Will Utah football finish its season at UCF on a positive note? -Deseret News

This article was first published in Ute Insiders newsletterum. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox every Wednesday evening.

The final game of the 2024 regular season is here.

For the University of Utah, it’s almost a sigh of relief that this year will soon be behind them.

Utah began the year with College Football Playoff hopes, but ended the season in Orlando with a losing record – only the third of the Kyle Whittingham era.

There was never an answer at the quarterback position after Cam Rising suffered a finger injury in Week 2 that sidelined him for three games and then suffered a season-ending leg injury in Week 6.

Isaac Wilson, a true freshman, found himself in an unfortunate position as he had to start most games and he simply wasn’t ready. After suffering an injury against Iowa State that will keep him out of the Finals, Wilson finished his first college season with 167.8 passing yards per game (No. 98 in the country), a 56.4% completion rate (102) and 10 passing touchdowns (103) and 11 interceptions.

Brandon Rose provided a spark against BYU but suffered a Lisfranc injury. Sam Huard, who was QB4 and never saw the field, also suffered a season-ending injury.

Another year of subpar quarterback play and a running game that stagnated late in the season, in part because opponents were unable to exploit the run due to the ineffective passing game, doomed Utah to one of its most disappointing seasons in program history.

After seven defeats in a row, the only chance left in Orlando is to break a long dry spell and start the 2025 season somewhat positively.

“Super important. I think that also provides momentum going forward when it comes to spring ball and winter conditioning for the guys. I think finishing well is huge for continued momentum,” senior linebacker Karene Reid said.

Due to the aforementioned quarterback injuries, Utah will be without QB5 Luke Bottari for the Black Friday matchup at UCF (6 p.m. MST, Fox).

Last week, Bottari surprised Iowa State with his legs in a quarter of an hour of action, rushing for a total of 56 yards on a 10-play, 91-yard drive that gave the Utes a 28-24 lead with 5:51 left. He drove Utah to the Iowa State 36-yard line, but was unable to advance the offense any further, setting up a 54-yard field goal that Cole Becker missed.

“For a guy who started the season as a fifth-teamer and really didn’t get a lot of chances to play, he stayed ready every week just in case,” Whittingham said. “And last week was the week he got his chance and really did some good things. He came in and gave us a spark. And so it was nice to see Luke do that.”

There are many similarities between Utah and UCF this season, starting with the identical records – 4-7. The Utes will not bowl for the first time since 2013, while the Knights will miss a bowl for the first time since 2015. Both schools are coming off a long stretch of losing seasons – Utah has lost seven in a row and UCF has lost five in a row, a win against Arizona and losses in its last two games – are desperate to end the season on a positive note.

Both programs have had their fair share of quarterback difficulties – Utah’s has been well-documented, while UCF has used three quarterbacks this season.

The Knights began the year with KJ Jefferson playing in five games before being benched in favor of Jacurri Brown. During UCF’s 37-24 loss to BYU, Brown was sent to the Pine and redshirt freshman Dylan Rizk opted out of the contest.

Rizk has been the starter ever since. He has thrown for 797 yards, five touchdowns and one interception with 68% accuracy.

The star of UCF’s prolific offense is running back RJ Harvey, who has rushed for 1,458 yards – fourth-best in the country – and 21 touchdowns. He will be a handful for Utah’s defense when it comes to containing him.

UCF leads the Big 12 in yards per game with 454 and scores 31.9 points per game.

“This week it’s going to be a challenge for our defense to deal with that, especially that rushing attack,” Whittingham said.

Defensively, UCF is statistically in the middle of the pack in the Big 12 in total yards allowed per game (352), but has generally been stout against the run, allowing just 123.5 rushing yards despite BYU and West Virginia recently in the Able to outshine the competition with 200 yards on the ground against the Knights.

While Bottari went 5-for-9 from 55 yards through the air against Iowa State, the Utes’ game plan calls for success on the ground first – something they haven’t done consistently in the last two games.

It’s the final game of running back Micah Bernard’s college career, and in addition to contributing to a win, he’s trying to rush for 78 more yards, which would give him a 1,000 mark on the year.

“Man, I’m trying to tick it off. I’m trying so hard to brush it off. Lack of production lately but I think there’s still 78 meters to go. I mean, I have to do it. I have to,” Bernard said.

Before the season, a cross-country trip in a short week — the Utes fly to Orlando for Thanksgiving — was always going to be a challenging competition. Even though UCF’s season hasn’t turned out the way the Knights had hoped, it will still be tough for the Utes, who are currently 10-point underdogs, to win if they want to break the seven-game losing streak .

In case you missed it

Kyle Whittingham has a decision to make at the end of his 20th season as Utah coach. Whittingham will evaluate his future with the program after Friday’s season finale at UCF, but says he will do what’s best for the program, not what’s best for him.

From the archives

Extra points

• A new era, a thrilling ending: How Utah won Gavin Petersen’s unforgettable head coaching debut (Deseret News)
• Utah’s pick-six streak has tied an NCAA record for 21 consecutive years, but is little more than a footnote for the team mired in a seven-game losing streak (Deseret News)
• Mark Harlan’s $40,000 fine was not paid from university funds (Deseret News)