What in the name of Sid Gillman had Kyle Whittingham been thinking, going with Terrance Cain instead of the real deal, the real young deal?

Jordan Wynn should have been the starter at quarterback from jump for Utah this season and, in his heart of hearts, Whittingham knew it, or should have known it. He either didn't see it or he chickened out, handing his offense over to the junior JC transfer instead of the 19-year-old freshman.

His response to that notion: "We're 8-1."

Yeah, there is that.

Still, after Wynn's performance Saturday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium, during which he and the Utes threw down on New Mexico, beating the Lobos, 45-14, in his first start, you had to wonder.

Tough to hit the coach too hard for any of his decisions when his team had won seven of eight leading up to this Eureka moment. But think about it: The Utes might have been, could have been 8-0, and now 9-0, had the right guy been spinning the throttle.

Near the end of fall camp, during an interview session, Whittingham was asked if he wanted the opinions of media members on hand regarding who should be the starting QB.

His response: "Uh, sure."

Seven opinions were offered, every one of them giving the nod to Wynn.

Whittingham, naturally, went with Cain.

Oops.

In a ballsy move that happily underscored his mistake, Whittingham corrected that error Saturday night, and was rewarded for it.

"Just because you're winning doesn't mean there aren't things to fix," he said afterward.

Wynn started a bit jumpy, but subsequently settled in, freeing up an offense that had had the anchor out for the better part of two months.

Not anymore.

Wynn threw for 297 yards and two touchdowns. The aforementioned greater effect of mixing in a QB who could and would throw deep churned the entire Utah O, spurring it to 557 total yards and big numbers on the board.

"Our goal was 50 points," he said. "We got 45. We'll take that."

Did we mention that Wynn is a confident youngster?

"He's a great decision-maker," Whittingham said. "He understands the game and sees the big picture. He has a high football IQ and, in that regard, I think he compares to Alex Smith. Jordan is so savvy and he is able to understand everything we throw at him. The playbook ... is wide open now."

Alex Smith? Savvy? High football IQ? Understands everything? But no second-guessing, no self-flagellation over not starting him earlier?

"I don't regret [it]," Whittingham said.

He should.

Jereme Brooks, who caught six passes for a career-high 135 yards and two TDs, was as pleased as anyone to have Wynn at the controls.

"He's always finding the open receiver," Brooks said. "He knows which guys are going to be open before they're open."

On Saturday night, Wynn hit seven different targets, opening up the Utes' run game, boosting Eddie Wide and Sausan Shakerin to 100 yards a piece.

"We did what we should have done," Whittingham said.

Indeed, a cautionary note here: All of this stuff happened against the worst team in the Mountain West. The Lobos are not good.

But some of the opponents against which the Cain-led Utes had struggled offensively -- Colorado State, Wyoming -- are just a small notch ahead of New Mexico in overall quality.

Bottom line: Nine games into their season, the Utes found themselves a quarterback, a quarterback that had been staring them straight in the mug, all along. Too bad for them -- and him -- he didn't get more seasoning before now.

They'll need everything he's got, and probably much more, in Game 10.

GORDON MONSON hosts the "Monson and Graham Show" weekdays from 2-6 p.m. on 1280 AM The Zone. He can be reached at gmonson@sltrib.com .