SALT LAKE CITY — Like “spanning the Grand Canyon.” That’s how Utah coach Kyle Whittingham described the Utes’ move from the Mountain West Conference to the Pac-12. The transfer came in 2011, early in a decade that would conclude with back-to-back appearances in the conference championship game.
Neither of those appearances turned out as hoped for Utah. The Utes have yet to win a Pac-12 championship, an accomplishment that results in a Rose Bowl bid or a spot in the four-team College Football Playoff.
Even so, Utah is making significant progress. In 2019, the Utes went 11-3 — achieving the third-highest win total in school history, trailing only the 2004 Fiesta Bowl team (12-0) and the Sugar Bowl squad in 2008 (13-0).
“Keep in mind, the other two win totals were in a different conference at a different time. Way, way different,” said Whittingham. “This is apples and oranges, what these guys did as far as regular season and how they handled their business.”
The Utes won eight straight games during Pac-12 play to repeat as South Division champions in 2019. The mark lifted the program’s all-time record in conference play to 42-39 overall. It’s been quite a journey to get over .500 in the Pac-12.
After opening the era with three straight losing conference records (2011-13), Utah went on to post winning campaigns in five of the next six seasons. The lone hiccup was a 3-6 record in 2017. The Utes responded to that by going 14-4 in Pac-12 play over the past two years.
Overall, Utah football put together an impressive decade. From 2010-19, the Utes went 83-47 with eight winning seasons. They won five bowl games and posted three years with 10 or more victories.
Excluding bowls and Pac-12 title games, Utah went 28-2 in nonconference action — that includes a 9-0 mark against rival BYU. The lone losses came at Notre Dame in 2010 and at Utah State in 2012. Since then the Utes have won 22 straight nonconference games in the regular season, including a pair of triumphs over Michigan.
There was measurable improvement throughout the decade:
2010: Utah went 10-3 overall and 7-1 in conference play in its final season in the Mountain West. The lone league loss was a 47-7 setback at home to TCU. The Utes were 8-0 at the time. They wound up in the Las Vegas Bowl at season’s end, dropping a 26-3 decision to Boise State.
2011: The Utes joined the Pac-12 and there were some bumps along the way. They lost their first four conference games (USC, Washington, Arizona State and California) before reeling off four straight wins (Oregon State, Arizona, UCLA and Washington State). Then came a 17-14 upset loss at home to Colorado that cost them a berth in the Pac-12 championship game.
2012: Utah’s second season in the Pac-12 proved to be difficult. It also began with four losses. This time, though, the Utes weren’t able to get back to .500. They went 3-2 down the stretch, leaving them one game short of bowl eligibility — ending a run of nine appearances in-a-row.
2013: Things grew worse for Utah in the Pac-12. The Utes went 2-7 after getting off to an 0-2 start and later losing five straight games. It led to another 5-7 record overall, making the first time since 1997-98 that they didn’t go bowling in consecutive seasons.
2014: Utah righted the ship. The Utes got out of the gates with a 6-1 record overall. The lone setback was a 28-27 decision at home to Washington State. Utah won its next three Pac-12 games and wound up going 5-4 in conference. The Utes finished 9-4 after beating Colorado State in the Las Vegas Bowl.
2015: Another strong start followed as Utah won its first six games and was 8-1 at one point. A 42-24 loss at USC was the only blemish and ultimately cost them a tiebreaker to reach the Pac-12 title game. The Utes ended up 9-3 overall and 6-3 in the Pac-12 before topping BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl.
2016: A third consecutive winning Pac-12 record highlighted a campaign that concluded with a win over Indiana in the Foster Farms Bowl. Utah was 7-1 before a hard-fought loss to Washington. The Utes later dropped games to Oregon and Colorado by a combined seven points.
2017: Utah’s run of success in the Pac-12 took a step back. The Utes went 3-6 in the conference play. The spiral came after an opening win over Arizona, then narrow losses to Stanford and USC. The latter ushered in a 1-6 stretch. Utah capped things off with a win over West Virginia in the Heart of Dallas Bowl.
2018: Despite opening Pac-12 play with losses to the Washington schools, Utah responded with a 6-1 run that led to the program’s first outright South Division title. A heartbreaking 10-3 loss to the Huskies followed in the championship game. The Utes fell to Northwestern in the Holiday Bowl a month later.
2019: Utah climbed as high as No. 5 in the College Football Playoff rankings en route to winning a second straight Pac-12 South championship. The Utes won their last eight conference games to get it done. However, the season ended with lopsided losses to Oregon (Pac-12 finale) and Texas (Alamo Bowl).
As time has passed, Utah’s talent level has increased. The 2019 team, for example, had seven players — defensive end Bradlee Anae, safety Julian Blackmon, defensive tackle Leki Fotu, quarterback Tyler Huntley, cornerback Jaylon Johnson, tight end Brant Kuithe and running back Zack Moss — earn some sort of All-America recognition. Five of the players (Anae, Blackmon, Fotu, Johnson and Moss) made the prestigious Associated Press squad.
The Utes were also well-represented on the Pac-12’s all-conference teams. Whittingham was named Coach of the Year and Moss received Offensive Player of the Year accolades to headline 17 Utah players honored by the league. Eight Utes made the first team.
As such, there is great representation on the Deseret News All-Decade Team for Utah (see accompanying chart). Although there were several deserving candidates at each position — including high NFL draft picks and other players of note — weight was given for All-America recognition, national honors and/or conference awards.
Even so, there’s plenty of room for debate. Ray Guy Award winner Mitch Wishnowsky, for example, came in second behind two-time honoree Tom Hackett. Several other positions proved to be tight calls as well. Those spots include running back, wide receiver, offensive line, defensive line, linebacker and the secondary.
Looking ahead, the future looks bright for Utah football. Two consecutive Pac-12 South titles have increased optimism around the program.
Moss said the guys know the blueprint for continued success and what it takes to get to back-to-back Pac-12 championship games.
“They know the recipe,” he said. “It was different when we came in. We didn’t know that recipe. We had to learn and work through that, but now they, you know, have something they can work on. So I mean, I’m going to be excited to continue to watch the guys work.”
Kuithe, a big part of the returnees, noted that the departing senior class left quite an impression on the program. They took the reins and everyone followed.
“The juniors are going to have to step up, and a lot of guys are going to have to do it — get in big roles — because there’s a lot of seniors leaving,” Kuithe said.
The next decade for Utah football begins Sept. 5 at home against BYU.