December not to remember — Utes look abysmal in every aspect in embarrassing effort against Texas

SAN ANTONIO — The conventional wisdom going into Tuesday night’s Alamo Bowl was that if Utah could score around 30 points, it should have little trouble beating a Texas team that had ranked a hundred-and-something in the nation in total defense and had allowed half of its opponents to score more than 30 points.

Heck, even Kansas scored 48 on the Longhorns.

But a Ute offense that had averaged 34 points a game was abysmal from the start, sputtering all night and not scoring a touchdown until the fourth quarter when the game had long been decided.

And even if the Utes had scored 30, they still would have lost, as the Longhorns put 38 on the board against a Ute defense that was ranked No. 1 in the nation coming into the game.

All in all, it was an embarrassing end to what had at one point looked like perhaps the best season in Utah football history with the prospect of the College Football Playoff in its sight.

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The Utes were thoroughly beaten in every aspect of the game — offensively, defensively and on special teams and even coaching as Ute coach Kyle Whttingham pointed out afterward.

“It was special teams, offense, defense. There was not one phase you could point your finger on and like I said, coaching — we have to be better coaches.”  

When Texas elected to receive the opening kickoff, it seemed like an unconventional decision in a day when most teams defer to the second half to get the ball.

The Longhorns must have known something. After all, Utah not only had the No. 1-ranked defense in the country, the Utes also were ranked No. 1 in rushing defense and No. 4 in scoring defense. Why would they want to try their luck against such a vaunted defense to start the game?

Turned out it was the right choice. The Longhorns began the game with a 34-yard pass play and kept going from there. All they did was roll up 438 yards and 38 points, the most against the Utes all season, eclipsing the 37 points the Utes gave up to Oregon last month in the Pac-12 Championship Game. 

On defense, the Utes were hurt by the loss of two key defensive backs, cornerback Jaylon Johnson, who chose to sit out because he’s turning professional, and Julian Blackmon, who is out with an injury.

However, other members of the Ute secondary were confident going into the game.

Starting corner Josh Nurse said, “I know a lot of people think what they want to think, but trust me, we’re going to be just fine. I’m going to be ready for whoever they throw my way.”

I guess Nurse didn’t know about Devin Duvernay, who led the nation in receiving coming into the game and made at least three spectacular catches, a 40-yarder in the first half, a 37-yarder in the fourth quarter, and a 15-yard touchdown catch, also in the fourth. 

Just as surprising was the ineffectiveness of the offense. 

The offensive line, which has perhaps been Utah’s biggest liability all season, struggled all night. If the Longhorns weren’t being allowed to sack Tyler Huntley (five for 29 yards), they were forcing him to run for his life. Once again, the O-line couldn’t open holes for Ute runners on key short-yardage situations as the Utes failed on their first three third-downs, all from 4 yards or less, and they missed on a key fourth-and-one early in the second half.

Utah’s outstanding running back Zack Moss gained only 57 yards on the night with 26 coming on one run.

Yes, the Utah bowl magic is over. 

As the Utes fell to 11-3 on the season, so did Whittingham’s best-in-the-nation bowl record, which also stands at 11-3.

All those years of rolling over opponents in the postseason has come to an end with the Utes’ second straight bowl loss, this one to a 7-5 team by 28 points.

Not only did the Utes lose consecutive bowl games for the first time since 1993, it was the first time they ended consecutive seasons with two losses, since 1987 when Jim Fassel was the coach.

The Ute program is still solid and the Utes will be back next fall with a team that will likely contend for another Pac-12 South title.

But two decisive December losses will leave a bad taste for a long time to come.