SALT LAKE CITY – Two hours before coaching the biggest game of his fledgling tenure atop Utah football, Morgan Scalley stood on the 15-yard line inside Rice-Eccles Stadium, spinning a football in his hands.
Then he motioned toward a support staffer in the end zone, directing him to stand beneath the goal post, 25 yards away.
A former Utah safety and team captain, Scalley let it fly.
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Pressure, he would say later, is a privilege. Scalley certainly didn’t look like he was feeling any. Neither did the first team of his head-coaching career.
Scalley’s pregame pass doinked off the crossbar.
Mission accomplished on the first try.
Hours later, thanks to 21 second-half points, Utah completed a much bigger mission.
Still undefeated. The Big 12’s lone unbeaten team and one of just three remaining in the country.
Thirteen consecutive victories.
The latest eight belong to Scalley, whose tenure began amid the awkward transition from Kyle Whittingham, whose Michigan team is three losses away from being undefeated itself. But that’s a different story.
This one belongs to Utah.
The Utes stand alone atop the Big 12, with a four-team pack of one-loss teams lurking in the rearview mirror.
And maybe, just maybe, some long-awaited respect is coming with it.
After hosting ESPN’s College Game Day and taking care of the No. 16 Cougars on another wacky Saturday that saw three teams in front of the Utes — including archnemesis BYU, Big 12 defending champion Texas Tech and No. 7 Ole Miss — all find the loss column, Utah simply found a way to win.
“When you’re under the lights, you’re going to find out maybe a little bit more,” Scalley told USA TODAY Sports. “But, we’ve had adversity already. We’ve had … they hear Utah hasn’t played anybody. They hear that, and they hear that Houston’s going to get them, and that’s why they play the game.
“Proud of them.”
For much of the night, Houston had Utah exactly where it wanted it.
The Cougars stymied the Utes’ offense, keeping the home team off the scoreboard for the game’s first 40 minutes and becoming the first opponent in 25 games to shut out Utah for an entire first half.
Twice, Houston intercepted quarterback Devon Dampier.
What the Cougars couldn’t do, however, was stop Dampier once he broke free along the base of the Wasatch Range.
Dampier gashed Houston for 150 yards on just 15 carries. He scored the game’s final touchdown after safety Jackson Bennee detonated Houston's Conner Weigman on a backside blitz, forcing the fumble that helped Utah finally put the game away.
“I think we’re written off by a lot of people,” said Dampier, who in just 20 games at Utah has climbed to No. 2 all-time in rushing yards by a quarterback. “I guess that’s a respectful way to say that. We definitely felt that. We definitely heard about it.
“We definitely came out here, and it was the game we had to prove ourselves. We knew what situation we were in. I kind of told our team before we went out there, there’s no need to be nervous in this moment. We talked about reaching the College Playoffs.”
Tough tests await. Tougher ones, too.
Utah travels to Cincinnati on Halloween to face a Bearcats team that led Texas Tech by three touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
Then comes BYU. A week after making a case for No. 1 by beating Notre Dame, the Cougars face-planted in a 39-31 double-overtime loss at middling UCF. Now they’ll make the 50-minute trek north for the Holy War.
A road date with soon-to-be-ranked, one-loss Arizona caps the four-game gauntlet.
Nothing about this college football season suggests Utah should emerge from that stretch unscathed.
Then again, nothing about these Utes suggests they’re interested in accepting anyone else’s limitations.
“How strong culture is,” Dampier told USA TODAY Sports when asked what Utah’s performance showed college football. “How much brotherhood and love can take you. That’s our foundation. That’s the three.
“So, I can say we showcased that tonight.”
Written off, they say.
Funny. These Utes just keep writing their own story.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Keep disrespecting Utah football. Undefeated Utes are coming for a CFP bid