2020 Utah Utes football team

The 2020 Utah Utes football team represented the University of Utah during the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Utes were led by 16th-year head coach Kyle Whittingham and played their home games at Rice–Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah, as members of the South Division of the Pac-12 Conference.

2020 Utah Utes football
ConferencePac-12 Conference
DivisionSouth Division
2020 record3–2 (3–2 Pac-12)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorAndy Ludwig (2nd season in stint, 6th overall season)
Defensive coordinatorMorgan Scalley (5th season)
CaptainJake Bentley, Devin Lloyd, Mika Tafua, Orlando Umana
Home stadiumRice–Eccles Stadium
(Capacity: 45,807)
2020 Pac-12 Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
North Division
Washington x  3 –1     3 –1  
Stanford  4 –2     4 –2  
Oregon y$  3 –2     4 –3  
California  1 –3     1 –3  
Washington State  1 –3     1 –3  
Oregon State  2 –5     2 –5  
South Division
No. 21 USC xy  5 –0     5 –1  
Colorado  3 –1     4 –2  
Utah  3 –2     3 –2  
Arizona State  2 –2     2 –2  
UCLA  3 –4     3 –4  
Arizona  0 –5     0 –5  
Championship: Oregon 31, USC 24
  • $ – Conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
  • y – Championship game participant
  • Note: Due to COVID-19, the Pac-12 suspended the season on August 11, but later decided to begin play on November 6. In addition to the title game on December 18, the conference seeded all remaining teams for a game during that weekend.[1]
Rankings from AP Poll.

On August 11, 2020, the Pac-12 suspended all fall sports competitions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] On September 24, the Pac-12 announced that football teams would return to play a seven-game conference-only season beginning on November 6, with the conference championship game scheduled for December 18.[3]

On December 18, with a 2–2 record and one game left to play, the Utes announced that they would not pursue a bid to a bowl game.[4] The Utes won their final game, finishing their season with a 3–2 record. Running back Ty Jordan was voted the Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year.[5]

Schedule

Utah had games scheduled against BYU, Montana State, and Wyoming, but canceled these games on July 10 due to the Pac-12 Conference's decision to play a conference-only schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6]

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
November 7 1:30 p.m. Arizona
ESPN2 No Contest[7]
November 21 8:30 p.m. No. 20 USC
  • Rice–Eccles Stadium
  • Salt Lake City, UT
ESPN L 17–33 0
November 28 5:30 p.m. at Washington
ABC L 21–24 259
December 5 8:30 p.m. Oregon State
  • Rice–Eccles Stadium
  • Salt Lake City, UT
ESPN W 30–24 0
December 12 10:00 a.m. at No. 21 Colorado
FOX W 38–21 0
December 19 11:30 a.m. Washington State
  • Rice–Eccles Stadium
  • Salt Lake City, UT
FS1 W 45–28 0

[8]

Rankings
Further information: 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
Week
Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Final 
AP 22 22* NR NR RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV NR NR NR NR NR NR 
Coaches 20 20* NR NR NR RV RV RV RV RV RV RV NR NR NR RV RV RV 
CFP Not released NR NR NR NR NR Not released

Game summaries

USC
See also: 2020 USC Trojans football team
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 20 Trojans 3 21 6 3 33
Utes 3 14 0 0 17

at Washington
See also: 2020 Washington Huskies football team
1 2 3 4 Total
Utes 7 14 0 0 21
Huskies 0 0 17 7 24

Oregon State
See also: 2020 Oregon State Beavers football team
1 2 3 4 Total
Beavers 0 10 0 14 24
Utes 6 10 7 7 30

at Colorado
See also: 2020 Colorado Buffaloes football team
1 2 3 4 Total
Utes 7 3 14 14 38
No. 21 Buffaloes 0 14 7 0 21

Washington State
See also: 2020 Washington State Cougars football team
1 2 3 4 Total
Cougars 7 21 0 0 28
Utes 0 7 14 24 45

References
  1. Pac-12 Conference. "Pac-12 announces resumption of football, basketball & winter sports seasons". Pac-12 Conference. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  2. "Pac-12 Conference postpones all sport competitions through end of calendar year". pac-12.com. August 11, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  3. "Pac-12 announces resumption of football, basketball & winter sports seasons". pac-12.com. September 24, 2020. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  4. Call, Jeff (December 18, 2020). "Utah Utes won't play in bowl game, season finale will be Saturday vs. Washington State". Deseret News. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  5. "2020 Pac-12 Football All-Conference honors and annual awards announced". Pac-12 Conference. December 22, 2020. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
  6. Bromberg, Nick. "Pac-12 follows Big Ten's lead and won't play non-conference games in 2020". Yahoo News. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  7. "Statement on the Cancellation of Utah's Game Versus Arizona". utahutes.com. November 6, 2020. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  8. "2020 Pac-12 Football Schedule". Twitter.com. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
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