The 2011 Utah Utes football team represented the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

in the

2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on September 1, 2011, and ended on ...

. The team was coached by seventh year head coach

Kyle Whittingham Kyle David Whittingham (born November 21, 1959) is an American college football coach and former player. He currently serves as the head football coach at the University of Utah, a position he has held since 2005, and he is the all-time leader ...

and played their home games in Rice-Eccles Stadium in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

, Utah. After playing the previous 12 seasons in the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

, this was Utah's first season in the new

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

in the South Division. They are the first former "BCS Buster" to join a BCS conference. They finished the season 8–5, 4–5 to finish in a tie for third place in the South Division. They were invited to the

Sun Bowl The Sun Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played since 1935 in the southwestern United States at El Paso, Texas. Along with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, it is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose Bowl. ...

where they defeated

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

30–27 in overtime.

Schedule

Before the season

The Pac-12 media picked Utah to finish third in the South Division. Four media members (out of 42 total) voted Utah first in the division. The media picked

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

to finish first, but USC will be ineligible for the inaugural

Pac-12 Championship Game The Pac-12 Football Championship Game was an annual college football game held by the Pac-12 Conference to determine the season's conference champion. The game from the 2011–2021 seasons had the champion of the North Division against the cham ...

due to NCAA sanctions.

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is one of the largest ...

came in second, and

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, and

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

finished fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively, in the South Division voting. The media also picked

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

to win the North Division with 29 first place votes, and to win the Pac-12 Championship Game and thus be the Pac-12 Champion.

Coaching changes

made a few changes to his coaching staff for the 2011 season. Prior to Utah's appearance in the

2010 Maaco Bowl Las Vegas The 2010 Maaco Bowl Las Vegas was an National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS post-season college football bowl game. The game was played Wednesday, December 22, 2010, at 5 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, PST at 40,0 ...

defensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line (OL), while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line (D ...

coach John Pease retired from coaching. During the offseason, Whittingham replaced Pease with Chad Kauhaahaa, a second team all- WAC defensive lineman for Utah in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

. The previous two seasons he had been the defensive line coach for Utah State. The Utes also hired

Norm Chow Norman Yew Heen Chow (born May 3, 1946) is an American football coach and former player. He was the head football coach at the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football, University of Hawaii at Manoa, a position he held from December 2011 until November ...

to be the

Offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

and coach the

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

s. He had been an offensive coordinator at

the three previous seasons. In

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, when he was the offensive coordinator at USC, Norm Chow won the

Broyles Award The Broyles Award is an annual award given to honor the best assistant coach in college football. First awarded in 1996, it was named after former University of Arkansas men's athletic director Frank Broyles. The award is presented in Little ...

. Former co-offensive coordinators Aaron Roderick and Dave Schramm were reassigned to coach different positions in the offense. They will coach the receivers and the

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

s, respectively, positions they have both previously coached for the program. Finally, Whittingham hired Tim Davis to coach the

offensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line (OL), while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line ( ...

. Davis replaces Blake Miller who left the program to coach the same position with

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Mem ...

. Davis coached the offensive line the previous three seasons at

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

and has had a prior stint as Utah's offensive line coach

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

–

and worked under Chow at USC

–

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Move to the Pac-12

During the 2010 offseason, Utah successfully negotiated to join the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) for all sports, including football. Utah, along with

, officially joined the Pac-10 on July 1, 2011 to form the

(Pac-12). The previous 12 seasons, Utah competed in the

Game summaries

Montana State

Sources: Utah leads series: 10 – 0 Utah played Montana State for the 10th time on September 1. Entering the game, Utah had beaten Montana State in all of their nine games, all but one of which have been played in Salt Lake City. During those nine contests, the Utes outscored the Bobcats 455–25. Utah once again beat Montana State in their 2011 meeting. Utah built a 24–0 lead with a little less than 12 minutes remaining in the second quarter, and then scored 3 points the rest of the game to win 27–10. The Utes finished with 101 passing yards on 15-of-23 passing by

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

Jordan Wynn.

Running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

John White finished with 150 yards rushing to lead the Utes.

Linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

Brian Blechen set-up Utah's first

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

when he returned an interception 39-yards to the 8-yard line; Montana State quarterback DeNarius McGhee threw the errant pass. Three plays later, Wynn connected with

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

DeVonte Christopher for the touchdown. Montana State punted on their next possession, and Utah's offense had its second scoring drive. This one resulted in a 5-yard touchdown pass from Wynn to White; the drive took nine plays and gained 62 yards. Utah blocked MSU's next punt. Montana State blockers flipped Utah lineback Matt Martinez into the air, which caused Martinez to block the punt with his feet. The ensuing Utah possession resulted in a

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. Consequently, ...

; kicker Coleman Petersen successfully booted a 37-yard attempt. Following Montana State's third punt of the game, Utah had a nine-play, 59-yard touchdown drive for their last touchdown of the evening. Montana State scored their only touchdown of the evening with 35 seconds remaining in the first half. McGhee passed to receiver Tanner Bleskin for a 7-yard touchdown reception. Each team only scored a field goal in the second half for the final 27–10 score. ----

USC

Sources: Utah trails series: 3 – 7 ----

BYU

Sources: Utah leads series: 55 – 34 – 4 ----

Washington

Sources: Utah trails series: 0 – 7 ----

Arizona State

Sources: Utah trails series: 6 – 17 ----

Pittsburgh

Sources: Utah leads series: 3 – 0 ----

California

Sources: Utah trails series: 3 – 5 ----

Oregon State

Sources: Utah trails series: 6 – 9 – 1 ----

Arizona

Sources: Utah leads series: 20 – 15 – 2 ----

UCLA

Sources: Utah trails series: 2 – 8 ----

Washington State

Sources: Utah leads series: 6 – 5 ----

Colorado

Sources: Utah trails series: 24 – 31 – 3 ----

Georgia Tech–Sun Bowl

Utah leads series: 2 – 0

Roster

References

{{Utah Utes football navbox

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

Utah Utes football seasons Sun Bowl champion seasons

Utah Utes football The Utah Utes football program is a college football team that competes in the Big 12 Conference of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of NCAA Division I and represents the University of Utah. The Utah college football program began in 1892 and h ...

2010s in Salt Lake City