This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
After losing by one of his biggest margins ever, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham declared that his team is closer than ever to competing at the Pac-12's top level.
And I agree with him.
Even if "51-27" is forever recorded as the score of Oregon's victory Saturday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium, Utah belonged on the field with the Ducks. Oregon's 21-point closing flurry and its 14-point swing via Kaelin Clay's careless fumble and Joe Walker's 100-yard return — a play chronicled over the weekend on national news programs, not just sports shows — made the score much worse from a Ute perspective.
The Ducks get full credit for responding the way they did, after Utah cut the lead to 30-27 in the last 12 minutes. Quarterback Marcus Mariota took over the game in Heisman Trophy-winning fashion. Utah's breakdowns contributed, as the Ute secondary allowed Mariota and Dwayne Stanford to connect for a 34-yard touchdown on a second-and-25 play.
Except for that late-game sequence — which counts, obviously — and a lull in the second quarter that's naturally attributed to the fallout of Clay's play, Utah looked like Oregon's equal. The Ducks shouldn't be expected to dominate every game from start to finish, but the Utes never were overwhelmed athletically. That suggests the program is making progress.
Now what? The next three games will determine whether the Utes (6-3, 3-3) have a great, good or merely acceptable season. I'll stick with my words going into the conference schedule that a 5-4 record in the Pac-12 would be a big achievement. That would take two victories over any combination of Stanford, Arizona and Colorado. Those are all winnable games, as long as the Utes can overcome some injuries and maintain the emotional level that's required to succeed in this league.
None of those games, even Colorado, is a guaranteed win, however. So Whittingham and his team still have some work to do if they want to earn one of the Pac-12's better bowl slots. The good news for Utah is that as long as Oregon (or Arizona State) is in the College Football Playoff, everybody else in the league will move up in the selection order.
Twitter: @tribkurt