Pivotal Matchup Vs Arizona State Will Reveal A Lot About Utah Football

Oct 7, 2024, 1:49 PM

LOGAN, UT - SEPTEMBER 14: Head coach Kyle Whittingham of the Utah Utes leads the team onto the field before their game against the Utah State Aggies at Maverik Stadium on September 14, 2024 in Logan, Utah. (Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)

(Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)

BY STEVE BARTLE

Utah Insider

SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Football will return to action after a much-needed week of rest. The Utes will take on the Arizona State Sun Devils this Friday, which kicks off a crucial stretch of the season.

Over the next three weeks, the Utes’ schedule includes Arizona State, TCU, and Houston. On paper, this is not the most difficult stretch of the season. It could be argued, it’s even the easiest part of the 2024 season for Utah.

However, these next three games will play a significant role in determining the outcome of Utah’s campaign. And Friday night’s contest will reveal a lot about the commitment and determination of this Utah squad.

Utah needs a bounce-back effort in a pivotal matchup

After suffering a painful home loss before their bye week, Whittingham, his assistant coaches, and players need a strong response against the Sun Devils.

“It’s very crucial, we’ve got our backs against the wall in a lot of respects right now,” Whittingham stated. “We’ve got to get back on track, we did not play well against Arizona, you can be a good football team and not play well and get your butt handed to you.”

Utah and Arizona State are on different levels as programs right now. Given the recruiting violations and mismanagement of the program under the previous regime, Arizona State simply does not have the depth of talent they typically do. As we’ve learned this past weekend, that doesn’t matter in one-game situations.

“Look at Alabama, you’re going to tell me that Vanderbilt has even close to the personnel that Alabama has,” Whittingham said. “That Minnesota has even close to the personnel that USC has. There’s illustrations all over the place, you can be a really good football team but if you don’t perform, execute, you’re going to get beat.”

The next three weeks are vital to Utah’s Big 12 championship aspirations but Whittingham’s club is entirely focused on the Sun Devils.

“Where we’re at right now, we can’t look past Arizona State,” he said. “Yeah, there is three games and another bye but it’s all focus on Arizona State. This is an important stretch and we’ve got to get the ship turned back around.”

Arizona State will be a much tougher test

“Impressed with a lot of things about their football team,” Whittingham said. “They’re much more productive offensively than they were last year. They’ve got a tough, hard-nosed running back, good receivers, and a true dual-threat quarterback.”

This isn’t going to be an easy one, the Sun Devils are a much-improved team. They possess the same 4-1, 1-1 record as the Utes, which is a significant improvement from their 3-9 record from last season. They have wins over Wyoming, Mississippi State, Texas State, and Kansas.

Head coach Kenny Dillingham shared last year that he wants to build his program in the mold of Utah. There are already indications that’s well underway in year two. The Sun Devils have an efficient defense and a particularly strong run game.

“We did not do a good job against Arizona,” Whittingham said of his team’s inability to stop the run. “That’ll be the key this week, they’re a run-heavy team, well over 200 yards rushing as a team. If we’re as ineffective as we were against Arizona, it’s going to be a long night.”

Utah beat the Sun Devils last season by a 55-3 margin in Rice Eccles Stadium. Coach Dillingham’s squad will certainly be looking to avenge that performance. They’re also coming off of a win against Kansas and will be focused on building momentum.

Utah needs leaders to rise to the occasion

There has been plenty of adversity through the first part of the season. Now in October, the conference title race has started to intensify. The positives and negatives have started to accumulate for all programs, which can significantly impact performance.

This is also where strong leadership begins to make a difference for programs. Utah’s not unfamiliar with the feeling and the demands of what’s at stake. They have several players who have been through this multiple times before.

Utah has typically responded well after the time off. The Utes own a 13-6 record in the games following that break under Whittingham. All six losses came between the 2011-2018 seasons, including two losses after bye weeks in 2013 alone.

One of the longest-tenured coaches in all of college football, Whittingham has built his program on toughness, resiliency, and discipline. All three qualities will be needed Friday night and a lot more of it over the next three weeks.

The Utes are still very much in title contention. They’ve needed to correct some things and improve execution in certain areas of the game. The bye week gave the program the time it needed to address those specifics.

These next three weeks are crucial to Utah’s campaign and it all starts with Friday night’s game against the Sun Devils. This game will serve as a pivotal point of the season and Utah’s leaders will be crucial to their chances at a win.