When was the last time it was this bad for Utah?

For the first time since Utah coach Kyle Whittingham took over the program in 2005, the Utes have lost six straight games.
Utah’s latest defeat — 49-24 at Colorado — underscored the season-long issues this team has dealt with all year. The offense, at least with Isaac Wilson is at the helm, doesn’t seem fixable this year, and special teams woes reared their ugly head as Utah allowed a special teams touchdown for the second game in a row.
The defense had a pretty good performance in the first half, but started to crack in the second half, allowing 28 second-half points (though 14 of those came under five minutes with the game basically decided).
It’s been quite a while since Utah has been at a point this low.
Sure, there were consecutive 5-7 seasons in 2012 and 2013 — which came on the heels of an 8-5 season in the first season following the Utes’ leap from the Mountain West Conference to the Pac-12 Conference — but that was to be expected. It was going to take a few years for Utah to find its footing in the league and to start to recruit more Power Five athletes. Even during those losing seasons, which are the only ones in Whittingham’s career, the longest losing streak was five.
2017 was another disappointment, but Utah still finished 7-5 and beat West Virginia in the Heart of Dallas bowl, which is the Utes’ last bowl win.
There’s been long losing streaks and disappointing seasons in Whittingham’s tenure, but none more than this season.
Utah was picked to win the Big 12 this season, but any hopes and dreams of making the championship game in its new league were tossed out the window when quarterback Cam Rising was hurt against Baylor in the second week of the season, then suffered a season-ending injury in his return against Arizona State in the sixth game of the year.
The Utes never had a great backup plan if Rising went down with injury, and were unable to attract a good portal quarterback due to the fact that it was Rising’s job. Instead, backup duties fell to Isaac Wilson, who may be a good quarterback in the future, but as of right now, hasn’t been able to elevate Utah’s offense to even average.
Aside from the BYU game, the way the Utes’ losses have played out have been strikingly similar. The defense plays decent to well and keeps Utah in the game, only for the offense to fail to put up the necessary points to win. Moving the ball through the air has been a pain point, and the running game has become less and less effective as the season has worn on.
This is definitely the low-water mark of the Whittingham era.
“Right now I’m in the ‘Twilight Zone,’” Whittingham said. “It’s the most difficult year of my coaching career, hands down, not even close.”
The last time Utah had a losing streak this long was in 2002, when the Ron McBride-coached Utes lost six straight. Even then, Utah ended the 5-6 season on a positive note, winning three consecutive, including a win over BYU.
It wasn’t enough to save McBride’s job, though, and he was fired after the season. Utah brought in up-and-coming Bowling Green coach Urban Meyer for the 2003 season, and the rest was history. Under Meyer, the program started its ascent, going undefeated in 2004 and becoming the first team from a non-automatic qualifying conference to earn a spot in a BCS game, defeating Pittsburgh in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl.
It depends how the season finishes up, but if Utah drops eight straight to close the season — not a far-fetched idea with how they’ve played — it would be the worst season for the Utes in over two decades.
Right now, coaches and players are focused on making sure that doesn’t happen.
“Trying to win. Trying to make a bowl game,” tight end Carsen Ryan said.
Utah is at a crossroads after this season. The program needs to hire a new offensive coordinator. Its next starting quarterback may not be on the roster. And there’s the ever-present question about if Whittingham will retire or not after the most frustrating season of his career.
The No. 1 priority this offseason is solving the offensive problem, which would help Utah get back on track.
“Our main issues this year have been on the offensive side of the ball. There’s no secret about that, and we just got to keep recruiting. That’s No. 1. Keep recruiting players and try to get things solved,” Whittingham said.
“We’re just not potent enough on offense. And again, if you look just statistically, as good as we are on D, we’re that far down the ladder on offense in those statistical categories.”
There’s still two games left in this season, but after that, a monumental offseason looms.