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Kyle Whittingham said again Monday that he never discusses injuries, but made an exception when asked about sophomore tight end Harrison Handley.
"Right now he's got a real sore fingernail, so we're really concerned about that."
Turning to Handley, seated with his bandaged digit at a nearby podium after making his third career touchdown catch against Oregon State, he asked, "Is that fingernail doing OK? Want to show it to them?
"We usually don't talk about injuries, but there it is. We broke protocol."
Jabs about boo-boos aside, Utah has become increasingly battered in recent weeks after what Whittingham had said was one of the healthiest starts to the season that he could recall.
Team leaders like Jared Norris, Siaosi Aiono and Siale Fakailoatonga have been sorely missed.
"We've got some guys that are down," Whittingham said. "Injuries seem to have accumulated more this year in-season than in years past."
Since Fakailoatonga injured his knee against Arizona State — near the same spot on the field where Utah lost co-starter Evan Moeai against Michigan — Utah has rushed for just 115 yards per game, down from a 216-yard clip through its first five.
Asked if Fakailoatonga's impact on the run game had been underrated by media types, Whittingham said, "very much so." Handley has scrawled "87" on his arm to honor Fakailoatonga and said it's on him now to improve his technique and become a similar force blocking downfield.
"You can see it when you go back and look at the game tape, how much of a rock he was," said Handley — who caught his finger in an Oregon State player's helmet and would probably have his boss's sympathy in any other realm of work. "He's a huge guy. I definitely need to step up a little bit and become more physical in the run game."
Utah was also without center Siaosi Aiono against Oregon State and will be again in Seattle, Whittingham said Monday. The Utes conceded just one sack and totaled 174 rushing yards in his absence, however, and quarterback Travis Wilson praised backup center Hiva Lutui for his play — a botched snap aside — and right tackle J.J. Dielman for helping to fill Aiono's leadership void.
Lutui had previously split time with Salesi Uhatafe at right guard, but Uhatafe played every snap against the Beavers, while redshirt freshman Jackson Barton played 25 snaps, rotating with junior Sam Tevi.
Whittingham called Utah's ability to replace injured players "absolutely critical."
"We're miles ahead of where we were when we first got into the league," he said.
And when depth can't save you, there's always toughness. Norris, who watched from the sidelines at the Coliseum, led the Utes with nine tackles Saturday while playing through pain in his knee.
"I think for me, there's a mindset of when I get hurt, I think it's fun to see if I can play at the same level as when I'm not hurt," Norris said.
There were plays when he may have misjudged his ability to close, he said, but the injury "made me play lower and have lower pad level and made me have good technique again, so it was almost more of a plus than anything."
A safer pace • One way to limit injuries, Whittingham said, is to limit plays.
Utah ran a season-low 61 plays — not counting punts — on Saturday, a number that has lowered every game since Utah ran 77 against Cal.
And against Arizona State and Oregon State, Utah returned to a huddle — partly to protect signals after suspecting that Todd Graham might have deciphered something, or that the familiarity of Oregon State's coaches would make them vulnerable to the same.
"When we're not playing at that fast pace that we messed around with for the last couple years — we're more into a traditional pace now — there really is no big benefit to not huddling and no disadvantage to huddling, because the pace is very similar," Whittingham said. "We just figure if it protects the signals a little better and it makes us less susceptible, why not?"
Utah has run 69 plays per game — the same number as its opponents — which is down from 73 plays per game last season.
The Utes have rushed almost 59 percent of the time compared to 47 percent for opponents. Whittingham reiterated Monday that he'd like to see a few more throws in the balance.
"That's kind of a recurring theme," he said. "We seem to talk about that most weeks."
A safety Chase? • Redshirt freshman Chase Hansen is going to be a quarterback, Whittingham had said previously. He played quarterback before leaving on a two-year LDS mission and entered the season No. 3 on the depth chart behind two seniors.
But Whittingham seemed to back off that stance Monday, after Hansen again appeared at safety and made a critical third-down sack on Nick Mitchell to force a fourth-quarter punt, Utah then leading by just 11.
"Without a doubt, we're liking what we see out of him, and he's going to play a bunch this week," Whittingham said. "A bunch. The future for Chase will be up to Chase. I think he's going to be a fine quarterback if that's the direction he wants to go. He's fallen in love with the safety position. The short version is, after the season we'll talk to him, see which way he wants to go, and whichever way that is is the direction we'll go. He's going to play for us somewhere next year full-time, and it just depends on where he wants to be."
Meanwhile Saturday, Utah junior college commit Troy Williams went 12-for-16 for 253 yards and three touchdowns one half of Santa Monica's 59-6 blowout of L.A. Southwest.
The Washington transfer has now completed 66 percent of his passes for 2,018 yards, 20 touchdowns and four interceptions, while rushing for six more scores.
Twitter: @matthew_piper —
Utah at Washington
P Saturday, 5:30 p.m. MST
TV • Ch. 13