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After holding Arizona State to a season-low 257 total yards — just 55 in the fourth quarter, when theory holds that Utah and all other teams play soft — Kyle Whittingham was asked if there's anything that makes this year's Utah defense unique.
"Yeah," he said. "they're really good."
He'd elaborate, thankfully.
"They're physical, and they play together like not many defenses do," he said. "They're unselfish. And we've got a lot of ability in our defense. We've got a lot of talented players who are going to be playing beyond college."
ASU senior quarterback Mike Bercovici threw five touchdown passes against Colorado but was out of sorts all night, sacked five times and completing less than half of his attempts.
Without Demario Richard, ASU had even less success on the ground, rushing 28 times for 15 yards.
Senior linebacker Gionni Paul, who led the Utes with 11 tackles, credited the effort up front.
"They kept us clean," Paul said. "They're the best defensive line in the country."
Junior defensive end Hunter Dimick, who to date had been less prolific than he was in recording 10 sacks as a sophomore, totaled three tackles for loss and a half-sack.
Junior Pita Taumoepenu, limited to passing downs, recorded his fifth and sixth sacks of the season.
Utah has "upped" the pass pressure in the last few games, Whittingham said, after rushing less frequently in wins over Michigan, Utah State and Fresno State. Now, Utah is blitzing about 40 percent of the time — far from the frenzied frequency of Arizona State, but "about where we used to be," Whittingham said.
And while Utah forced just two turnovers — senior safety Tevin Carter recovered a late flub from ASU tailback Kalen Ballage, and junior Cory Butler-Byrd iced the game with his second career interception — after six against Cal, it was two more than ASU forced.
That continues the trend for a team that entered Saturday leading the nation in turnover advantage at plus-two per game.
"Some weeks you're going to get them, and some weeks you're not," Whittingham said.
Even without the bordering-on-usual handful of interceptions, "collectively, they were the player of the game," he said.
Twitter: @matthew_piper