Utah Utes football

Utah Utes football
2024 Utah Utes football team
First season1892; 132 years ago
Athletic directorMark Harlan
Head coachKyle Whittingham
20th season, 166–79 (.678)
StadiumRice–Eccles Stadium
(capacity: 53,644)
Field surfaceFieldTurf
LocationSalt Lake City, Utah
NCAA divisionDivision I FBS
ConferenceBig 12
Past conferences
  • Independent (1892–1909)
  • RMAC (1910–1937)
  • MSC (1938–1961)
  • WAC (1962–1998)
  • MWC (1999–2010)
  • Pac-12 (2011-2023)
All-time record723–482–31 (.597)
Bowl record17–9 (.654)
Unclaimed national titles1 (2008)
Conference titles26
Division titles4 (2015, 2018, 2019, 2021)
Rivalries
Consensus All-Americans10
Current uniform
ColorsRed and white[1]
   
Fight songUtah Man
MascotSwoop
Marching bandPride of Utah
WebsiteUtahUtes.com

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 has played home games at the current site of Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City since 1927. They have won 28 conference championships in five conferences during their history,[2] and, as of the end of the 2022 season, they have a cumulative record of 711 wins, 476 losses, and 31 ties (.596). [3]

The Utes have a record of 17–8 (.680) in major bowl games which is ranked fourth in the nation in bowl games win percentage (minimum 10 bowl games played list).[4] Among Utah's bowl appearances are two games from the Bowl Championship Series (BCS): the Fiesta Bowl in 2005 and the Sugar Bowl in 2009. In the CFP era, they made repeat Rose Bowl appearances in 2022 and 2023. In the 2005 Fiesta Bowl, Utah, led by coach Urban Meyer, defeated the Pittsburgh Panthers 35–7, and in the 2009 Sugar Bowl, headed by coach Kyle Whittingham, they defeated coach Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide 31–17.[5][6] During those seasons, Utah was a member of the Mountain West Conference, whose champion does not receive an automatic invitation to a BCS bowl. The Utes were the first team from a conference without an automatic bid to play in a BCS bowl game—colloquially known as being a BCS Buster—and the first BCS Buster to play in a second BCS Bowl.

  1. ^ University of Utah Athletics Brand Guide (PDF). August 23, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
  2. ^ "Utah Conference Championships". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on December 5, 2010. Retrieved April 10, 2010.
  3. ^ "Team records for Utah: 1892–2011". College Football Trivia. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference bowls was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Utah Bowl History". www.cfbdatawarehouse.com. Archived from the original on December 27, 2009. Retrieved December 25, 2009.
  6. ^ Facer, Dirk. "Sugar High—13–0 Utes Roll Over One of the BCS' Best". Deseret News. Archived from the original on February 26, 2009. Retrieved May 20, 2009.