Upcoming Event: Football versus Idaho on September 3, 2026 at 7 p.m.
Football
vs Idaho
.png&width=31&height=31&type=webp)
The University of Utah Athletics
Football Has Bye Before UCLA on Oct. 3
9/23/2013 12:00 AM | Football
Sept. 23, 2013
Some Bleacher Seats Remain for UCLA Game
Utah Athletics on Twitter
Utah Athletics on Facebook
Utah Athletics on YouTube
Utah Athletics on Instagram
SALT LAKE CITY--
Quotes from Coach Whittingham's Weekly Press Conference
QUICKLY
> Utah (3-1, 0-1 Pac-12) is off this week with a bye, as is next week's opponent UCLA (3-0, 0-0 Pac-12). Utah and UCLA will play Thursday, Oct. 3 in Salt Lake City. Kickoff in Rice-Eccles Stadium is 8:00 p.m. MT. The game will be televised nationally on FOX Sports 1. Radio is ESPN700 AM. Satellite radio is Sirius/XM.
> As of Monday morning, a few hundred bleacher seats, as well as standing room only tickets, were still available for the UCLA game. Contact the ticket office at utahutes.com or by calling 801-581-UTIX.
> Kyle Whittingham is 6-2 coming off regular-season byes with both losses coming in Pac-12 play (to Washington in 2011 and USC in 2012). The victories came over Wyoming (2005, 2007), Colorado State (2006, 2009), New Mexico (2008) and Iowa State (2010). Utah's all-time record coming off byes (including bowl games) is 107-42-6.
> Utah trails the series with UCLA 9-2 overall and 3-2 in Salt Lake City. Utah has won two of the last three games with UCLA--in 2007 and 2011 (both under Whittingham, who is 2-2 against the Bruins)--before losing last year 21-14. For complete series notes, see page 2.
> Thursday's game is the sixth-annual blackout game. The Utes will wear black uniforms and fans are encouraged to wear black attire.
> Utah is 4-1 in blackout games, with wins over TCU in 2008, Wyoming in 2009, Oregon State in 2011 and Cal in 2012, and a loss to TCU in 2010.
CONNECTIONS
Leading receiver Dres Anderson's father Flipper played wide receiver for UCLA from 1984-87. Flipper Anderson led the Bruins in receiving yards in 1986 and 1987 and ranks 10th in UCLA history with 2,023 career yards. He went on to a 10-year NFL career ... Utah cornerbacks coach Sharrieff Shah's brother Karim Abdul Jabbar was a running back at UCLA from 1992-95 and is the fifth-leading rusher in school history with 3,812 career yards. He later played for three NFL teams.NOTABLE NUMBERS
Kyle Whittingham is looking for career win No. 75 against the Bruins. Whittingham is 74-33 in his ninth season as Utah's head coach. His next win will be his 160th as a member of Utah's coaching staff ... Dres Anderson has three-straight 100-yard games (103 yards vs. Weber State, 101 vs. Oregon State and a career-high 141 vs. BYU) ... First-year kicker Andy Phillips is perfect in both field goals (7-7) and PATs (21-21) ... Punter Tom Hackett leads the Pac-12 in punts inside the 20 (9) and punts of 50+ yards (6) ... Utah ranks second in the Pac-12 in sacks with 15.TWO MINUTE DRILL
Travis Wilson was named the Athlon Sports National Offensive Player of the Week and Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 23 after passing for 273 yards and two touchdowns (no turnovers) in a 20-13 win over Brigham Young in Provo, Utah, on Sept. 21 ... Utah's coaches will participate in the American Football Coaches Association's national charity project for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy by wearing Coach to Cure MD patches on the sidelines in the UCLA game ... Utah is 2-0 all-time in games televised on the new FOX Sports 1 network with wins this year over Utah State and Weber State ... The UCLA game marks Utah's third-straight kick time of 8 p.m. or later ... Utah's win over BYU was its fourth-straight against the Cougars and secures the Beehive Boot for the Utes, who swept the instate games. Utah beat Utah State in the season opener and also beat FCS Weber State (which does not compete for the boot). The win also earned Utah 10 points in the Deseret Duel Rivalry Series between the Utes and BYU, giving Utah a 10-6 lead.IN THE HUDDLE
Initially preferring the use of his given name on the team roster, James Poole has decided he'd rather go by his nickname Bubba from here on out ... QB Travis Wilson made his first career start against UCLA last year as a true freshman: a 21-14 loss in Los Angeles ... At running back, Kelvin York and Lucky Radley are now listed as the co-backups to Poole ... Nickel back Mike Honeycutt and tackle Viliseni Fauonuku, who got their first career starts at BYU on Sept. 21, have moved into co-starting roles on the depth chart at their respective positions (with Justin Thomas and LT Tuipulotu) ... Eight true freshmen have played: DE/LB Pita 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
Utah ski coach Kevin Sweeney will be presented with the 2013 Don Reddish Award at the Utah-UCLA game. The Don Reddish Award is presented annually to the coach of a sport other than football, men's and women's basketball and gymnastics, who is deemed to have had the most successful season the previous year. The Utah ski team took second place at the 2013 NCAA Championships. Sweeney also won the award in 2003 and 2011 ... The pre-game Ute Walk will start at 5:30 pm at the corner of Guardsman Way and 500 South ... No Kyle Whittingham radio show this week. The show resumes next Tuesday (Oct. 2) at 6 p.m. on ESPN700. It will be broadcast live from Harmon's City Creek and is free to the public.NCAA FOOTBALL CHALLENGE COMING TO U.
The NCAA Football Challenge, a mobile video game campus tour, which will visit 21 college campuses for video game competitions, is coming to Salt Lake City for the Utah-UCLA game on Oct. 3. Winners from each campus competition will win a $1,000 prize and qualify for the championship bracket to be played online. The two semi-finalists of the online tournament will earn their spot on a trip to Pasadena, Calif. to compete for the national title and grand prize of $5,000.CAPACITY CROWDS
For the sixth-consecutive season, all 32,000 allotted season tickets were sold to Utah's home football games. 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. Some bleacher seats and standing room tickets remain for Utah's four remaining home gamesLAST WEEK
Travis Wilson passed for 273 yards and two touchdowns, Andy Phillips made both field goal attempts and Utah's defense snuffed a fourth-quarter BYU comeback in a 20-13 win in Provo, Utah. Utah took a 20-6 lead at the start of the fourth when Wilson found Karl Williams in the end zone. The Utes would not get another first down in the quarter, giving BYU four chances on a short field--resulting in one TD in the final 9:45. Michael Walker batted down a fourth-down pass on the Utah 7-yard line and intercepted another fourth-down pass at Utah's 17 to stop two Cougar drives. Utah's defense forced four-straight incomplete passes on BYU's final drive, finishing the game with eight pass breakups and five sacks. Dres Anderson had a career-high 141 yards receiving, Bubba Poole rushed for 96 yards and Jared Norris had a team-high nine tackles.
Players Mentioned
WR
/ Football
DB
/ Football
SN
/ Football
TE
/ Football
DT
/ Football
P
/ Football
DB
/ Football
LB
/ Football
LB
/ Football
K
/ Football
RB
/ FootballRB
/ Football
RB
/ Football
RB
/ Football
LB/DE
/ Football
DT
/ Football
DB
/ Football
DT
/ Football
DB
/ Football
RB
/ Football
QB
/ Football
RB
/ FootballWednesday, June 03
Wednesday, May 06
Wednesday, April 29
Friday, February 20