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South Bend • The Utah Utes have stressed the importance of creating turnovers and not making mistakes for them to be successful. No surprise, they failed in both areas Saturday as they lost to Notre Dame 28-3.
The Utes were penalized 11 times for 70 yards, the most since the first two games of the season.
"That was another big factor that led to our demise," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. "We kept taking a step forward and we took two steps back today. We had a lot of penalties at the start of the season with a little sloppy stretch, then we had five or six games of 40 yards or less. Today they resurfaced as a factor."
The Utes had two false starts on their opening drive, which ended when Joe Phillips made a 46-yard field goal.
Another drive had two false starts and a delay of game.
Utah offensive lineman Tony Bergstrom said Notre Dame didn't do anything to throw off the Utes, but admitted the noise might have bothered some of the players.
"It kills your momentum," Bergstrom said of the penalties.
This and that
Former Utes Jamal Anderson and Eric Weddle attended the game. ... Matt Martinez led Utah with nine tackles. ... Notre Dame didn't make a first down in the first quarter.
Injury report
Junior defensive end Junior Tui'one didn't make the trip (calf injury) and linebacker Chad Manis (ankle) didn't play. Quarterback Jordan Wynn had the wind knocked out of him but was fine after the game.
Bringing a crowd
The Utes brought an estimated 7,500 fans to the game, which made Saturday's game one of the biggest draws for a regular season away game for Utah fans.