“If you can’t beat ’em … “

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“If you can’t beat ’em … “

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If you can’t beat ’em … emulate them!

In 2011, when Colorado and Utah left their respective conferences to join the newly reconfigured Pac-12, the assumption was that the transition would be smoother for Colorado.

After all, the Buffs were making a lateral move from one Power Five conference to another, while the Utes were taking a step up from a Group of Five conference.

CU was a much better fit academically and culturally with the Pac-12, being an AAU member with thousands of students flocking to Boulder from California. Utah, meanwhile, was not rated as highly academically (Utah became an AAU member later, in 2019), with strong ties to the LDS church giving many in the Pac-12 pause about Utah’s “fit” in its new conference.

CU was also a much better fit on the gridiron, with Top 25 historical credentials, not to mention a national championship and a Heisman trophy winner. Utah, meanwhile, had been a successful lower tier school, but was not normally on the national radar when it came to football success.

It was supposed to work out better for Colorado than Utah in the Pac-12.

But, as every Buff fan knows, it didn’t turn out that way.

The Pac-12 conference run by the Buffs was an unmitigated disaster. In 13 seasons in the Pac-12, Colorado posted an overall record of 52-102, winning exactly one-quarter (28-84) of its conference games. The Buffs had two winning seasons in 13 years, with one ten-win campaign, and two bowl appearances (both losses).

During that same time frame, Utah flourished in its new conference. The Utes had only two losing seasons in their 13-year Pac-12 run. In nine of those 13 seasons, Utah had nine or more wins. There were four campaigns with ten or more wins, with two Pac-12 titles, four Pac-12 South division titles, and ten bowl appearances (winning five).

And, the most telling stat of all …

In CU’s 13 years as a member of the Pac-12, the program went through five head coaches.

In Utah’s 13 years as a member of the Pac-12, the program had just one head coach.

Kyle Whittingham.

The success of Utah as a Power Four/Five conference school can easily be traced back to the school’s all-time winningest coach. Whittingham has been the head coach at Utah for 21 seasons, the second-longest tenured coach in FBS football (second only to Kirk Ferentz at Iowa), with his 172 career wins almost double the total of CU’s winningest coach, Bill McCartney (93 career victories in 13 seasons).

Whittingham has had 17 winning seasons in his first 20 years as head coach, has been named conference coach of the year three times, and, in 2008, led the Utes to a 13-0 record (and No. 2 final ranking).

But it’s more than longevity which has brought Whittingham and Utah success. The Utes have taken on the personality of their coach, a Utah native who was a standout linebacker for in-state rival BYU in his playing days. On his coaching staff, Whittingham has four Utah alums, including defensive coordinator (and head coach in waiting) Morgan Scalley.

The Utes are a hard-nosed, tough, and disciplined team. Utah relies on strong defense and a powerful running game to wear down opponents.

A simple formula, but it has worked for Whittingham and Utah for the past two decades.

Meanwhile, at CU …

The Buffs have not only struggled to create an identity in the post-Shedeur/Travis 2025 season, Coach Prime has deflected the idea of even needing an identity.

After the 36-20 loss to Houston, a game in which the Buffs started Ryan Staub at quarterback, Coach Prime was asked about trying to establish an identity on offense. His response:

“First of all, I don’t know coaches that seek identity. I think coaches seek wins. You could call it what you want. It looks the way it looks. I don’t I don’t care what kind of car we pull up in, long as we pull out of here with a W I’m good. So I don’t really get into the identity thing, not whatsoever”.

Two years ago, Coach Prime was a little more thoughtful on the subject. After the Buffs fell to 3-2 after a 48-41 loss to USC in his first season at Boulder, Coach Prime was asked about CU’s identity:

“What’s our identity?” said Coach Prime said at the time. “I don’t know who we are. I don’t know what we gonna do. From practice to practice, I do, but we’ve got to translate that into the games. So we’re still searching for our true identity.”

After 28 more games – 15 of them losses – the search continues.

The Buffs seemed to have matters back on track after upsetting No. 22 Iowa State. Yes, the Buffs were 3-4, but the four losses were to some pretty good competition:

• Georgia Tech, 8-0, and ranked No. 7 in the country;
• Houston, 7-1, and likely to be ranked after defeating Arizona State Saturday;
• BYU, 8-0, and ranked No. 11 in the country; and
• TCU, 6-2.

That’s a combined record of 29-3, with three of those teams likely to be ranked this week.

Any solace the Buff Nation may have taken from those numbers, however, has been lost after the Buffs were routed by Utah, 53-7.

The Utes went for 587 yards of total offense, including a mind-numbing 422 yards on the ground. The Colorado offense, meanwhile, was held to 140 total yards, and even that number is inflated. In the first quarter, the Buffs had 16 plays on offense, going for a total of eight yards. Utah, meanwhile, had 21 plays for 203 yards of offense. At halftime, the Buffs were  in red numbers, with 33 plays for a minus-18 yards of total offense.

“All this hoopla, all this ya-ya, and all this want-to-look-good and all this stuff, it don’t work unless you balling,” Coach Prime said. “We in that kind of generation right now. Everybody wants to look good and they want to get paid, but you gotta ball. You gotta play. That constitutes that. And we gotta figure this out like now. Now.”

That sounds great, but the Buffs had a bye week to prepare for the Utes, who were coming off of a physical and emotional loss to BYU the week before.

And yet it was the Buffs who came out flat, who looked unprepared and unwilling to take the fight to the opposition.

“The way we practiced, the way we prepared, there’s no way that should have happened,” Sanders said. “There’s no way. The physicalness that we exuded all week long, there’s no way.”

Utah is one of the most physical teams in the Big 12, so the Buffs cranked up the physicality in practice. They even had quarterbacks, who are usually protected from hitting, go live in practice.

“We practiced real hard this week,” CU quarterback Kaidon Salter, who was sacked seven times. “I feel like I did have a great week of practice. O-line had a great week of practice. Receivers did pretty well and even on the defensive side, it was all there this week at practice, but today was most definitely blindsided.”

Coach Prime has, after almost every loss this season, claimed that his team was as talented as the team on the other side of the field.

So, if it’s not talent which is making Buff fans relive the nightmare of what the 2022 season looked like, what is it?

It comes down to coaching.

For answers, all Coach Prime has to do is look at what Kyle Whittingham has done at Utah.

Kyle Whittingham has a team with an established identity. The Utes are tough; the Utes are physical. The Utes will run the ball down your throat, and beat you up with a hard-hitting defense.

Kyle Whittingham has developed a program which matches his personality.

Kyle Whittingham has established a culture at Utah.

And … Kyle Whittingham is 12-3 against Colorado.

What does Coach Prime have to do in order to not have the 2025 season spin out of control, as the 2023 season did, with the Buffs falling from 4-1 to 4-8?

“Well that starts with me,” he said. “It starts with the coaching staff. Let’s forget the guys (players) for a minute. Let’s start at the top.”

Asked what he has to do better, Sanders said, “I’m trying to figure that one out. I really am.”

A good place to start would be to look at what Kyle Whittingham has done at Utah.

If you can’t beat ’em … emulate them.

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This post, about the Utah game, from the 2025 Season, is filed under Article.
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