Utah Struggles In Pac-12 Games Following Rivalry Wins
Nov 30, 2018, 8:15 AM
Head coach Kalani Sitake of the Brigham Young Cougars meets with head coach Kyle Whittingham of the Utah Utes after the Ute's come from behind 35-27 win at Rice-Eccles Stadium on November 24, 2018 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images)
(Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – A statistic that hasn’t been mentioned much is how the Utes have performed against Pac-12 opponents coming off of a grueling, emotional and physical battle with their rival BYU.
It hasn’t been discussed much because Utah has never faced this scenario where they played BYU in their last regular season game and had to prepare for the Pac-12 Championship game six days later, until now.
Utah is 0-3 when they face a Pac-12 team following the rivalry game. They had two seasons when they played BYU during week two of the season and played San Jose State the following week. Utah won both of those games.
2011
The Utes beat BYU 54-10 during week three of the season but lost to Washington in their Pac-12 opener 31-14 at home. It was also Utah’s first season in the Pac-12 and just started getting those recruits coming into the program.
Utah finished that season with a 7-5 overall and 4-5 conference record. They beat Georgia Tech in the Sun Bowl 30-27 in overtime.
2012
Another win over BYU for the Utes but it was by just three points, 24-21. They had to go to Tempe to face the Arizona State Sun Devils in their first Pac-12 game of the season and they lost pretty handily 37-7.
Utah ended with a 5-7 overall and 3-6 Pac-12 record and did not play in a bowl game.
2013
The Utes knocked off BYU 20-13 in Provo with a quality performance from quarterback Travis Wilson with 273 passing yards and two touchdowns. Utah lost to Oregon State in overtime in the second week of the season, so No. 12 UCLA was their opponent after the rivalry game and they lost by one touchdown, 34-27.
It was another 5-7 season for Utah but was just 2-7 in the Pac-12 and missed another bowl game.
Utah hopes to turn that trend around against Washington in the Pac-12 Championship game in Santa Clara, California at 6 p.m. on FOX.
