Estimated read time: 6-7 minutes
The Kyle Whittingham era, born in the emotional angst of a bitter rivalry, turns 20 this fall.
On Dec. 8, 2004 — it was a cold, blustery day in Salt Lake City — Whittingham rejected an offer to lead his alma mater, Brigham Young, and decided instead to become the 20th head coach in Utah history.
To commemorate Whittingham's two decades on the job, the Hotline poured through 161 career victories to identify the 10 most memorable — the benchmarks along a Hall of Fame career.
Why not consider all 162?
We excluded the Fiesta Bowl at the end of the 2004 season. Although Whittingham had officially accepted the job following 10 years as Utah's defensive coordinator, he served as co-coach, along with Florida-bound Urban Meyer, in the victory over Pittsburgh.
In our view, the Whittingham era truly started in the fall of 2005.
Here we go.
1. Utah 31, Alabama 17
Date: Jan. 2, 2009
Place: Louisiana Superdome (Sugar Bowl)
Recap: The game that opened the door to the Pac-12. The Utes were unbeaten but boxed out of the BCS championship while No. 4 Alabama, under second-year coach Nick Saban, was coming off a loss in the SEC title game. The Utes were nine-point underdogs but jumped to a 21-0 lead, then fought off Alabama's second-half rally to secure an undefeated season. The stage, the opponent and the impact — 18 months later, Utah accepted a Power Five invitation — make this the clear choice for the top spot. "I have an expression for it," former Utah athletic director Chris Hill later told the Tuscaloosa News. "It's called the game that keeps on giving."
2. Utah 38, Oregon 10
Date: Dec. 3, 2021
Place: Allegiant Stadium (Pac-12 title game)
Recap: After two missed chances, the Utes finally broke through and captured the Pac-12 championship, along with the coveted Rose Bowl berth. The victory came just two weeks after a rousing win over the Ducks in Salt Lake City — and by a comparable margin. The Utes scored on their opening drive and led 23-0 at halftime in what became their sixth consecutive victory in a gut-wrenching season. (See No. 3 below.) "We've just been working away on it ever since we joined the league," Whittingham said after the game. "This is the culmination of a lot of years of hard work and effort, not only by us, but everyone involved."
3. Utah 42, USC 26
Date: Oct. 9, 2021
Place: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Recap: We'll stay in 2021 for the third most memorable victory of the Whittingham era because it served as the emotional heart of a bittersweet season: This was Utah's first game following the late-September murder of defensive back Aaron Lowe. The Utes took control early in the third quarter for the first victory at USC in school history — a performance that lent rocket fuel to their run to the conference title. "(Lowe's mother) came and talked to the team last week and said, 'Hey, you guys got to carry on, you got a season to play,'" Whittingham said after the game. "They exceeded even what I was expecting."
4. Utah 13, TCU 10
Date: Nov. 6, 2008
Place: Rice-Eccles Stadium
Recap: The Utes trailed for 59 minutes before quarterback Brian Johnson's game-winning touchdown pass (to receiver Freddie Brown) sealed the come-from-behind victory in a Mountain West showdown with massive implications. At the time, Utah was ranked 10th and undefeated while TCU was No. 11 and had just one loss (to Oklahoma). Utah would stampede San Diego State and BYU later in the month to complete an unbeaten regular season and advance to the Sugar Bowl. The Pac-12 invitation might not have come without the victory over Alabama, but the victory over Alabama definitely doesn't happen without the comeback against TCU.
5. Utah 38, Oregon 7
Date: Nov. 20, 2021
Place: Rice-Eccles Stadium
Recap: The third-ranked Ducks had designs on the College Football Playoff when they touched down in Salt Lake City — and through the first 29 minutes and 33 seconds of the opening half. Then came one of the most remarkable sequences of the Whittingham era in one of the most important games: a touchdown run by Tavion Thomas; a 16-second Oregon possession; and Britain Covey's epic 78-yard punt return for a touchdown that gave Utah a 28-0 halftime lead. With the victory, the Utes clinched a berth in the Pac-12 championship game. Two weeks later, Whittingham had his first conference title.
6. Utah 27, Stanford 21
Date: Oct. 12, 2013
Place: Rice-Eccles Stadium
Recap: Utah was floundering through its third season in the Pac-12 when Stanford rolled into town with an undefeated record, a No. 5 national ranking and sights set on a second consecutive conference title. Powered by a delirious home crowd and defensive end Trevor Reilly, the Utes delivered a goal-line stand in the final minute. The upset stood as Utah's most significant Pac-12 victory to that point and was the first home win over a top-five opponent in school history.
7. Utah 62, Oregon 20
Date: Sept. 26, 2015
Place: Autzen Stadium
Recap: The first game on our list with no far-reaching implications for the program's evolution. Instead, the blowout win in Eugene warrants inclusion simply for its status as a coaching masterpiece — a surgical dissection of the 13th-ranked Ducks, who were favored by 10 points and the defending conference champs. Yet Utah scored more points than any Autzen Stadium visitor, ever. After gaining 530 yards with no turnovers and just six penalties, Whittingham offered the following assessment: "We've got some things we've got to clean up and get ready for Cal."
8. Utah 47, USC 24
Date: Dec. 2, 2022
Place: Allegiant Stadium (Pac-12 title game)
Recap: That this Pac-12 championship result is merely No. 8 on our list speaks to the heights attained by Whittingham's program in the post-COVID era. The victory was classic Utah, rooted in a refusal to break after USC's early onslaught. Once the Utes established their footing in the second quarter, they overpowered the Trojans — physically, it was men against boys — to join Stanford and Oregon as the only schools to win back-to-back titles in the Pac-12 era.
9. Utah 24, Michigan 17
Date: Sept. 3, 2015
Place: Rice-Eccles Stadium
Recap: A memorable win largely because of the circumstances: Utah's season opener, at home against a blue-blood program in Jim Harbaugh's first game in charge of his alma mater. The Utes met the moment and led by two touchdowns before the Wolverines scored in the final minute. With this victory as the propulsion, Utah reeled off six consecutive wins to start the season and went on to tie USC for the South division title.
10. Utah 38, Georgia Tech 10
Date: Dec. 29, 2005
Place: AT&T Park (Emerald Bowl)
Recap: Every era starts somewhere, and we view the blowout victory over Calvin "Megatron" Johnson and the Yellow Jackets as the most memorable result of the first season under Whittingham — and it was a difficult season, with a three-game losing streak smack in the middle. That said, there's a strong case to be made for the regular-season finale, an overtime victory over Brigham Young that clinched the bowl bid.
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Jon Wilner has been covering college sports for decades and is an AP Top 25 football and basketball voter as well as a Heisman Trophy voter. He was named Beat Writer of the Year in 2013 by the Football Writers Association of America for his coverage of the Pac-12, won first place for feature writing in 2016 in the Associated Press Sports Editors writing contest and is a five-time APSE honoree. You can follow him on Twitter @WilnerHotline or send an email at jwilner@bayareanewsgroup.com.
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