Utah football coach Kyle Whittingham drew some criticism from the Fox television announcers for not letting them know that backup quarterback Bryson Barnes would be starting in place of Cam Rising in the Utes’ 21-17 victory over Washington State last Thursday.
The Fox crew members said it made them look unprepared after they spent time during the week talking to Whittingham about his team.
But Whittingham said this week that Fox was “not as frustrated as I was.”
Rising told Whittingham just 30 minutes before kickoff that he would not be playing due to an injury.
Rising practiced throughout the week as if he were going to start, and he warmed up on the field, but he sustained “a setback,” Whittingham said, that prompted Rising to make himself unavailable.
“We weren’t keeping anything secret,” Whittingham said. “I guess I could have ran out there 45 minutes before the game and started spreading the word to (the broadcasters) but they weren’t even on site — they did it remotely. So I’m not sure what they expected. There was no trying to pull the wool over their eyes or make them look unprepared. There was nothing of that nature. It was a complete surprise to all of us, and so I don’t know how we could have possibly proceeded any differently than we did.”
Utes on the air
Arizona (3-5, 1-4)
at No. 12 Utah (6-2, 4-1)
Saturday, 5:30 p.m. MDT
Rice-Eccles Stadium
TV: Pac-12 Network
Radio: ESPN 700