Analyzing The Pac-12 Football Teams: Utah Utes

Oct 12, 2013; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Utes quarterback Travis Wilson (7) looks to pass during the first half Stanford Cardinal at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

In this edition of Go Joe Bruin’s Pac-12 team previews, we will take a look at the Utah Utes. One of the feistiest teams in the Pac-12 in 2013, the Utes finished with a 5-7 record that belied the team’s competitiveness in multiple high-profile games. Whether it was due to injuries or luck, outside of one shining moment in Salt Lake City when the Utes knocked off Stanford, Kyle Whittingham‘s team simply could not pull out victories in multiple close games — namely, the home games against Oregon State, UCLA, and Arizona State.

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With new offensive coordinator Dave Christensen installing Utah’s third new offense in three years, the Utes seem to be in philosophical flux on the offensive side of the ball. However, given the number of offensive weapons returning for Utah in 2014, it might actually be the graduation-depleted defense of the Utes that is the team’s biggest question mark heading into the 2014 season.

Key Losses

DB Keith McGill

2013 All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention
Led Pac-12 with 12 pass breakups in 2013
Drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the 4th round of the 2014 NFL draft

LB Trevor Reilly

2013 AP All-American Honorable Mention
2013 All-Pac-12 1st Team Defense
100 tackles, 16.5 for loss, in 2013
9 sacks in 2013

DL Tenny Palepoi

2013 All-Pac-12 2nd Team Defense
53 tackles, 9.5 for loss, in 2013
4.5 sacks in 2013

Key Returners

QB Travis Wilson

Passed for 1827 yards in 2013
Threw for 16 touchdowns in 2013
Returning starter after injury-ravaged 2013 season

WR Dres Anderson

2013 All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention
Caught 53 passes for 1002 yards and 7 touchdowns in 2013
T-1st in the nation in pass receptions over 50 yards (7)

DL Nate Orchard

49 tackles in 2013
8.5 tackles for loss in 2013
3 sacks in 2013

Coach Review: Kyle Whittingham

Among the most astute and respected coaches in the conference, Kyle Whittingham always has his teams prepared to play. While Utah’s transition to the Pac-12 hasn’t been seamless, there is no team in the conference that looks forward to the date on its schedule marked “vs. Utah”.

While Whittingham has reportedly been under increasing pressure to stop and turn around Utah’s run of relative mediocrity, there have been numerous mitigating circumstances that allow neutral observers to reasonably claim that Whittingham remains the best option Utah has to eventually lead the team to success in the Pac-12. Namely, Utah has suffered through an unwieldy run of quarterback injuries, which is a problem that longtime UCLA fans who suffered through the 1998 through 2011 seasons can sympathize with wholeheartedly.

The Utes have also hit the rough part of the Pac-12 schedule lottery. After its first two years in the Pac-12, which gave Utah the relative cushion of missing both Oregon and Stanford on its schedule, the Utes now face the flip side of the schedule rotation and are obligated to play both Oregon and Stanford while missing the much easier matchups with Washington and Cal. That, of course, is in addition to facing the entirety of the Pac-12 South, which has become increasingly brutal with the improvement of nearly every single program in the division with the possible exception of USC.

Harder games and a quarterback injury crisis would give Nick Saban and Alabama trouble, much less Kyle Whittingham and Utah. However, with the quarterback questions likely to be solved going forward with the renewed health of Wilson and the emergence of quality QB depth, Whittingham is now in a better position to assert himself as the right and true steward of Utah’s football program.

2014 Schedule

Thu, Aug. 28 vs. Idaho State (Pac-12 Network)

Sat, Sep. 6 vs. Fresno State (Pac-12 Network)

Sat, Sep. 20 @ Michigan

Sat, Sep. 27 vs. Washington State

Sat, Oct. 4 @ UCLA

Thu, Oct. 16 @ Oregon State (FOX Sports 1)

Sat, Oct. 25 vs. USC

Sat, Nov. 1 @ Arizona State

Sat, Nov. 8 vs. Oregon

Sat, Nov. 15 @ Stanford

Sat, Nov. 22 vs. Arizona

Sat, Nov. 29 @ Colorado

2014 Season Outlook

Utah goes into the 2014 season finally possessing a valuable commodity that could be the difference between a bowl berth and a hotter seat for Kyle Whittingham: an actual, honest-to-goodness depth chart at the quarterback position. Utah has been snake-bitten when it comes to the health of its quarterbacks going back to Jordan Wynn‘s time in the saddle of the Utes’ offense. This was readily apparent in 2011 and 2013, when Jon Hays, a transfer from Division III Nebraska-Omaha, and Adam Schulz, a former walk-on, were the respective back-ups who inadequately filled in at quarterback when Wynn and Wilson sustained injuries.

But now, with Oklahoma transfer Kendal Thompson and former blue-chip recruit Conner Manning filling out the spots on the QB depth chart behind Wilson, Utah is well positioned to handle any attrition at the most important position on the field. And with weapons like Dres Anderson, Kenneth Scott, and Bubba Poole able to hit home runs from anywhere on the field for the offense, Utah figures to score some points in 2014.

Surprisingly, the defense, which has long been Utah’s rock, looks like the weaker of the two core units. While stalwarts like LB Jason Whittingham, S Eric Rowe, and DL Nate Orchard are all back (with S Brian Blechen returning from injury), the Utes lost the heart of its defense with the graduation of LB Trevor Reilly and will struggle to replace, among others, the dynamic coverage talents of Keith McGill and the freakish defensive line play of Tenny Palepoi. How Whittingham and longtime defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake plug those gaps will go a long way in determining the course of the Utes’ 2014 season. Watch out especially for Miami transfer Gionni Paul, who is reputed to be an athletic freak who will attempt to fill a linebacker spot for the Utes.

In the end, we at GJB are predicting a 6-6 season for Utah. The Utes will be as feisty as ever, Whittingham will be as good a coach as ever, and the Utes will go bowling to lessen the heat on Whittingham’s seat. The strength of Utah’s schedule is such that it’s hard to predict a better record than 6-6 or 7-5 in good faith, but make no mistake that Utah will give every opponent on its brutal schedule absolute hell and it would shock no one if Utah managed to pull out a victory or two over the powers on its schedule. Michigan and Oregon seem especially ripe and susceptible to losses against Utah if those two aren’t ready to be smacked in the mouth against a program that prides itself on its control of the lines of scrimmage.