Can Utah football end its season on a positive note at UCF?

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The final game of the 2024 regular season is here.

For the University of Utah, there’s almost a sigh of relief that this year will soon be behind them.

Utah started the year with hopes of the College Football Playoff, but will end the season in Orlando with a losing record — just the third of the Kyle Whittingham era.

There was never an answer at the quarterback position after Cam Rising suffered a finger injury in Week 2 that kept him out for three games, then suffered a season-ending leg injury in Week 6.

Isaac Wilson, a true freshman, was placed in an unfortunate position by having to start the majority of the games, and he just wasn’t ready yet. After suffering an injury against Iowa State that will keep him out for the finale, Wilson finished his first collegiate season with 167.8 passing yards per game (No. 98 in the nation), a 56.4% completion percentage (102), 10 passing touchdowns (103), and 11 interceptions.

Brandon Rose provided a spark against BYU, but suffered a Lisfranc injury. Sam Huard, who was QB4 and never saw the field, also suffered a season-ending injury.

Another year of below-par quarterback play and a run game that stagnated near the end of the season, partly because opponents were able to key in on the run due to the ineffective passing game, doomed Utah to one of its most disappointing seasons in program history.

Losers of seven straight, the only thing left to play for in Orlando is the chance to break a lengthy losing streak and head into the 2025 season on a somewhat positive note.

“Super important. I think even it carries momentum going forward with the boys in the spring ball and winter conditioning. I think ending on a good note is huge for momentum moving forward,” senior linebacker Karene Reid said.

Due to the aforementioned quarterback injuries, Utah is down to QB5, Luke Bottari, for the Black Friday matchup at UCF (6 p.m. MST, Fox).

In a quarter-and-a-half of action last week, Bottari surprised Iowa State with his legs, rushing for 56 total yards on a 10-play, 91-yard drive that gave the Utes a 28-24 lead with 5:51 remaining. He drove Utah to the Iowa State 36-yard line, but couldn’t advance the offense further, setting up a 54-yard field goal that Cole Becker missed.

“For a guy that started the season as the fifth-string guy and really didn’t have a whole lot of chance to play, just continued to keep himself ready every single week in case,” Whittingham said. “And last week was the week that he got his opportunity and really did some good things. He came in and really provided the spark for us. And so that was good to see Luke do that.”

There’s a lot of similarities between Utah and UCF this season, starting with the identical records — 4-7. The Utes won’t be going bowling for the first time since 2013, while the Knights are missing a bowl for the first time since 2015. Both schools have suffered lengthy losing streaks — Utah losing seven in a row and UCF losing five in a row, beating Arizona, and losing its last two — are are desperate to end the season on a positive.

Both programs have had their fair share of quarterback difficulties — Utah’s have been well-documented, while UCF has used three quarterbacks this season.

The Knights started the year with KJ Jefferson, who played in five games before being benched in favor of Jacurri Brown. During UCF’s 37-24 loss to BYU, Brown was sent to the pine and redshirt freshman Dylan Rizk finished out the contest.

Since then, it’s been Rizk as the starter. He’s thrown for 797 yards, five touchdowns and an interception on 68% accuracy.

The star of UCF’s productive offense is running back RJ Harvey, who has rushed for 1,458 yards — fourth-best in the country — and 21 touchdowns. He will be a handful for Utah’s defense to try and contain.

UCF leads the Big 12 in yards per game with 454 and is scoring 31.9 points per game.

“It’ll be a challenge for our defense this week to face that, particularly that rushing attack,” Whittingham said.

Defensively, UCF is in the middle of the Big 12 pack statistically in terms of total yards allowed per game (352), but have generally been stout against the run, allowing just 123.5 rushing yards, though BYU and West Virginia were recently able to eclipse 200 yards on the ground against the Knights.

While Bottari was 5 for 9 for 55 yards through the air against Iowa State, the game plan for the Utes is going to try and find success on the ground first — something they haven’t done consistently in their last two games.

It’s the final game in running back Micah Bernard’s college career, and aside from contributing to a win, he’s trying to rush for 78 more yards, which would put him at 1,000 on the year.

“Man, I’m trying to check it off. I’m trying so hard to check it off. Lack of production lately, but 78 yards to go, I believe. I mean, I need to do it. I got to,” Bernard said.

Before the season, a cross-country trip on a short week — the Utes will fly to Orlando on Thanksgiving — was always going to be a challenging contest. Even though UCF’s season hasn’t gone the way the Knights imagined it would, this is still going to be a tough one for the Utes, who are currently 10-point underdogs, to win if they want to break the seven-game losing streak.

In case you missed it

Kyle Whittingham has a decision to make at the end of his 20th season as Utah’s coach. Whittingham will assess his future with the program following the season finale at UCF on Friday, but says he will do what’s best for the program, not what’s best for him.

From the archives

Extra points

• A new era, a thrilling finish: How Utah won Gavin Petersen’s unforgettable head coaching debut (Deseret News)
• Utah’s pick-six streak extends to an NCAA-record 21 consecutive years, but is little more than a footnote for team embroiled in seven-game losing streak (Deseret News)
• Mark Harlan’s $40,000 fine was not paid out of university funds (Deseret News)