Flashback to Oct. 12, 2013, Utah quarterback Travis Wilson was being hoisted up by the MUSS as his team, his coaches and the crowd celebrated a Ute victory over No. 5 Stanford. It was win to prove Utah could compete in the Pac-12, a win to raise the programs expectations and it was a win that allowed fans to dream.
However, fans awoke from those dreams rather quickly and harshly as the Utes went on to lose their next five games.
A year later Utah is faced with a similar situation. After upsetting then-No. 8 UCLA, the Utes could be on the cusp of contending in the south, but the shadows of 2013 may still looming.
“We definitely have had that conversation,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “We didn’t capitalize on a big win last year. It’s a one game at a time mentality, but we hope to have a better result over the second half of the season than we did last year.”
There are differences from this year and last and Whittingham is quick to point those out and it starts with the quarterback position. Wilson had played one of his best collegiate games against Stanford before injuring his hand a week later on the road at Arizona. Wilson was never the same quarterback and the Utes were never the same team.
Utah will bring not one, but two healthy possible starting quarterbacks to Corvallis and that alone could turn things the Utes favor. The world outside of the Utah locker room will find out who the starter is when the Ute offense takes the field for the first time.
“It’s not a huge strategic move, it just something that why tip your hand if you don’t have too and we don’t have too,” Whittingham said.
Against Oregon State last year, Wilson ran for 142 yards and three touchdowns in an overtime loss to the Beavers. With Kendal Thompson being the more polished runner it stands to reason that he could find success against Oregon State, however, according to Whittingham that might not be the case.
Whittingham explained the read-option is a key part to Utah’s spread offense and sometimes it’s there and sometimes it’s not. Against the Beavers last season, it was there, but the coach doesn’t expect it to play out exactly the same Thursday.
The quarterback issues weren’t the only thing that contributed to Utah’s second half collapse.
“We didn’t get any turnovers, we didn’t create take-a-ways like we are doing this year,” Whittingham said. “We’ve had a pretty good run of interceptions. Special teams, although wasn’t bad, wasn’t having the impact it has had so far this season. Those two or three things combined contributed to it.”
So far this season the Utes have been able to do the things that prevented them from having a successful season last year. On defense, Utah has intercepted the ball six times and has forced three fumbles. Kaelin Clay has returned four kicks for touchdowns and the quarterbacks have limited their mistakes.
With the conference eating itself, the Utes have as good a chance as any team to win the south division. Every team already has a conference loss, which means the door is wide open for Utah to make a move up the standings.
“For everyone to have a loss this early is unusual but not unexpected,” Whittingham said. “I could see from my own vantage point, that it’s a very balanced league and if you’re not ready to play every week, you are going to get beat, that’s what’s happened so far.”
Whittingham’s team knows that all too well, having been on both the winning and losing end of upsets.
It’s been a year since Utah knocked off the Cardinal and on Thursday against Oregon State, the Utes will show just how much they have learned since that upset.
 
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