Colorado @ Utah preview
Rice-Eccles Stadium
Last Meeting ( Nov 29, 2014 ) Utah 38, Colorado 34
Utah’s shot at the Pac-12 South Division title is gone, but the hangover lingers. The 23rd-ranked Utes will try to shake the disappointment Saturday when they host Colorado in the regular-season finale for both teams.
Two weeks ago, Utah was an 8-1 and sitting atop with the South at 5-1, but narrow losses to Arizona (37-30 in double overtime) and UCLA (17-9) have followed, cutting the Utes out of a berth in the Pac-12 Championship Game. “We blew an opportunity,” Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said during his weekly radio show on Salt Lake’s ESPN 700. “We gotta live with that; we gotta own that. But there are still a lot of positives.” One of the still-attainable goals is the program’s first 10-win season since joining the Pac-12 in 2011. To get there, Utah will have to beat a Colorado team that has lost four straight and is looking for its first five-win season since joining the Pac-12 in 2011.
TV: 2:30 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Network. LINE: Utah -16.5
ABOUT COLORADO (4-8, 1-7 Pac-12): The Buffaloes, who haven’t finished above .500 since 2005, are coming off their worst offensive showing of the season, managing only a field goal in last Saturday’s 27-3 loss at Washington State. Redshirt freshman quarterback Cade Apsay is making his second career start in place of the injured Sefo Liufau and is coming off a 26-of-40, 238-yard, two-interception performance last week in Pullman. In all, 23 Colorado players have made their first career starts this season.
ABOUT UTAH (8-3, 5-3): It’ll be Senior Sendoff Day for 19 Utes, including quarterback Travis Wilson and tailback Devontae Booker, who ranked third in the conference in rushing (1,261 yards, 11 touchdowns) before sustaining a season-ending knee injury against Arizona. Joe Williams stepped in for Booker last week and ran for 121 yards on 23 carries, but Utah finished with a season-low 307 total yards and was held to single digits on the scoreboard for the first time in 28 games. Defensively, the Utes are the Pac-12’s best against the run (117.5 yards per game) and have the conference’s third-best scoring defense (22.5 points allowed).
EXTRA POINTS
1. Utah has won three of the four meetings with Colorado since the schools joined the Pac-12, and each of the contests have been decided by seven points or fewer.
2. K Andy Phillips accounted for all of the Utes’ points against UCLA, moving him into a tie with former K Louie Sakoda for the program’s career scoring lead with 308 points.
3. Colorado WR Nelson Spruce has one more game to add to his Pac-12 career receptions record of 289 and needs one more touchdown catch to break a tie with Scotty McKnight (22 touchdowns) for the school’s career scoring receptions mark.
PREDICTION: Utah 27, Colorado 10