SALT LAKE CITY—This is as bad as is gets,or has ever been for the Rush. A first quarter disaster(understatement) evolved into a 40-point defeat for the Rush (7-5) as the Utah Blaze (8-5) put things on cruise control on way to a 68-28 rout at the EnergySolutions Arena Saturday night. The 40-point loss is the worst defeat for the Rush in their eleven year history.
Winning the coin toss for the first time in over a month, the Rush attempted an unsuccessful onside kick that his the side wall,and turned into seven quick points for the Blaze when Tommy Grady found Aaron Lesue for a 14-yard score. Slow out of the gate offensively, Russ Michna (16-29, 161 yards, 2 TD) couldn’t lead the Rush to points until the fourth offensive possession, mainly because the Utah defense forced back-to-back turnover on downs and then had their special teams recover a kickoff for a touchdown.
By the time the Rush scratched the scoring column it was eighteen minutes into the game and they were down 28-0 and it was very much over. Reggie Gray (11 catches, 87 yards, 2 TD) took in a 9-yard pass from Michna and Luke Drone used his legs to notch his ninth rushing touchdown on the year to bring the team back within 20. However, the defense couldn’t find any clues to stop the Utah offense as Blaze wide receiver Tysson Poots terrorized the secondary for 11 catches and 126 yards in the first half alone. His 27-yard touchdown grab with 2:13 left in the first half put Utah up 41-14, marking his second touchdown of the night.
Nevertheless, the first half nightmare wouldn’t end there for the Rush as the Blaze attempted an onside kick that was fumbled out of the hands of Rush DB Kelvyn Hemphill, leading to Utah’s seventh offensive possession in the first half. Everything appeared to be snowballing until a holding penalty by the Blaze negated an end of the half touchdown to keep the Rush within 27.
The third quarter gave way to the Rush’s only advantage of the night. The opening second half possession went 47-yards ending with a Gray touchdown catch. However, the rest of the third quarter didn’t give way to the kind of momentum needed as the Blaze answered with an eight play, 48-yard drive clocking off over five minutes. Drone added his 10th rushing touchdown of the season on the following possession, but the large deficit needed more than the 14-7 point differential in the third quarter.
Stops never came for a Rush defense who relied on 14 Blaze penalties to slow the pace of the hard charging Utah offense. Just when the Rush had a chance to stop the Blaze on fourth down to have an opportunity at closing the game within two scores early in the fourth quarter, Grady surveyed to find Lesue for his 100th touchdown pass of the season.
Salt in the wound came with 7:28 left in the game after the Rush turned the ball over on downs for the third time in the game. Grady (32-45, 366 yards, 7 TD) launched a bullet down the middle of the field to a sliding Lesue who held on for his third touchdown of the game, putting the Blaze up 34.
Mistakes on offense weren’t necessarily the reason for the season low 28 points. The Rush held the ball for only 25 minutes all game and didn’t commit an offensive turnover with Michna at the helm. However, Utah appeared to be aware of everything the Rush threw at them offensively and defensively, putting the Visitors in a state of flux to find a remedy.
The ability for Utah to outsmart the AFL’s most efficient passer led to Michna only throwing for a season low 161 yards and two touchdowns. The two touchdown passes against the Blaze were Michna’s lowest total for a full game since a 2010 Week 7 loss to the Iowa Barnstormers.
No Rush wide receiver collected over a hundred yards receiving for the first time all season. Conversely, Utah wide receivers Tysson Poots and Lesue both went over a hundred yards and caught three touchdowns apiece, while Kauleinamoku and Kelley each added 70 and 64 yards respectively.
A now 1-5 Rush road record won’t be tested for two weeks as the Rush return to the Allstate Arena June 16th where they have a shining 6-0 record. The opponent for next week’s home game is the familiar Georgia Force (6-6), who dropped the Rush earlier in the year 70-49 down in Gwinnett.
What made this debacle even worse was that Division leader San Antonio won and has a two game lead on the Rush.But,the Rush is only 1/2 game behind Utah for the final Playoff birth which the Rush are very much alive for.With home games remaining against both San Antonio and San Jose in addition to Georgia,they get a chance to avenge those earlier defeats and still could win the Division if they beat the Talons by more than 1 point,and at least tie them in the standings. It starts with this Saturday night’s 7pm kickoff with Georgia at Allstate Arena.
The webcast at arenarush.com (click on the RUSH-TV icon)begins at 6:45pm