• Salt Lake City: Partly Cloudy 91°
partlycloudy
Deseret News
Home
  • Login/Register
    • Mobile
    • Mobile Site
    • Text Version
    • Mobile Apps
Powered by YAHOO! SEARCH
  • News
  • Sports
  • Moneywise
  • Opinion
  • Faith
  • Family
  • Obituaries
    • Classifieds
    • Cars
    • Jobs
    • Deals
powered by ksl.com
  • Jazz
  • BYU
  • Utes
  • USU
  • RSL
  • Bees
  • High School
  • Rock
  • Harmon
  • More Sports
    • Watch It
    • Scores and Stats
    • On TV
    • NFL
    • MLB
    • WSU
    • Grizzlies
    • UVU
    • SUU
    • Sports Wire
  • Sports Picks
Advertise with usReport this ad

Brad Rock: Utes show affinity for happy endings

  • Print
  • Font [+] [-]
  • 187 Comments »

By Brad Rock, Deseret News

Published: Friday, Dec. 21 2007 12:10 a.m. MST

  • View 2 photos »

Fireworks mark the start of the Poinsettia Bowl, in which the Utes defeated Navy 35-32 for another bowl victory.

Tom Smart, Deseret Morning News

Brad Rock

Brad Rock

Deseret News

Summary

If you're the kind of person who cries at Disney films and craves desserts, you have to like the Utes. They too have a fondness for syrupy touches and happy endings.

More Coverage
  • Poinsettia Bowl: Officials concede call was incorrect

  • Poinsettia Bowl: Coach laments lost opportunity for Navy seniors

  • Poinsettia Bowl: Johnson sparks Utes' second-half surge

  • Poinsettia Bowl: Dale helps end Navy comeback — twice

  • Poinsettia Bowl: Chart climber

  • Poinsettia Bowl: Unsinkable — Utah wins seventh straight bowl game as Midshipmen's rally comes up short

  • Poinsettia Bowl: Utah report card

SAN DIEGO — If you're the kind of person who cries at Disney films and craves desserts, you have to like the Utes.

They too have a fondness for syrupy touches and happy endings.

With a dash of suspense thrown in for good measure.

Thursday night at Qualcomm Stadium, Utah came from behind to win its seventh straight bowl game, holding off Navy, 35-32, in the Poinsettia Bowl. So a season that began in crisis ended up happily for the Utes after all. Is anyone actually surprised by this? Teams might stun them in September, when they don't entirely know what they have. Or catch them in October, when they

have their usual mid-season attention lapse. Sometimes, Utah can even be stopped in November.

After all, that is when Utah plays BYU.

But don't mess with the Utes in December. If you want to stop them, you'll have to do it before they get in the holiday spirit. Each year they give their opponent the gift that keeps on giving — a season-ending loss.

Utah now has five bowl wins in five years. It is tied with Boston College for the most consecutive bowl victories (7). Beyond that, the win gave the program valuable national exposure — something the Utes' regular season TV package doesn't provide. And though they were far from perfect, they managed to pull things off when the lights went up. As usual.

Even with a considerable chunk of their team missing due to injury. And a less-than-perfect performance overall.

The Utes won the game with four starters out with injuries. Over the season, they lost nine starters to injury, yet still came back from a 1-3 start to land a bowl invitation. Their display of toughness caused Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo to wax philosophical on Wednesday about Utah coach Kyle Whittingham's attitude.

Several years ago, Niumatalolo noted, he was an assistant at UNLV, looking across the field with then-Rebel coach John Robinson. There stood Whittingham and his father, Fred, a former Utah assistant.

"Coach Robinson said to me, 'Fred Whittingham is the toughest person I've ever been around."'

When Niumatalolo agreed that the elder Whittingham must indeed be a tough coach, Robinson interrupted, "No, he's the toughest human being I've ever been around."

"So," added Niumatalolo Wednesday, "I know Coach (Kyle) Whittingham is really nice, but we know he's gonna try to rip our throats out."

Which indeed he did attempt.

Instead, he had to settle for a narrow victory.

Although Utah's bowl history the past decade is one of success, the Utes on Thursday didn't look much like the 2003, 2004 and 2005 bowl teams that started hot and never let up. Last season, in the Armed Forces Bowl, they did about what they needed — and that's all — in defeating Tulsa. This year, though, there didn't seem to be that much left in the tank. Navy lost two fumbles in the first half-quarter, and the Utes failed to capitalize. Meanwhile, quarterback Brian Johnson threw an interception.

It seemed for a time the Utes were doomed to lose, particularly when All-American kicker Louie Sakoda shanked two punts.

They finally built an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter and seemed to have the game in hand. But a Navy touchdown and two-point conversion kept it interesting. Each team scored again, Utah's coming with just 1:27 to go, giving the Utes a 35-25 lead.

But things were just getting started.

Navy struck with a 58-yard touchdown with 57 seconds remaining, closing Utah's lead to 35-32, then completed an onside kick. But Joe Dale's interception ended the suspense with 26 seconds to go.

The Utes were still as unbeatable in winter as ever.

"We fought through some adversity," said Whittingham. "We're 5-0 in bowl games (the last five years), seven straight bowl games. Hey, let's keep it going."

As if they could do anything different.


