SALT LAKE CITY—Four months ago, Kyle Whittingham and Jon Embree were basking in the bright lights of Los Angeles, excited to kick off the Pac-12 party.
Now their teams will finally meet on what could be a showery Friday in Salt Lake City, in a contrived rivalry dubbed “The Rumble in the Rockies.”
For Whittingham’s Utes (7-4, 4-4), the day-after-Thanksgiving game is a chance to continue an amazing turnaround and win their fifth straight to stay alive for the Pac-12 South title.
For Embree’s Buffs, the aspirations are more modest as Colorado (2-10, 1-7) tries to halt a school-record 23-game road losing streak.
“They said they’ve got to stop the losing streak this week, so we’ve got to get after them,” Utah running back John White said. “They’re coming here to stop something and kill our shine, so we’ve got to come out and bust them right in the face.”
As White knows, anything is possible in the wild West, even if the Utes are three-touchdown favorites at home in the first meeting between the teams since 1962.
The Buffs have just one conference win, but it was by 19 points over Arizona, which beat Arizona State last week to let Utah back in the South race. The Sun Devils are the same team that earlier this year embarrassed USC, which is ineligible for the South title but is 9-2 and has wins over a Top 10-ranked Oregon squad and Utah.
“You see it all over, any given Saturday, anyone can win,” Utah offensive tackle Tony Bergstrom said. “It’s not a preordained thing, otherwise I’d quit football and live life in Vegas.”
The Utes already are bowl-eligible and could be bound for San Antonio and the Alamo Bowl with a win.
The Buffs tried to make last week’s game at UCLA their bowl game, with special work-out gear, a Rose Bowl-like pep talk and even In-N-Out Burger delivered to the team hotel.
They fell flat in a 45-6 loss.
That means Oct. 27, 2007, is the last time they won on the road, 31-26 at Texas Tech.
First-year coach Embree said there have been missed opportunities. Other road losses have been against good teams such as Ohio State and Stanford.
“Whether or not it is a mental block or not, you would have to ask those guys,” Embree said. “I know our numbers are ridiculous, home and away. The numbers are crazy.”
Colorado enters Friday’s game having been outscored 264-85 on the road this season. At games played in Colorado this year, they are 2-4, including a four-point loss to Washington State and OT loss to Cal.
They won’t be able to get fired up about playing a school like Nebraska in the finale as they have since 1996.
“It will still be red, but it won’t be the Big Red I guess,” Embree said.
Instead, he figures to see a steady dose of White as the junior running back is on pace to break Utah’s single-season rushing record of 1,507 yards.
White needs 131 yards and 30 carries to pass the late Carl Monroe for the season records in both categories.
The Buffs are allowing 191.8 yards rushing per game and 5.5 a carry.
CU has its own threat in tailback Rodney Stewart, who is second on the school’s career rushing list (3,563) and first in career all-purpose yards (4,783). He has 16 career 100-yard games.
The big difference is Stewart will be facing a defense ranked ninth in the nation against the run (97.3 yards allowed) and third in the Pac-12 in total defense.
It starts up front for Utah, which rotates nine players in on the defensive line.
“We’ve had as much production out of that front as any we’ve ever had,” Whittingham said.
Embree knows it won’t be easy playing a team for the second straight week that is celebrating senior day.
“Last week (UCLA) hit us with a bomb quick—second play of the game—then we threw a pick and the next play they run it in. That is getting knocked out,” he said.
White, who wore a boxing glove this week at practice to improve how he protects the football, wouldn’t mind being the one who delivers the knockout punch for the Utes.
Then, they’ll have to wait and hope Cal can upset Arizona State on Friday night, and USC beats UCLA on Saturday.
“We’re in a remarkable position right now,” Whittingham said. “All we can do is try to take care of what we can control.”
