Football Plays BYU in Deseret Duel in Provo

9/16/2013 12:00 AM | Football

Sept. 16, 2013

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SALT LAKE CITY--

Complete Release in PDF

Quotes from Coach Whittingham's Weekly Press Conference

QUICKLY

> Utah (2-1, 0-1 Pac-12) plays Brigham Young (1-1) in a Deseret Duel Rivalry Series game, Saturday, Sept. 21 in Provo, Utah. Kickoff is 8:15 p.m. MT in Lavell Edwards Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN2. Radio is ESPN700 AM, Sirius 139 and XM 198.

> Utah leads the series with BYU 56-34-4, although the Cougars don't recognize six games (split equally 3-3) when it was known as the Brigham Young Academy. With or without those six games, this is the second-longest rivalry in Utah history.

> Utah has won eight of the last 11 games with the Cougars--most recently by a 24-21 score last year in Salt Lake City. The Utes have won three straight against their rivals, including a 54-10 win in Provo the last time they visited Lavell Edwards Stadium in 2011. Utah's last loss to the Cougars was in overtime (26-23) in 2009. For a complete series history and last year's recap, see the boxed inset on page 2.

> Utah and BYU competed in the same conference for 113 years until the Utes joined the Pac-12 Conference in 2011 and the Cougars went independent.

> Saturday's game is Utah's first road game of the season after three-straight home games.

> Kyle Whittingham is 5-3 against BYU as the head coach. In his 19 years on the Utah staff, he has participated in 12 wins and seven losses to the Cougars. In the 15 years prior to Whittingham's hiring in 1994 as the defensive line coach, the Utes were 2-13 vs. BYU.

@Utah_Football & BYU have officially signed contract to play home & home games on Sept. 9, 2017 in Provo & Nov. 24, 2018 in SLC. #goutes
-- Utah Athletics (@utahathletics) September 16, 2013

CONNECTIONS

Three of Utah's coaches played at BYU, including head coach Kyle Whittingham from 1978-81. As a senior, he was the Western Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year and a first-team all-WAC linebacker. Ute defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake played fullback for the Cougars in 1994 and from 1997-2000, and receivers coach Aaron Roderick was a BYU receiver from 1997-98. Cougar defensive line coach Steve Kaufusi was at Utah from 1994-2001 as a graduate assistant, defensive line coach and defensive ends coach. Former Ute defensive lineman Jason Kaufusi (2000-03) is a BYU defensive graduate assistant. Two sets of brothers will also play against each other Saturday: Utah DE Trevor Reilly and BYU DB Drew Reilly; and Utah reserve OL Kala Friel and his brother TE Kaneakua Friel.

RIVALRY SERIES

Standings for two rivalry trophies will be impacted by Saturday's game: the Deseret First Duel and the Beehive Boot. The Deseret Duel Rivalry Series is a multi-sports competition between Utah and BYU, while the Beehive Boot is a football-only award contested by Utah, BYU and Utah State. Utah has won two of the five Deseret Duel trophies (including 2012-13) and has won the Beehive Boot 12 times. BYU has captured the boot 22 times and USU eight times. Utah leads this year's Beehive Boot competition after its win over Utah State on Aug. 29.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

Travis Wilson's 142 rushing yards was the second-most ever by a Utah quarterback and the most since Floyd Hodge rushed for 167 yards vs. Wyoming in 1979. A Ute QB last rushed for 100 yards in 2005 when Brett Ratliff rolled up 112 yards in his first career start against BYU ... Against OSU, Wilson (142 yards) and James Poole (117 yards) became the first pair of Utes to rush for 100 yards in the same game since 2009 (Eddie Wide and Sausan Shakerin) ... Dres Anderson has had back-to-back 100-yard games (103 yards vs. Weber State and 101 vs. OSU).

TWO MINUTE DRILL

Utah is 13-6 all-time in games televised on ESPN2. Utah's most recent win in an ESPN2-televised game was against BYU last year ... Utah is 1-1 in night games this year ... The 48 points scored by Utah against Oregon State was its most points scored in a loss since 1988 (a 56-49 loss to Air Force) ... Utah is now 7-6 in overtime games in its history

IN THE HUDDLE

After experimenting at defensive end in the spring and fall, sophomore Jason Whittingham has returned to linebacker, where he started last week after coming off the injured list ... Freshman Pita Taumoepenu, cleared by the NCAA as a full qualifier on Sept. 5, made this week's depth chart at both defensive end and linebacker. After just one day of practice, Taumoepenu played against Weber State on Sept. 7 ... James Poole and Lucky Radley are one-two at running back ... True freshmen who have played are DE/LB Taumoepenu, SN Chase Dominguez, DT Sam Tevi, LB Uaea Masina, DB Hipolito Corporan, TE Siale Fakailoatonga, WR Dominque Hatfield and RB Marcus Sanders-Williams. Dominguez is the only starter.

OUTSIDE THE LINES

The Kyle Whittingham radio show is Tuesday at 6 p.m. on ESPN700. The show will be broadcast live from Harmon's City Creek and is free to the public ... Some bleacher seats and standing room tickets remain for Utah's four remaining home games. For the sixth-consecutive season, all 32,000 allotted season tickets were sold. Utah has 21-straight sellouts in Rice-Eccles Stadium extending back to the season-opener against Pittsburgh in 2010. Of the sellouts, 19 were played before standing-room only crowds that exceeded Rice-Eccles Stadium's 45,017-seat capacity.

LAST WEEK

Travis Wilson passed for 279 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for a career-high 142 yards and three TDs in a 51-48 overtime loss to Oregon State. Utah trailed 27-10 early in the third quarter after Wilson threw a pick six before the offense found its groove behind Wilson, James Poole (117 yards rushing, 70 yards receiving) and Dres Anderson (101 yards receiving). The Utes tied the score at 45-45 with 0:21 left in regulation on Wilson's 9-yard run. Andy Phillips' 41-yard field goal in overtime put the Utes up 48-45, but the Beavers responded with a touchdown pass to win the game. Reginald Porter, Jason Whittingham and Hunter Dimick had career tackle highs with eight stops apiece.