RES to an OOC since 2007.
I think it has more to do with the timing of OOC games and the offense. Losing a superstar to tragedy like Ty Jordan affected the entire offensive strategy. Now, Utah had to replace QB, WR1 and add a new RB. That's hard for any offense.
So to expect perfection right away is silly. Even though he didn't start at SDSU or finish at tOSU, Rising played exceptionally well against both SDSU and tOSU. The games came down to the last play.
Few people would ever make that big of a deal of it.