SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah football program is now champions of the Pac-12 South Division.

If you are a long time, or even just short time Utah football fan, read that sentence again and let it sink in. The 8-year monkey is finally off Kyle Whittingham's back; though he told me on the post game show Saturday he never really felt the imaginary monkey because it's always his goal to win the South.

This season began with more hype and expectation than any other for Whittingham's team in the Pac-12 era. Many inside and outside the state believed Utah was the favorite to win the South.

Then came the struggles to start Pac-12 play. A lot of fans and media types wondered whether Utah would ever live up to the hype. But in a solid October, Utah rolled off four straight wins and found its offensive identity to match its lockdown defense. Utah again regained the mantle of South favorites.

But whether Utah could sustain that success in November always remained the top question. A loss to Arizona State, compounded by the loss of their starting quarterback and running back, made the answer to that question easy for most. It looked like another lost opportunity for Whittingham and the Utes.

But Utah showed this November was different and that they weren't #JustARegularTeam. Utah showed off its depth of talent and quarterback Jason Shelley and running back Armand Shyne stepped up. The defense, too, regained its elite status to beat Oregon and Colorado.

Nothing, it seems, has ever come easy for Utah as members of the Pac-12. Every year has been a challenge with breaks and opportunities seemingly always just out of reach. The challenges, though, make this first division title so satisfying, because it was earned!

Utah wasn't given anything, they didn't back into it, they earned it. Utah played the conference's most difficult schedule and they overcame injuries to their two best offensive players in the month of November. In Whittingham's 14th season as head coach at Utah, this is the best collection of talent that he has coached and the best job of coaching he has done. The talk of November struggles can now be silenced.

Santa Clara, here come the Utes

Utah will be in Santa Clara, Calif. at Levi's Stadium on November 30 to play a revenge game, of sorts. They'll face either Washington or Washington State depending on the outcome of next week's Apple Cup in Pullman, Washington.

This game has not been well attended in its short history. But my guess is that the Utah fan base and either of the Washington schools will set a single game attendance mark for the game in less than two weeks.

Beating the Buffs

None of the words I wrote above would have mattered had Utah not taken care of business Saturday morning in Boulder. Utah set the tone on a bitter cold and snowy day at Folsom Field by coming out 90 minutes before the game to warm up without their shirts on. The Utes were sending a statement they weren't going to be intimidated by the cold or Colorado, and they weren't.

After a slow start and trailing 7-0, Utah rolled off 30 unanswered points en route to a 30-7 win. For a second straight week, Shelley was good and threw for 221 yards and two touchdowns. But maybe most important while on the road, and in less than ideal conditions, he didn't make any real mistakes. Utah wasn't tricky or gimmicky Saturday and just played straightforward football in all three phases. They dominated the outmanned Buffs.

Game balls

Jason Shelley - For a second straight week, he showed poise and composure at quarterback. If you didn't know any better, you wouldn't think it was his second career start. In bad field and weather conditions, Shelley was able to throw the ball well and deep. Shelley is a confident kid to begin with, but you can now see that confidence and comfort in game situations is growing.

Francis Bernard - Utah's defensive leader and captain Chase Hansen was ejected on a controversial targeting call on Colorado's third drive. This opened the door for Bernard, who stepped in seamlessly and played his best game as a Ute. Bernard led Utah with 10 tackles, three for loss. Bernard made the loss of Hansen in the first quarter hardly noticeable, and he'll be asked to do the same next year.

Maxs Tupai - Tupai has become a real problem for opposing offensive lines. It took the Murray High School product a bit to have the light switch flip on, but he has since been outstanding. On Saturday, Tupai had five tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and a sack. He's a big part of the reason that Utah had a season-high six sacks and leads the Pac-12 this season in sacks.

Utah by the numbers

• Utah's defense, after a hiccup at Arizona State, is back to being dominant again. On Saturday, the defense held Colorado to 196 total yards, the lowest and best number in the Pac-12 Era for the Utah defense. Additionally, they racked up a season-high six sacks and posted 16 tackles for loss — also a season high.
• Redshirt freshman wide receiver Jaylen Dixon posted a career day in the snow. The former high school teammate to Shelley had four grabs for 125 yards and a touchdown. He also had the longest play of his short career, a 61-yard catch to set up a Utah touchdown.
• Jim Harding told the Utah offense at halftime they would probably have just five second-half possessions and that they needed to make the most out of them. The offense took those words to heart and scored on their first five drives of the second half — two touchdowns and three field goals.

It's rivalry week

The only game that remains is what used to be the biggest game on the schedule, annually — the BYU game. The game that used to define Utah's season is now just another game. It's maybe more than just another game, but it doesn't hold the same spot that it used to for Utah and it's fan base.

The notion that some fans have put forth that Whittingham should rest his starters for this game is silly. They clearly don't know Whittingham or what this game means to him. It's still a football game on the schedule that counts against their record.

If there are players that are banged up or a little questionable, you'd likely rest them for the Pac-12 title game, but otherwise it's all hands on deck. Look no further than Florida-Florida State, USC-Notre Dame or Georgia-Georgia Tech. These are all big rivalry games played late in a season without any conference ties or affilation, but you won't see healthy players sitting out those games, and you won't see it next Saturday at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Finally, for those that think Utah and BYU aren't rivals anymore and that the game doesn't need to be played, you are welcome to your opinion, but I happen to disagree.

BYU is Utah's rival and vice versa. Not playing as members of the same conference doesn't change that. History, great games and moments are what make and define rivalries and the Utah-BYU game has that over and over again.

There may come a time where they don't play every year due to other games that appear on schedules, but I hope this game continues to be played on a regular basis, because college football is all about rivalries and great games. And the Utah-BYU game is one of the best anywhere.

You can catch my broadcast of the rivalry game Saturday night from Rice-Eccles Stadium at 8 p.m. on ESPN 700 with Scott Mitchell and Tom Hackett, two guys who played in the game. Utah will look to make it eight straight wins over their rivals to the South.

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