Snowden’s job was to make life difficult for Tyson, and he did just that in Utah’s 42-10 win over No. 21 Arizona State.
Smith Snowden drew a tough assignment this week.
Utah’s game plan was to put one of its best coverage corners on one of the nation’s best receivers in Arizona State’s Jordyn Tyson, who entered the game averaging 96.6 receiving yards per game.
Snowden was ready for the challenge all week.
“I think it just comes down to you got to respect him, right? He’s a great player, but can’t fear or fear anyone, right? So going into this week the same way we would any other week and just do our job, that’s all we can do,” Snowden said last week.
The Arizona State offense certainly took a hit after starting quarterback Sam Leavitt was ruled out ahead of the trip to Salt Lake. Journeyman backup Jeff Sims was often inaccurate, throwing completely uncatchable balls more than a few times.
Still, no matter who is at quarterback, Snowden’s job was to make life difficult for Tyson, and he did just that in Utah’s 42-10 win over No. 21 Arizona State.
Tyson was clearly Sims’ first read. Tyson was targeted 16 times, with the rest of ASU’s receivers being targeted a combined 12 times. The pressure was on Snowden to not slip up against a player that has made plenty of cornerbacks look foolish over his career.
How did Snowden do?
Snowden was on Tyson for the majority of the game, defending 10 passes thrown his way. Snowden limited Tyson to five catches, and importantly, just 26 yards on those five receptions, a noticeable decrease from the 12.5 yards per reception Tyson was averaging heading into the game.
The longest reception Tyson had when Snowden was matched up on him was 11 yards.
“It was obviously a focal point and Smith Snowden did an outstanding job on him,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “He shadowed him a lot of the night, not completely, but a lot of the time, and to hold a talent like that to just 40 yards is a credit again to the secondary and the way they played tonight. He’s a heck of a player.”
Snowden — and the entire secondary — was especially good in coverage on the multiple deep balls Arizona State attempted and couldn’t connect on.
“I thought the secondary played really well. We were in great position on those balls up the field all night long. Very proud of the way Smith Snowden played and Blake Cotton and Scooby (Davis) and those guys really, I think it was their best game of the year, so good to see that happen,” Whittingham said.
Snowden wasn’t without his faults. He had a pair of pass interference penalties — one that was legitimate and one that looked to be on an uncatchable ball — and missed three tackles, something he’ll look to clean up this season.
But given the matchup he was facing, you couldn’t have asked for a much better game.
With safeties Rabbit Evans and Nate Ritchie out, Utah’s reshuffled secondary looked good in its first game.
Jackson Bennee, who has played nickelback this season, was shifted to starting safety — the position he started out at in his freshman season at Utah.
Snowden and Scooby were the two cornerbacks in Utah’s 4-3 looks, with Blake Cotton and Davis on the outside and Snowden at nickel during nickel looks.
That rotation will continue going forward.
As Utah begins preparations for rival BYU, Snowden could be tasked with guarding Chase Roberts (420 yards on 22 receptions) or Parker Kingston (333 yards on 23 receptions), the Cougars’ two leading receivers.
Notably, Utah only played Snowden on the defensive side of the ball last night after using him on offense in prior weeks. It was important to keep Snowden as fresh as possible for defense, and it paid off against Arizona State.
That trend could continue against the Cougars.
Instead of giving carries to Snowden, or using him in the passing game, the Utes instead used freshman running back Daniel Bray. Bray’s speed is unique in Utah’s running back room, and against ASU, the Utes used it to their advantage.
Bray rushed the ball five times for 41 yards, providing a different look for defenses without the Utes having to resort to increased snaps for Snowden.
“I think that would be a positive for us if it does expand,” Whittingham said of Bray’s role.
“He made some really good runs tonight and he’s a really explosive, fast kid. He ran, I think it was a 10.3 hundred meter in high school. And so yeah, if we can continue to implement him and integrate him into what we’re doing, that just gives us another dimension. We don’t have many guys that can accelerate and hit the gas pedal like he can.”
Category: General Sports
