Utah Utes football: Seniors looking to earn win No. 40 with program

SALT LAKE CITY — With a win over California in the Poinsettia Bowl, Utah can claim its 40th victory over the past four seasons.

It's a legacy of success for a senior class playing their final games as Utes.

"They've accomplished so much," said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham. "The list is pretty extensive as to what they've accomplished."

Besides a 39-12 record, the seniors played pivotal roles in last season's Sugar Bowl championship campaign. A repeat performance, however, didn't materialize. The goal now is to extend the nation's longest active bowl streak to nine games.

And there's something else.

"Obviously last year was an awesome experience. But a lot of things have to go right for that to happen again and obviously they didn't," said left tackle Zane Beadles. "But to win 10 games in a season is definitely an honor, not a lot of teams accomplish that."

Only four Utah teams have reached double-digit victories in a season. It happened in 1994 (10-2), 2003 (10-2), 2004 (12-0) and 2008 (13-0).

The latter propelled this senior class into position as the winningest in program history.

"That's definitely a really cool thing. It's cool to be part of that," Beadles said. "I think it's a tribute to our program."

BOWL RANKING: The Poinsettia Bowl matchup between Utah and California has been ranked No. 23 by Pete Fiutak of CollegeFootballNews.com, who put the nation's 34 bowl games in a pecking order.

The Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, pitting Marshall and Ohio, came in last. And surprisingly, the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl — featuring Air Force and Houston — was ranked No. 1.

Fiutak's prediction for Poinsettia? Utah 31, California 24.

EXTRA POINTS: The Utes will practice six times this week, five sessions in Salt Lake City and one in San Diego … Utah had a little trouble securing charter flights for the Poinsettia Bowl. The Utes finally secured one and will depart for California Saturday morning. They'll practice at San Diego State later in the day … Beadles has extended Utah's streak of Football Writers Association of America national honorees to three. He joins Louie Sakoda who earned first-team All-America recognition in 2007 and 2008.

Poinsettia Bowl

No. 23 Utah (9-3) vs. California (8-4)

Qualcomm Stadium,

San Diego

Dec. 23, 6 p.m.

TV: ESPN

Radio: 700AM

e-mail: dirk@desnews.com