Utah
Luke Bottari’s winding road leads to first FBS start, win for Utah over Colorado
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SALT LAKE CITY — The set of circumstances that brought University of Utah quarterback Luke Bottari to Saturday afternoon, his first FBS start, and a 23-17 win over Colorado can only be described as unorthodox.
A fifth-year walk-on, Bottari spent the 2022 season and 2023 spring practice with the Utes, but seeing that the quarterback room was solidified, he opted to transfer to California in search of some playing time.
Bottari went through the first half of fall camp in Berkeley, but it quickly became apparent that the situation there wasn’t going to be better. Bottari hopped back into the transfer portal, where the rules are less stringent for graduate transfers.
By the time Utah entered the waning days of its own fall camp, Bottari was back, but no one could have predicted he would have been needed to the extent he was Saturday.
Cam Rising never played a down this season. Bryson Barnes is injured and was unavailable Saturday. Redshirt freshman Nate Johnson intends to enter the transfer portal. Another redshirt freshman, Brandon Rose, is being tracked for a medical redshirt from the NCAA after a fall camp injury.
So, in came Bottari, having never taken a Division I snap, having not taken a game rep of any kind since 2021 when he was playing at College of San Mateo, not from where he grew up on the San Francisco Peninsula.
The fact Bottari finished just 6-of-10 for 61 yards and a pair of rushing touchdowns belies the fact that he succinctly managed the offense on a day where, frankly, Utah needed him if the Utes were to secure an eighth regular-season win for the fifth consecutive non-COVID season.
“We welcomed him back because he’s a great kid, great teammate, and it turns out we got to him and we needed,” Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. “It was good for us in that respect.”
Added Bottari: “I would say earlier in the week, I had a pretty good idea I was going to get the start, but the main goal was just to win a game, whatever we had to do. Rushed for I don’t how many yards, pass the ball, but the main goal at the beginning of the week when I found I was starting was to get the win.”
With its fifth-string quarterback starting in what amounted to an emergency situation, Utah (8-4, 5-4 Pac-12) left little to the imagination in terms of what it wanted to do on offense.
The Utes’ first drive of the afternoon went eight plays for 58 yards, with all of it coming on the ground. Once Ja’Quinden Jackson and Jaylon Glover combined to get the Utes down to the Colorado 10-yard line, there was a holding penalty to set up first-and-20.
From there, it was a direct snap to Jackson, Sione Vaki along the left sideline for 19 yards, and finally, Bottari on a 2-yard touchdown run in which he rolled to his right, surveyed the situation, then took off for the goal line.
Utah, the Pac-12’s fifth-ranked rushing offense entering the day at 178.8 yards per game, finished with 268 yards and a touchdown on 53 carries, good for 5.1 yards per carry.
Bottari did not attempt a pass until Utah’s 11th play, which came early in its second drive, a 14-yard completion to Mikey Matthews on third-and-3 early in the second quarter. Bottari’s second pass didn’t come until the Utes’ 21st play, a 10-yard connection with Munir McClain just past the midway point of the second quarter.
By no means was Bottari asked to do a ton, but nobody can say he didn’t make the most of those limited opportunities.
“First opportunity to quarterback at the Power Five level, and he’s 1-0,” Whittingham said. “He did what we needed him to do. He didn’t throw the ball a bunch, but he did a great job of managing the offense. He got us in all the right checks. We have a lot of checks at the line of scrimmage based on the looks that we see. He was flawless and did a phenomenal job with that.”
The point is now moot, but had Bottari needed to come out of the game for injury or any other reason, Whittingham indicated that Jackson and Rose were both prepared to enter with a small play package. It stood to reason, though, that Rose, given his medical redshirt hopes, would not have actually seen the field, although he did dress on Saturday.
Utah will not know its bowl destination until Dec. 3, with the Las Vegas Bowl (Dec. 23) and Sun Bowl (Dec. 29) as the likely options. Whittingham offered optimism that Barnes will be ready to go by the time the bowl game arrives, but Bottari now stands as a healthy alternative after Saturday.