SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s football season took an obvious turn for the worse in postseason play.
After racking up an 11-1 record, the No. 5 spot in the second-to-last College Football Playoff rankings, a second consecutive Pac-12 South title and an eight-game winning streak, the Utes ran into a wall.
A 37-15 loss to Oregon in the conference championship game wound up costing Utah plenty — a potential berth in the national semifinals or at the very least an invitation to the Rose Bowl.
“We have to figure out our problems and go back to work — get better, improve, continue to improve in all areas. But it does not tarnish one iota of what the senior class accomplished. These guys have left their mark on Utah football.” — Utah coach Kyle Whittingham
The Utes wound up going to the Alamo Bowl instead, where they would face Texas (7-5) in San Antonio. The Longhorns turned the meeting into a stampede of sorts, prevailing 38-10.
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham acknowledged “it was a very disappointing ending to a very good season.”
Whittingham noted that when judging the entire body of work, the Utes did some very good things. The 11 wins were the third-highest total in team history. There were no additions to it as Whittingham noted they were outplayed and outcoached in the last two games.
“We have to figure out our problems and go back to work — get better, improve, continue to improve in all areas,” Whittingham said. “But it does not tarnish one iota of what the senior class accomplished. These guys have left their mark on Utah football.”
Although the team failed to meet or exceed victory totals achieved by the Fiesta and Sugar bowl championship teams that went 12-0 and 13-0, respectively, Whittingham explained that playing in the Pac-12 is “way, way different” than it was in the Mountain West Conference back in those years.
“This is apples and oranges, what these guys did, as far as regular season and how they handled their business,” said Whittingham, who added that the Utes will have a lot of representation in the NFL Scouting Combine and then the draft. He also praised the seniors for earning their degrees.
“(I’m) very proud of these guys,” Whittingham said. “A shame we didn’t finish stronger.”
Utah opened the season with its ninth consecutive win over BYU, prevailing 30-12 in Provo, then completed nonconference play with victories at home against Northern Illinois (35-17) and Idaho State (31-0).
The Pac-12 slate began on a sour note with a 30-23 setback at USC. Because of the early head-to-head loss — and as things turned out because of the tiebreaker — Utah needed to win its next eight games to claim the South Division crown for the second consecutive year.
The Utes accomplished the task — and in impressive fashion. They prevailed in games against Washington State, Oregon State, Arizona State, California, Washington, UCLA, Arizona and Colorado by a combined score of 298-76. The only close encounter was a 33-28 decision over the Huskies in Seattle. Every other game was decided by an average margin of more than 32 points.
Utah’s offense scored 30 or more points 10 times. The defense, meanwhile, held 11 opponents to under 100 yards rushing. After 12 games, the Utes joined Clemson and Ohio State as the only FBS teams to rank in the top nine nationally on both sides of the ball in yards per play. They were fourth on defense (4.2 yards) and ninth on offense (6.91 yards).
The Pac-12 honored Whittingham as its Coach of the Year. He also won the Bobby Dodd Award nationally. Zack Moss, who became the program’s career rushing leader, received Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year recognition.
Moss was joined on the Pac-12’s all-conference first team by defensive end Bradlee Anae, linebacker Francis Bernard, safety Julian Blackmon, defensive tackle Leki Fotu, quarterback Tyler Huntley, cornerback Jaylon Johnson, and left tackle Darrin Paulo.
Second-team selections included tight end Brant Kuithe and defensive tackle John Penisini. Safety Terrell Burgess, offensive lineman Nick Ford, nickel back Javelin Guidry, linebacker Devin Lloyd, offensive lineman Simi Moala, defensive end Mika Tafua and center Orlando Umana made honorable mention.
Several Utes earned All-America honors with Anae earning consensus recognition. The senior also became the program’s career sacks leader with 30.
Another accolade of note came to defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley. He was a finalist for the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach.
OFFENSE: The return of offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig led to a big increase in productivity. Utah finished the season with 6,006 yards of total offense.
Huntley flourished under Ludwig, developing into one of the top quarterbacks in the nation. He completed 222 of 301 passes (73.1 percent) for 3,092 yards with 19 touchdowns and just four interceptions.
