It’s the Holiday Bowl...

December 2, 2018

...against Northwestern.

I don’t know too much about Northwestern, but their record is similar to ours, 9-4 I think. It’s on mom’s birthday, so we’ll probably have one of our famous low-key with lots-o-food New-Years-Eve/Mom’s b-day shindig this year. I’ll like Utah’s chances.

The way home from Winnemucca was pretty snowy, but we made it fine. I am glad we stopped last night. I have a big knot in my shoulder from the stress of driving it. I only got scared once when we were passing this idiot and he tried to dodge a snow drift by coming into our lane.

We went to granny’s tonight and she had your favorite Parmesan chicken. She was nearly in tears missing you. I do pretty well, I know you are exactly where you should be, but once in a while it hits me really hard, and I get fairly teary eyed too. Tonight we watched the Christmas Devotional. We all hoped it would be the MTC Choir performing. I’ve never seen mom so disappointed to see the Tabernacle Choir before.

One last thing about the game...Artie just sent this picture to me. We couldn’t really see it from where we were sitting so I didn’t realize how blatant the missed call on the last Utah 4th down was. I’ll also paste a game recap below.

Love, Pops

Washington’s tough defense ends Ute quarterback Jason Shelley’s November reign

KURT KRAGTHORPE

November 30 at 11:06 PM MT

Santa Clara, Calif. • Utah quarterback Jason Shelley will be remembered for winning his first three career starts in November and steering the Utes to a Pac-12 South title, but his turnover-free performance ended with three interceptions on three consecutive drives on the last day of the month. 

The first, and by far most damaging, interception was not his fault — even though Washington’s Byron Murphy grabbed a deflected ball and sprinted 66 yards for the Pac-12 championship game’s only touchdown. The other two pickoffs, on Utah’s next two possessions, technically didn’t cost the Utes any points, but gave the ball back to the Huskies in Washington’s 10-3 victory Friday night at Levi’s Stadium. 

Like what happened to since-injured starter Tyler Huntley against the Huskies in mid-September, too much was asked of Shelley as Utah couldn’t generate a running game. The redshirt freshman went 17 of 27 for 137 yards in a performance that led coach Kyle Whittingham to say he “struggled,” adding, “Maybe the inexperience caught up to him a little bit.”

Shelley could say only, “They're a good football team and they made plays.”

After leaning toward passing in a 21-7 loss to Washington in September, Ute offensive coordinator Troy Taylor tried for more balance this time: 27 passes, 25 runs. The problem with those numbers is the total, 52 plays. Armand Shyne gained only 37 yards on 11 carries. 

The combination of the Ute offense's inefficiency and Washington's converting 10 times on third or fourth down kept the ball in the Huskies' hands for nearly two-thirds of the game. 

On a yards-per-play basis, Washington seniors Jake Browning and Myles Gaskin were not that much better than Shelley and Shyne, but they stayed on the field long enough to give themselves more opportunities. Browning completed 21 of 33 passes for 187 yards with one interception (also via a deflection) and Gaskins gained 71 yards on 23 carries. 

“Nothing this year has been easy,” said Washington coach Chris Petersen. 

Even so, the Huskies (10-3) will advance to the school’s first Rose Bowl appearance since 2000. Washington’s season has to be considered a mild disappointment, as the Pac-12 again will miss the College Football Playoff. The Huskies played in the 2016 semifinals as Pac-12 champions, losing to Alabama. In this year’s case, the Rose Bowl is a consolation prize, a reward the Utes can only envy.

Monson: There will be a day to celebrate these Utes, just not this day.

GORDON MONSON

November 30 at 11:25 PM MT

Santa Clara, Calif.

After the final seconds slid off the clock at Levi’s Stadium on Friday night, the Utah Utes slumped away in disappointment, dark skies overhead, seeming to want to get out of the lights splashing down on them.

One by one, as the Washington Huskies celebrated, the Utes wandered off a field where they had missed out on an opportunity that slipped through their hands, bounced off a leg and into the air, then was snatched by one of the celebrators, who returned it 66 yards for a pick-six. A cruel chance that, in the end, left them lurching and hurting, suffering and wondering.

What might have been.

They were not champions of the Pac-12, having been downed by the Huskies by the count of 10-3 and, thereby, blocked from the Rose Bowl. If college football gets more heartbreaking than that, whatever it might be is a mystery in this corner.

The Utes had every reason to be bummed.

But they also had reason to feel OK. Not great, not yet, but at some point in the not-to-distant future they could think about what they had done, breathe deep and stand up tall. They still had accomplished what no other Utah team had ever achieved — a trip to the league title game.

Maybe they’ll go ahead and rid themselves, someday, of the bitter drag of falling short in the chance of a lifetime — playing where college football’s ghosts linger — in the bowl game at the Arroyo Seco.

Someday.

But not this day.

Consolation will have to wait.

In a game that was about as uncomely as a game could be — at least on the offensive side of things, the Utes never could get much of anything going. On the other hand, neither could the Huskies. It was a game Buddy Ryan or George Halas or Ray Nitschke would have loved, but nobody else.

Stellar defense, sagging offense.

It was the first time in a Pac-12 championship game that neither team scored in the first quarter. And that lack of point production spilled over from there. The Huskies gained more yards than the Utes — 306 to 188. They led, 3-zip, at halftime. The Utes didn’t cross midfield until a minute remained in the second quarter.

The next half saw more of the same: A 53-yard Matt Gay field goal and … and …nothing more.

The Utes couldn’t run it. They couldn’t pass it. And nobody could figure out any other way to try to advance the ball.

The biggest play of the game came with the score knotted at 3-all late in the third quarter. Ute quarterback Jason Shelley dropped back to pass, firing a ball to Siaosi Mariner for what would have been a first down. Instead, it bounced off the receiver’s hands, off his thigh, into the hands of Byron Murphy, a defensive back for the Huskies, who rocketed those 66 yards for a touchdown, the only one of the game.

It may have been the weirdest big play of the year — and the most troubling for Utah.

The Utes had started this season with great expectations for themselves, having picked up indications that they might be pretty darn good based on their practice sessions and scrimmages. They had started all right, then dipped low, then fought back to beat teams and conquer their own demons, straight through injuries and finding replacements, to win the South Division.

And now … this.

Falling to the North.

Because Utah’s attack heaved and labored, the defense was forced to work its lonely wonders. It tried, tried hard, severely limiting Washington’s offense. UW running back Myles Gaskin gained a mere 71 yards. QB Jake Browning threw for only 187.

But Shelley threw for just 137 yards, Armand Shyne ran for just 37.

Bottom line: Washington’s defense was flat better than Utah’s offense. That was a painful truth for the Utes, but there’s no horrible shame in it.

“It didn’t turn out for us,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said, afterward. “But it was a heckuva season.”

And so, now, Utah will go to some other bowl, not the Rose. Perhaps the Holiday or the Alamo or the Sun. The Utes’ ascent this season fell short. Hard as it might be right now, someday they’ll look back and appreciate the distance they traveled.

Just not this day.

Sent from my iPad