Utes persevere through grief, adversity

Utah’s football program has come a long way since the last time it faced Ohio State.

In 1986, the Utes were a struggling program in the Western Athletic Conference when they went to Columbus and were drilled 64-6 by the Buckeyes.

Thirty five years later, Utah will be making its first Rose Bowl trip as the Pac-12 champion when it faces Ohio State in the 108th edition of the Granddaddy of Them All on New Year’s Day.

The Utes (10-3) defeated Oregon to capture their first Pac-12 championship since joining in 2011.

“This is the next step in evolution as a program,” coach Kyle Whittingham said. “We had been to the Pac-12 championship game three times but this is the first time we were able to get over the mountain. It was something we had been shooting for and had our sights set on for a number of years.”

Both programs do have one thing in common — Urban Meyer. The Utes started their climb toward prominence after Meyer was hired in 2003. In his two years with the program, they went 22-2, including a victory over Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl to conclude the 2004 season.

Meyer took over at Ohio State in 2012 and led the Buckeyes to a national championship in 2014. Ohio State’s last appearance in the Rose Bowl was during the 2018 season when it defeated Washington in what would be Meyer’s final game on the Buckeyes’ sideline after he announced his retirement a couple weeks earlier. Whittingham is in his 17th year leading Utah and took over after Meyer left for Florida.

“I had been at Utah for eight-nine years, thought I would be the guy (in 2003). I was disappointed Urban got it but it ended up being the best thing that happened to me,” he said.