“Andy has definitely meshed with Tyler and I think they are a good match. They just seem to be in sync with each other,” Whittingham said earlier in the season. “Andy was excited about Tyler all during the offseason about how athletic he was and what kinds of things he was going to create for him. Tyler has embraced that and done a great job with everything that has been asked of him.”
A pair of transfers — Jake Bentley (South Carolina) and Cameron Rising (Texas) — will battle it out to replace Huntley next season.
After opting to redshirt receiving leader Britain Covey after four games to regain his health, Kuithe wound up leading the team with 34 catches. Senior receiver Demari Simpkins was second with 28. The top returning pass-catcher is Jaylen Dixon, who finished fourth with 24. Other experienced underclassmen include Bryan Thompson, Solomon Enis and Samson Nacua.
Utah’s ground game was led by Moss. The senior topped the Pac-12 with 1,416 yards and scored 15 touchdowns. Huntley was the team’s No. 2 rusher with 290 yards, while a trio of returnees followed suit — Devin Brumfield (263), Jordan Wilmore (194) and Devonta’e Henry-Cole (188).
At tight end, the Utes had solid contributions from Kuithe and fellow sophomore Cole Fotheringham.
The offensive line featured just one senior starter in Paulo. Umano, Ford and Moala join left guard Braeden Daniels as returnees. The continued development of highly touted junior college transfer Bamidele Olaseni could solidify things up front. The competition for playing time will also include sophomore-to-be Johnny Maea.
DEFENSE: For a majority of the season, Utah’s rushing defense led the nation. Anae, Fotu, Penisini and Tafua got things started on the line. Anae ended up as the new “Mayor of Sack Lake City” with 30 career quarterback sacks. He was credited with 14 tackles for loss last season. Tafua got things done at the other defensive end spot with four fumble recoveries.
Linebackers Bernard and Lloyd proved to be quite effective as well. Lloyd, a sophomore, finished with a team-high 91 tackles on the season — making 11 stops behind the line of scrimmage with two pass breakups and an interception. Bernard, meanwhile, was second on the squad with 85 tackles.
The secondary was also a source of strength. Cornerback Johnson recorded 11 pass breakups in his final collegiate season. He declared for the NFL draft and opted not to play in the Alamo Bowl. Nickel back Guidry is also turning pro a year early. The Utes will also lose seniors Tareke Lewis and Josh Nurse, who manned the other corner position.
Hopes are high that California prep star Clark Phillips can step in and make an impact. He committed to Ohio State before switching to Utah.
Defense was a priority in the early signing period as the Utes work to fill vacancies that include the graduation of starting safeties Burgess and Blackmon. The latter made four interceptions in 2019.
“The overriding theme to this class is defense. We were down in defensive numbers last year, so there is going to be a pretty decent imbalance of defensive to offensive guys to try to catch up,” Whittingham said. “But we feel like we are getting some really good players added to our roster.”
The Utes also have some returning experience in defensive linemen Hauati Pututau, Viane Moala and Maxs Tupai; linebacker Sione Lund; as well as JaTravis Broughton, Vonte Davis, R.J. Hubert and Malone Mataele in the secondary.
SPECIAL TEAMS: After becoming the first team to ever have Lou Groza and Ray Guy award winners on the same roster at the same time, the Utes lost kicker Matt Gay and punter Mitch Wishnowsky to graduation and the NFL. Those duties were handled this season, respectively, by freshmen Jadon Redding and Ben Lennon.
Redding wound up making 10 of his 13 field goal attempts and connected on all 56 of his extra point kicks. Lennon, meanwhile, averaged 40.9 yards on 44 punts in his first season with the Utes.
Losing Covey, an all-conference punt returner, also left a void on special teams. Simpkins stepped into the role and later in the season had a 66-yard return for a touchdown.
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Utah football in selected national categories in 2019
Scoring offense: 38th (32.3 points per game)
Total offense: 48th (429.0 yards per game)
Scoring defense: 6th (15.0 points per game)
Total defense: 3rd (269.2 yards per game)
Note: Rankings may change slightly as the National Championship Game has yet to be played.