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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)

Oscar Tsiebwe was at Salt Lake City Stars practice on Wednesday when he was pulled to the side and told that he’d been called up. The two-way player would be making his Utah Jazz debut in a few hours.

That would be great news on its own, but Wednesday was also Tshiebwe’s 25th birthday, so it served as an excellent birthday present.

Micah Potter, meanwhile, knew he’d be in the Jazz rotation on Wednesday considering the number of injuries and players who would be missing from the Jazz roster for their game against the Denver Nuggets.

But Potter, another two-way player, learned that not only would he be in the rotation, but also that he would be starting for the Jazz — the first start of his career.

Tshiebwe and Potter combined for 25 rebounds Wednesday, both setting career-highs in that category (16 for Potter, nine for Tshiebwe). Despite not having played with the Jazz this season, not having chemistry with the other fully rostered players and not knowing all the nuances of the Jazz’s offensive or defensive schemes, the two were bright spots in the the Jazz’s 122-103 loss to the Nuggets.

Potter, who is in his third year with the Jazz as a two-way player, added nine points, three assists and a block to his game-high 16 rebounds and is someone Jazz head coach Will Hardy said he can always rely on to make a good decision and play hard.

“Micah is super solid,” Hardy said. “Micah is a really good player. His physicality when rebounding is good, he makes quick decisions with the ball, he is pretty good at assembling his feet and getting his shot off, but when he doesn’t, he usually just gets to the next action quickly…Micah is somebody who knows his strengths at this point in his career, and he doesn’t go outside of them very much. He keeps the game pretty simple.”

Then there’s Tshiebwe, who is a favorite of everyone on the team. Though soft spoken, Tshiebwe makes sure to say something to every teammate and coach in an attempt to brighten their day, and he accomplishes that mission time and time again.

If you ask anyone who has met Tshiebwe what they think of him, they immediately smile and say how much they love him and talk about how kind he is and how he makes everyone feel good.

“I love everything about Oscar, man. He just makes you feel good. I wish I was more like Oscar,” Hardy said. “He’s one of the sweetest human beings of all time even though he’s one of the more physical people you’ve ever been around. Yeah, I don’t know. He just smiles and gives you a hug and makes you feel good. He’s hard not to like.”

But don’t let Tshiebwe’s smile, soft voice or cheerful disposition make you think that he’s an easy target on the basketball court. Tshiebwe has made life hard for every Jazz and Stars player during practices. He hunts rebounds like his life depends on it and is always willing to do all the grunt work during a game that won’t show up on a stat sheet.

“It’s miserable playing against him,” Potter said. “There’s not one person in the NBA or in the world, at least that I’ve played against, that plays like him.

“He’s relentless. He’s a relentless rebounder. It’s one of those things where you have to just go hit him, but he’s so strong that he’ll hit you back, and still, he’s got like a 7-5 wingspan, so he’s got the length and everything, and it’s unbelievable.”

That dogged play is why Tshiebwe is averaging 16.9 rebounds and 16.1 points with the Stars this year and why he was able to grab nine rebounds in just 15 minutes after a whirlwind of a day on a team he hasn’t played with.

The Jazz were playing without Lauri Markaknen, John Collins (left knee contusion), Jordan Clarkson (plantar fasciitis), Kyle Filipowski (left lower leg inflammation) and lost Drew Eubanks midway through the night with a left knee contusion.

It was going to be an uphill battle against the Nikola Jokic-led Nuggets and there were certainly moments when the Jazz looked completely outmatched.

But there were also moments of great competition and fight, and Potter and Tshiebwe were bright spots.

“This job is crazy, like, this is not real life,” Hardy said. “I get to coach basketball every day, I get to be with these guys every day. I love them to death, and they drive me crazy.

“We’re just as dysfunctional as any family. I’m just thankful for this whole thing. It’s like surreal every day. I haven’t gotten used to it and I hope I never do.”

And speaking of something to be thankful for, Markkanen missed Wednesday’s game not because of the knee contusion he suffered on Tuesday night, but because his wife Verna gave birth to their third child.

So as the Jazz head into two days off, despite the loss to the Nuggets and a 4-14 record, there are reasons to smile and plenty to be thankful for.