You’re giving the first Houston “drive” way too much credit. A one yard pass turned into a broken play TD. It didn’t build any momentum or show that new concepts were going to work. The rest of that game was the true representation of Utah’s offense which was no different than the rest of the season.
The first half against the parochial school was driven by Rose using his legs when his initial reads were covered. I can’t prove it specifically but I’m assuming Hill went with a spy on him in the 2nd half which limited his opportunities to keep drives moving when his reads were still covered. That exposed the number of 2 receiver routes Utah likes to run and allowed the parochial school to focus on the run game which they started shutting down.
re the 2 receiver routes: the best indicator of this I have was on the Rose interception. King was in the Kuithe role due to injury but hadn’t been used as anything more than a decoy all season. So instead of settling into the zone like Kuithe would, he just turned to the sideline and never looked at the QB until the whistle had blown. Our receivers and TE’s have been trained that if they aren’t part of the initial read, they can just run to their spot and then back to the huddle. Other teams receivers, who aren’t any more talented than Utah’s, continue their routes knowing that if the QB can find them they’ll get the ball.
Mississippi Valley State @ 
Utah 
.
