Apparently the grass can indeed be greener on the other side of retirement.
Two games into the 2016 season, Joe Williams announced his retirement from the sport because of unspecified health issues. Less than four weeks later, the senior running back returned to a Utah squad just last week because of a backfield decimated by injury.
In his first game post-retirement, Williams ran for 179 yards in a win over Oregon State last Saturday. A week later, Williams trumped that effort.
In the Week 8 win over UCLA, Williams ran for a career-high 332 yards and four touchdowns as Utah kept pace with Colorado in the Pac-12 South. Williams had entered his brief retirement with 549 career rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns; the past two games, the senior has totaled 511 yards and five touchdowns.
Not surprisingly, Williams’ Week 8 performance set a couple of school records.Joe Williams 315 yards rushing is the first 300-yard rushing game in school history. #goutes
— Utah Athletics (@utahathletics) October 22, 2016
.@JWills_28. 4 touchdowns. School record.#UTAHvsUCLA pic.twitter.com/QZOIwBX2ih
— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) October 22, 2016
The win allowed Utah to keep pace with Colorado, with both the Utes and Buffaloes, thanks to a 10-5 win over Stanford, sitting at 4-1 in Pac-12 South play. Those two teams will meet in the regular-season finale in a game that could very well determine which team represents the division in the conference championship game.
USC, which handed Colorado its lone league loss, could also be factor in the divisional race as they sit at 3-2 on a bye this weekend.
