow of Dorian Singer on third-and-5 that should have been a first down. There were some good moments, like a 17-yard dot to Money Parks for a first down on third-and-7 right before he got hit, but overall, Utah's offense came to a stall in the second half.
"I think I could have helped the defense personally by getting the ball moving just a little bit more so it didn't put so much pressure on them," Wilson said.
Wilson said Monday that the playbook was open for him, and he did attempt three passes of 10 or more yards, but it was clear that Utah's main goal was to protect the ball and keep it on the ground for the majority of the second half. Utah ran the ball on 19 of its 25 plays in the second half, and kept the ball on the ground on every play of its 11-play, 65-yard drive in the fourth quarter that burned over seven minutes off the clock.
Wilson knows he needs to play better, but last Saturday the message was just to take care of the ball, and the play calling reflected that. With Utah's defense dominating Baylor, and Bears quarterback Dequan Finn struggling for the most part, the Utes knew they could win the game via their defense if they just didn't turn the ball over.
"When Isaac came into this, particularly in the second half, we were really trying to just get out of there with the win and just do our best to protect the football," Whittingham said.
Despite scoring no touchdowns, the fact that Wilson threw zero interceptions after throwing two in the previous game is partly why Whittingham felt like Wilson played better against Baylor than Southern Utah.
"I thought he played better last week than he did the previous week, the last game and had more command, had more confidence, looked like he played with more confidence and I think that he came in and held down the fort for us," Whittingham said.
With all of the hype surrounding Wilson, who is one of the highest-rated quarterbacks to ever sign with Utah, it's important to remember that the 18-year-old has only played two halves of college football — with one under extenuating circumstances.
"I think he's going to continue to get better," Whittingham said. "We certainly believe that and we have a lot of confidence in him."
Whittingham has been clear since fall camp — if Rising is out, this is Wilson's team. Utah is not going to move him down the depth chart after two unideal halves of football.
Wilson outperformed Brandon Rose and Sam Huard in fall camp, and as he continues to gain reps and adjust to the coverages, schemes and speed of college football, Utah feels like he is going to start to live up to his potential. He has the arm talent and the running ability to be a successful college quarterback, but he needs more experience and reps to continue to sharpen his processing ability at the Power Four level.
Coming into the game when the starting quarterback is injured — after 80% of the practice reps went to the starting quarterback during the week and the offensive game plan was tailored to that quarterback — is one of the hardest things to do in sports.
That's important context, and explains why Whittingham isn't overly concerned with Wilson's performance thus far, but if the true freshman starts against Utah State on Saturday, the Utes are going to need a lot more than 30 passing yards.
Of course, if Wilson starts, the situation should be a lot more favorable for him than last Saturday.
Utah needs to decide early in the week if Rising will be able to play or not. If he's able to play, it's business as usual, but if Rising isn't able to go, Wilson needs to get the starting reps all week in practice.
"I think one thing that would definitely help Isaac is if he got those 80% or 70% of the reps all week long," Whittingham said. "I know he would be more advanced, also just more experienced."
The game plan would also be tailored for Wilson from the start of the game. Whittingham said that the plan would be similar whether it's Rising or Wilson, but fans could see more designed quarterback runs if Wilson does indeed start.
This week, Zach Wilson , now a backup for the Denver Broncos , gave his little brother some advice.
"Don't worry about it. I know you're going to be hard on yourself, but you got to take the easy completions, take it slow," Zach texted him. "The game's going to come fast. Just slow it down."
To that point, Wilson feels like he's comfortable with Ludwig's playbook and the game is starting to slow down some for him. With potentially a week of first-team reps, the hope from Utah's coaches is that he can show flashes of his potential and help lead the Utes to a win in Logan if needed.
"I'm getting pretty comfortable. It's getting simple to me. Like I was saying earlier a while ago, it's complex, but I'm getting over that hill and it's getting simple and I think everything's just calming down and it's going to be great," Wilson said.
Utah Utes quarterback Isaac Wilson passes during game against Baylor at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Saturday, September 7, 2024. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
