Intro to the Pac-12: Utah
On July 1, the Pac-10 officially became the Pac-12 and this week, the110report is taking a look at USC and UCLA’s new division-mates Colorado and Utah. We introduced Colorado on Wednesday. Today, we take a look at Utah.
Utah
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Founded: 1850
Enrollment: 29,284 (2010)
Colors: Crimson and White
Nickname: Utes
Sports Offered: Baseball, M Basketball, W Basketball, W Cross Country, Football, M Golf, W Gymnastics, M/W Skiing, W Soccer, Softball, M Swimming/Diving, W Swimming/Diving, M Tennis, W Tennis, W Track/Field, W Volleyball
Football/Basketball Venues: Rice-Eccles Stadium (45,017), Jon M. Huntsman Center (15,000)
NCAA Championships: Skiing, 10; W Gymnastics, nine; M Basketball, 1944
About the Program:
From the outside looking in, Utah’s jump to the Pac-12 Conference may seem like a giant leap forward. However, to any longtime observer of the program, the invitation to join the Conference of Champions was merely a culminating step for a football program on a decades-long ascent to the highest level of college sports.
Utah may have never played for an automatic BCS Invite before and their television revenues in the Mtn. West Conference were only a fraction of even the lowest grossing team in the Pac-10, but Utah’s on-field performance in the BCS era ranks them immediately in the top tier of Pac-12 programs.
From 1999- 2009 Utah won 9 consecutive bowl games (including a 2001 Las Vegas Bowl victory over USC) tying the record for longest bowl winning streak (set by USC between 1923-’45) and propelling themselves to the best bowl winning percentage of any team with at least 10 appearances (.750). Only three Pac-12 teams (USC, UCLA and Washington) have more bowl victories than Utah. The Utes also join USC as the only two teams in the Pac-12 with wins in multiple BCS bowls.
In regular season play, Utah has more than held its own against the BCS leagues. In fact, in the BCS era, no non-auto qualifier won more games against BCS teams than Utah’s 21 (12-4 in six years under Whittingham).
The Utes have played at least one game against a Pac-10 school 9 of the last 10 seasons, going a respectable 8-4 (1-0 v. USC and 1-1 v. UCLA).
In the last three seasons, Utah has been ranked in the AP’s top 25 all but three weeks. Unfortunately for the Utes, one of those three weeks was the final AP poll of last season. The Utes found themselves unranked after a humbling 26-3 loss to Boise State in the Las Vegas bowl.
Utah was ranked as high as #6 last season, but wilted against the toughest competition. They were throttled at home by eventual Rose Bowl Champion, TCU, and took a beating at Notre Dame. In both of those games and the Bowl loss, Utah’s offense was M.I.A.
To upgrade their attack, Utah looked to an alum with considerable Pac-10 coaching experience, hiring Offensive Coordinator Norm Chow. Along with Chow comes O-Line Coach Tim Davis who coached with Chow for three incredibly successful years at USC. Chow brings considerable changes to Utah’s offensive look, replacing the spread-option attack that Urban Meyer installed back in 2003 with a traditional pro-style offense.
Season Outlook:
Chow is the most accomplished offensive coordinator in college football and Utah fans are right to be excited about him returning to his alma mater, but Chow can’t run and throw the ball himself. The tough reality for Utah is, outside of All-Pac-12 candidate WR Devonte Christopher, their skill positions are a lot of question marks.
QB Jordan Wynn played horribly in big games last year, looking tentative and weak in November. He threw for 148 yards in back to back weeks against TCU and Air Force, and threw for under 200 a third time in a row at Notre Dame the following week. Utah fans were relieved to hear after the regular season that Wynn had been playing with an injured throwing shoulder that required surgery. Wynn would Miss Utah’s bowl game and spring ball recovering and Utah is expecting him to be at full strength this fall.
However, Wynn seemed to be struggling as much mentally as he was physically in his poor performances. If his lousy showing in those three November games was because of an injury, then how exactly did he explode for 362 yards and a mind boggling passer rating of 175.8 the next week against San Diego State? To put it gently, It remains to be seen if Wynn’s shoulder was his only problem. He has shown the ability to be a top-level D-1 quarterback, and he will be healthy this season. He is entering his Junior year, a time when college quarterbacks are expected to make a big leap in performance. Wynn certainly could make that leap, but many in Salt Lake City have their doubts.
Utah is also the only team in FBS that does not return a single rushing yard from last season. Hopes are high for local standout recruit Harvey Langi and LA Harbor JC transfer John White, but with a combined zero D-1 carries between them, all Utah fans can do is wait and see.
Utah’s recruiting and facilities will benefit greatly from joining the Pac -12 and if past is prologue, there’s no reason to think the Utes won’t be competitive long-term in the new league. Unfortunately, with so many unknowns stepping into big roles on the offense and a new coordinator installing a totally new offensive scheme, it’s hard expect the Utes to finish much better than the middle of the pack in the new Pac-12 South