After blowout victory, Utes inching ever closer to Pac-12 South title

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah football fans must feel a little bit like a 7-year-old anxiously waiting through the whole month of December for Christmas to come.

Ever since USC lost to Oregon a couple weeks ago, the same day the Utes were knocking off Washington, Utah has been in the driver’s seat to win the Pac-12 South Division crown with a clear, yet long path ahead.

Not only did they have a bye last week to twiddle their thumbs, the Utes had three more games to get through before a possible Pac-12 title game, presumably against Oregon.

After Saturday’s blowout 49-3 victory over UCLA, it’s one down and two to go for the Utes.  

The Utes are inching toward their second straight South Division title as they improved to 6-1 with Saturday’s victory, but they have two more hurdles this month.

Utah came into its mid-November game in almost the exact same situation as in 2015. They were 8-1 overall, 6-1 in Pac-12 play with their only loss coming against USC. Just like in ’15, they had three games remaining, against the same three teams as this year, only in a different order — at Arizona and home against UCLA and Colorado, but lost two of the three.

This time, they supposedly got rid of their most dangerous remaining obstacle, a resurgent UCLA team that had caught fire late in the season with three straight wins over Stanford, Arizona State and Colorado. The Bruins had not only won their last three games, they had won pretty handily by margins of 18, 10 and 17. The Bruins were also motivated because a victory would put them in the driver’s seat for the South title.

But the Utes treated them like they had their last five opponents, who they beat by an average of 26 points. This time, the Utes jacked it up a notch with a 46-point win, their largest margin of victory since joining the Pac-12.

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Utah will undoubtedly remain at No. 7 when the College Football Playoff rankings come out this week since the six teams ahead of them all won and the two unbeaten teams nipping on their heels, Minnesota and Baylor, both lost Saturday.

So winning by 46 while rolling up 536 yards of offense and holding their opponent to 269, should help the Utes with those so-called style points right?

Don’t ask Ute coach Kyle Whittingham.

“(We) never consider that — it’s something we don’t do, won’t do, that’s just how it is,” he said. “We weren’t trying to run it up tonight. We pulled all of our guys and started running the football.”

“We’re not done yet. It’s the same M.O. this week as it’s been the last several weeks, just focus on what’s right in front of you, don’t worry about the outside stuff.” — Utah coach Kyle Whittingham

Whittingham then acknowledged that he left the “pedal on the metal” a little longer because he had watched the film of UCLA’s win over Washington State when the Bruins came back from 32 down in the third quarter to win. The Utes were leading by 32 points in the third quarter before tacking on two more scores.

“That’s the reason we kept the throttle wide open for a little longer than usual,” said Whittingham.

Things should get easier for the Utes, if it’s possible to get easier after a 46-point victory.

Next up is an Arizona team that has lost five straight games after a promising 4-1 start. Then the Utes conclude the season against a Colorado team that had lost five of six before taking this week off, in the season finale at Rice-Eccles Stadium. 

“We’re not done yet. It’s the same M.O. this week as it’s been the last several weeks, just focus on what’s right in front of you, don’t worry about the outside stuff,” said Whittingham. “Just pour all your attention and focus into whoever’s next, and it happens to be Arizona next week.” 

There are bigger and better things on the horizon for the Utes if they can make it to the Pac-12 championship game Dec. 6 — a New Year’s Six bowl (such as the Cotton Bowl) at the very least and a spot in the Rose Bowl or the College Football Playoffs if things go just right.

First they need to get through these last two regular-season games without a slip-up and they’ll be playing at Levi’s Stadium for the second year in a row.

For Utah players, coaches and fans, it can’t come soon enough.