Andy Ludwig Getting Most Out Of Huntley, Moss In Utah’s Offense

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Utah football team has seen a different momentum swing and new-found confidence on the offensive side of the football since Andy Ludwig returned for his second stint as offensive coordinator.

The ball is moving down the field and Utah is keeping drives alive and are being productive on offense, giving their defense a chance to catch their breath, which is a big reason why they are so dominant this season.

KSL Sports looked back at the two years that Troy Taylor was the offensive coordinator and compared them to the 4 and a half seasons that Andy Ludwig was calling plays.

Andy Ludwig

Ludwig was the OC for Utah from 2005-08 and is in his first season in his second stint with the Utes this season.

During his time in Salt Lake City, Utah has a 45-15 record with Ludwig as the OC.

He has led Utah to 16 games of scoring 40 points or more in a game, 3 in 2005, 2006 and 2007, as well as six games in 2008 and once this season.

That was against Oregon State when Utah beat the Beavers 52-7 in Corvallis.

The mark when Utah scores 30 points or more in a game is impressive. They are 31-2 under Ludwig when doing so. The losses were against New Mexico and BYU in 2006.

Troy Taylor

Taylor spent two seasons as the offensive coordinator for the Utes from 2017-18. During that time, Utah’s record was 16-11, including a trip to the Pac-12 Championship. As the offensive coordinator, Utah’s offense scored 40 points or more twice in 2017 and 5 times last season, the Utes won all 7 games. When they have scored 30 points or more in a game, Utah was 14-1 under Taylor, losing to just Washington by three points in Seattle. They scored over 30 points seven times in 2017 and eight times in 2018.

Meanwhile, the Utes racked up 500 yards or more 4 times under Taylor and won all of those games. Utah had 13 games of over 400 yards of total offense and had an 11-2 record. The record dropped to 15-8 when Utah had 300 yards or more in a game.

THE NATION NEEDS TO KNOW.@_SNOOP1 is ballin pic.twitter.com/gW0G0n1EZR

— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) November 6, 2019

Huntley, Moss Production

Both Ludwig and Taylor have had the opportunity to focus their offense around quarterback Tyler Huntley and running back Zack Moss. Taylor had an approach of running the ball but focusing on the passing game. Ludwig has been a more run-heavy offense but will suck in the defense with a productive running attack before opening up the passing game using play-action.

Taylor didn’t have Moss or Huntley for a full season last year due to injury but Ludwig is getting more out of the South Florida duo in nine games than Taylor did in his two seasons as the OC. Huntley as the quarterback for two seasons under Taylor, completed 349 of his 546 pass attempts, completing almost 64 percent of his passes for 4,199 yards, 27 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. He also ran the ball 276 times for 841 yards and 10 touchdowns.

In just nine games under Ludwig’s offense, Huntley has completed 141 of his 191 pass attempts, connecting on 73.8 percent of his passes for 2,062 yards (10.8 yards per attempt), 11 touchdowns and one interception. Huntley has carried the ball less under Ludwig with 56 attempts for 235 yards and four touchdowns.

Zack Moss ran the ball 393 times for 2,269 yards (5.7 yards per carry) and 21 touchdowns, while catching 37 passes for 293 yards and one touchdown with Taylor calling the plays. This season under Ludwig, Moss has 137 rush attempts for 828 yards (6 yards per carry) and 11 touchdowns. He has 13 catches for 215 yards and one touchdown.

It’s safe to say that Ludwig has gotten the most out of both Huntley and Moss with the difference in offensive schemes. Ludwig uses Moss in more than just the running game, he utilizes his hands and in the passing attack.

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