Utes, Golden Hurricane are not exactly strangers

After opening the season against an enigmatic UCLA squad that featured new coordinators on both sides of the ball, it seems only right that the Utes should finish the year against a team that they know as well as the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.

Granted, the teams have only played each other three times before, but in this case, the connections between the two schools run much deeper than the all-time series.

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, for example, has known some members of the Tulsa brass for longer than he has members of his own staff. That he once worked alongside Charlie Stubbs, the Golden Hurricane's offensive coordinator, makes this matchup particularly interesting.

"Charlie and I were graduate assistants together way back when," Whittingham said. "He has put together a good offense at Tulsa. A lot of the routes they run have that BYU flavor to them."

Whittingham also has an extensive history with Tulsa head coach Steve Kragthorpe. In addition to their respective families' involvement with BYU football during the LaVell Edwards era, they share a friendship with former Utah coach Urban Meyer.

"He came up to visit a lot when Urban was here," Whittingham said of Kragthorpe. "Before that, we were just a couple of kids goofing around on the BYU sideline during the Fiesta Bowl or the Tangerine Bowl."

Since finishing up the regular season, Whittingham and his charges have had a chance to break down the Golden Hurricane on film, a chance that they never had in the weeks leading up to the season-opener at UCLA.

"Their offense is very similar to ours," Whittingham said. "They like to operate from the spread look, and their quarterback is very similar to (Utah quarterback Brett Ratliff) in the way that he operates."

The parallels that exist between Utah's offense and the one that they will face on Dec. 23 give Whittingham and company a leg up in terms of game-planning. Even though Tulsa tends to run the ball more than the Utes, Utah's defenders feel like they'll be ready for the Golden Hurricane.

"Anytime we face an offense that's similar to ours, it's an advantage for us," defensive back Eric Weddle said. "They like to run a lot of wide receiver screens to get their guys the ball in space, which is something that we're used to seeing."

Unfortunately for the Utes, their offense will not share the same advantage. The Golden Hurricane run an unorthodox 3-3-5 defense, a scheme that Utah faced only once this season.

"We're going to have to work to get ready for that defense," Weddle said. "But we work harder than anyone else. That's why we've won five bowl games in a row."

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E-mail: tquinn@desnews.com