Hilinski just looked overamped, but not really fair to judge much from his 5 plays. Pretty hard to just drop into a high pressure situation against a really good defense in the middle of the game for just a single series without any warmup.
Heck, look at Bryant's first ten plays
FIRST DRIVE
1st & 10 at NU 25
(14:30 - 1st) Ben Bryant pass complete to A.J. Henning for 1 yd to the NU 26
2nd & 9 at NU 26
(14:15 - 1st) Ben Bryant sacked by Zemaiah Vaughn and Levani Damuni for a loss of 8 yards to the NU 18
3rd & 17 at NU 18
(13:50 - 1st) Ben Bryant sacked by Johnathan Hall for a loss of 4 yards to the NU 14
SECOND DRIVE
1st & 10 at UTAH 45
(11:30 - 1st) Cam Porter run for 3 yds to the UTAH 42
2nd & 7 at UTAH 42
(11:10 - 1st) Cam Porter run for 3 yds to the UTAH 39
3rd & 4 at UTAH 39
(10:20 - 1st) Cam Porter run for 8 yds to the UTAH 31 for a 1ST down
1st & 10 at UTAH 31
(10:02 - 1st) Ben Bryant pass incomplete
2nd & 10 at UTAH 31
(9:45 - 1st) Ben Bryant pass complete to Joseph Himon II for a loss of 2 yards to the UTAH 33
3rd & 12 at UTAH 33
(9:30 - 1st) Ben Bryant pass incomplete
The team gained
1 yard on Bryant's first two possessions under center. Bryant was 2-4 for -1 yards passing with two sacks for -12 yards. The only thing saving it from being two 3-and-outs after the first 3-and-out was Cam Porter running for 14 yards on three consecutive plays to start the 2nd possession. 10 of it was on a defensive holding call, but the team at least gained 13 yards in Hilinski's five plays.
Not complaining in any way about Bryant. He was amazing. Just noting that his first plays didn't set the world on fire either, so not so sure we should indict Hillinski (who didn't look comfortable) for his five plays.
And pretty impossible to know what Lausch can be as he was only utilized in a single very specific way that quickly proved ineffective once it was obvious we wouldn't trust him to do anything other than that one thing. He doesn't necessarily physically look the part of D1 P5 QB, but honestly neither did Dan Persa. Just hoping one of these guys can develop and/or click with the new OC's offense.
Sorry. That was a REALLY long post.