Kyle Whittingham knows that Utah will have to play its best football to beat Washington this weekend.

“We got a big challenge this week, on the road against the No. 5 team in the country,” Whittingham said. “We got to be at our best. We can’t just play good, we got to play great and that’s what it’s going to take.”

Utah throttled Arizona State this past Saturday, 55-3. The 52-point margin of victory for the Utes was the largest for Utah in a Pac-12 game. Utah quarterback Bryson Barnes was 19-for-28 passing with 161 yards and 4 touchdowns, while running back Ja’Quinden Jackson contributed 111 yards rushing and 1 touchdown on 13 carries.

Utah outgained Arizona State 513 to 83 in total yards. The 83 yards of offense the Utes allowed matched the Cal game in 2019 for the fifth-lowest in program history. It was also the second-worst offensive day in ASU program history.

The Utah head coach heaped praise on his team for their ability to bounce back from a loss the week before against Oregon.

“Great response by our players and coaches this past weekend. Thought we came out and played exceptionally well,” Whittingham said. “Coordinators had outstanding plans on both sides of the ball. Players did a great job executing it. Couldn’t be more pleased with our coaching staff and our players. That’s exactly what we needed was to have a reset of sorts, and get back on track.”

Utah has a huge matchup against undefeated Washington this Saturday at 12:30 p.m. PT on FOX.