E-mail: rock@desnews.com

Related Stories
  • Poinsettia Bowl: Officials concede call was incorrect

  • Poinsettia Bowl: Coach laments lost opportunity for Navy seniors

  • Poinsettia Bowl: Johnson sparks Utes' second-half surge

Featured Comments

See all 187 comments »
Jake

Way to go Utes! Sure it wasn't a blowout or the prettiest of games, but once again they found a way to win their bowl game.

Thanks for a great season!

  • 12:27 a.m. Dec. 21, 2007
  • Top comment
Hmmm

Don't get too excited Ute fans--you barely beat a team that many athletes can't play for due to rigorous academic standards and very specific height/weight limitations. The fact that Navy kept Utah out of the endzone on fourth and inches is a More..

  • 12:32 a.m. Dec. 21, 2007
  • Top comment
MadMax

TO: Hmmm
Do you mean by winning the MWC Championship that the better team we could play is a 6-6 UCLA team which finished 5th in the PAC 10? Thanks, I'd rather play Navy at 8-4,now 8-5. The fact that the Utes actually win their bowl games is More..

  • 12:49 a.m. Dec. 21, 2007
  • Top comment
Comments
Leave a comment »

DeseretNews.com encourages a civil dialogue among its readers. We welcome your thoughtful comments.
— About comments

About the Author
Brad Rock

Brad Rock

Brad Rock, a.k.a. "Rockmonster," has been a sports columnist at the Deseret News since 1994. Prior to that he worked as a beat writer, covering the Utah Jazz (1990-94). He has covered the Super Bowl, NCAA Final Four, NBA more ..

  • Connect:
Advertise with usReport this ad
What You May Have Missed
  • Father figure: Perceptions of God may stem from father-child relationships
  • Superman continues history of casting religious shadows
  • Science and human heart both say dads important to a kid's life
Sample sports edition email
Advertise with usReport this ad
Most Popular
Across Site
In Sports
  • Dick Harmon: Bronco Mendenhall and Cecil O....
  • High school football: Reigning Mr. Football...
  • Utah Jazz: Massive, state-of-the-art...
  • BYU football: Cougars must secure their own...
  • Ready to roll: US national soccer team ready...
  • Rock On: Getting up to speed at BYU, Jazz's...
  • Commentary: The 15 kings of BYU football, the...
  • Utah Jazz: Syracuse point guard Michael...
  • My husband Alex Boye grilled in UK for 'I'm a...
  • Miss Utah USA's bungled interview creates...
  • Dick Harmon: Bronco Mendenhall and Cecil O....
  • Amy Adams, Glenn Beck present different takes...
  • High school football: Reigning Mr. Football...
  • Doug Robinson: Utah man's new running shoe...
  • LDS Church responds to 'misinformation' about...
  • Miss Utah USA gets second chance at question...
Get The Deseret News Everywhere

Subscribe

Mobile

Facebook

Twitter

RSS

Email

Most Commented
Across Site
In Sports
  • BYU football: Cougars must secure their... 147
  • Phil Steele ranks USU 2nd-most... 28
  • Dick Harmon: Bronco Mendenhall and... 28
  • High school football: Reigning Mr.... 28
  • Trevor Reilly, Jake Murphy to represent... 22
  • Teen's family apologizes to family of... 21
  • Austin Collie's workout with San... 18
  • Dick Harmon: Dick Harmon: Unprecedented... 18
  • BYU football: Cougars must secure their... 146
  • My husband Alex Boye grilled in UK for... 57
  • Commentary: Neither the Utes nor Aggies... 54
  • Pew study: News media inserted bias... 51
  • Holding offers from Utah, USU, American... 48
  • Survey: Gay and lesbian population has... 41
  • BYU football: Mendenhall calls 2012... 39
  • Prophet calls for tolerance, kindness... 39
Advertise with usReport this ad
Advertise with usReport this ad
  • Home
  • News
  • Sports
  • Moneywise
  • Opinion
  • Faith
  • Family
  • Obituaries
Home »
  • Blogs
  • Topics
  • Lists
  • Movies
  • Columnists
  • Watch It
News »
  • Utah news
  • World & Nation
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Education
  • Salt Lake County
  • Utah County
  • Davis County
  • Police/Courts
  • Legislature
  • Weather
  • Immigration
  • News Wire
Sports »
  • Utah Jazz
  • Sports Picks
  • BYU Cougars
  • Utah Utes
  • Utah State Aggies
  • Real Salt Lake
  • Salt Lake Bees
  • High school sports
  • Rock
  • Harmon
  • Watch It
  • Scores and Stats
  • On TV
  • NFL
  • MLB
  • Weber State Wildcats
  • Grizzlies
  • Utah Valley Wolverines
  • Southern Utah University
  • Sports Wire
Opinion »
  • Editorials
  • Op-Eds
  • Letters
  • Political Cartoons
Faith »
  • Featured Faiths
  • Mormon Times
  • LDS Church News
  • Mission Reunions
  • Faith Wire
Family »
  • Marriage & Parenting
  • Family Media
  • Movie Guide
  • Calendar
  • TV Listings
  • Family Life Wire
Special Sections »
  • Education Week
  • LDS General Conference
  • Mormons in America
  • Olympics
  • Outdoor Retailer
  • Rugby
  • Sports Picks
  • Sundance Film Festival
  • Utah Blaze
  • Utah Grizzlies
  • Print Subscription
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • FAQ
  • Feedback
  • Jobs
  • RSS
  • E-Edition
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Legal notices
  • Advertise with us
Advertise with usReport this ad