Utah Football Can’t Feel Sorry For Themselves
Nov 23, 2022, 1:34 PM
Utah Utes players pay tribute to Ty Jordan and Aaron Lowe during the fourth quarter against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl Game at Rose Bowl Stadium on January 01, 2022 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
(Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY- Utah suffered a brutal, close loss last week against Oregon. Neither team played particularly well, but the game was there for the taking and it would have allowed the Utes to sit back and be in control of their destiny in the Pac-12 Championship race. Now, Utah is at the mercy of others while still having to keep their heads right about a team in Colorado that inspires very little motivation. Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham talked several times this week about how Utah football cannot sit around feeling sorry for themselves.
"You can't feel sorry for yourselves. You gotta pick yourself back up and get ready for the next one…"@Utah_Football | #GoUtes
— Utah Athletics (@utahathletics) November 21, 2022
“We have Colorado this week on the road,” Whittingham said during his Monday press conference. “Obviously our last regular-season game. You know the old adage- we can’t let Oregon beat us twice. We can’t have a hangover; we can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We’ve got to pick ourselves back up and get ready for the next one. Mathematically we still have a pathway to the championship but all we can worry about is our part of the equation.”
Utah Getting Back On Track Is Easier Said Than Done
It should come to no one’s surprise the Utes are feeling down. They know they squandered a prime opportunity to pretty much stamp their ticket to their second-straight Pac-12 Championship. The Utes are also aware of the fact that it’s done and over with- nothing they can really do but move forward and handle what they can control.
Saying those things and acknowledging them, however, is completely different than actually doing it. Whittingham hinted during his Tuesday availability the task has been a hard one to overcome, but he’s confident his guys will get right and be ready for the Buffs on Saturday.
“We are very disappointed,” Whittingham said. “[Monday]- a little bit of a lingering affect [Tuesday], but we’re getting it out of our system. We need to have it completely out of our system by [Wednesday] because there is nothing we can do about it. It’s disappointing but we have to own it and move on.”
Michelle Bodkin is the Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of both the Crimson Corner Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and The Saturday Show (Saturday from 10 a.m.–12 p.m.) on The KSL Sports Zone. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram: @BodkinKSLsports
