Kyle Whittingham Is Successful In Rivalry Games As Both Player, Coach

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – As a player, assistant coach or head coach, Kyle Whittingham has been a part of the Utah/BYU rivalry for 31 years and has been on both sides of the big in-state football game.

Six of those 31 years has been as a player and graduate assistant with BYU.

The San Luis Obispo, California native then moved to other schools like Eastern Utah and Idaho State before spending the last 25 years at Utah, including the 15 seasons as the head coach.

Whittingham holds a record of 21-8 in the rivalry whether with BYU or Utah.

Four days… pic.twitter.com/2vrNATCq8L

— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) August 25, 2019

Facing Utah As A BYU Player

Whittingham didn’t record any statistics as a freshman in 1978 when Utah beat BYU 23-22 and he only recorded one tackle against the Utes in BYU’s 27-0 win in 1979 at Cougar Stadium. As a junior in 1980, Whittingham led the team with 15 tackles and one pass break-up in BYU’s dominating 56-6 win over Utah at Rice Stadium.

His final game against the Utes as a player in 1981, Whittingham had 4 tackles as the Cougars dominated again, this time it was a 56-28 win over Utah at Cougar Stadium.

As a player, Whittingham and the Cougars went 3-1 against the Utes.

In 1985, the star linebacker was hired as a graduate assistant for two seasons at BYU. During that time, the Cougars won both games against Utah with a 38-28 win in Provo in 1985 and a 35-21 victory in 1986 in Salt Lake City.

Whittingham left in 1987 to be the defensive coordinator at Eastern Utah, which is now Utah State University Eastern. After a five-year stint with Idaho State, Whittingham return to Utah as the defensive line coach in 1994.

Rivalry Results As Assistant Coach

Whittingham was the defensive line coach for one season in 1994 and the Utes beat BYU at home in that game when quarterback Mike McCoy found Charlie Brown for a 20-yard touchdown to give the Utes the lead and eventually the win.

After the brief stint as a position coach, Whittingham was named the defensive coordinator in 1995, a position he held until he was named the head coach in 2005.

Through that time, Utah went 6-4 against the Cougars with the Utes holding a 2-3 record at home and a 4-1 mark in Provo against BYU. As the defensive coordinator, Utah’s defense allowed BYU to score an average of 19.6 points per game.

Utah only allowed BYU to score over 20 points five times in that 10-year span. Two of those games, the Utes held the Cougars under 10 points, including 2002 when Utah won 13-6 at home and a 3-0 victory in Provo in 2003.

Success Against BYU As Head Coach

After the Utes won the Fiesta Bowl and went undefeated in 2004, head coach Urban Meyer left to be the head coach at Florida. Utah named Kyle Whittingham the head coach of the Utes.

As the head coach, Whittingham and the Utes have played BYU 13 times in 14 years. They skipped one season in 2014 when Utah scheduled a home-and-home with Michigan. Whittingham is 10-3 against BYU since taking over the Utah football program. Utah is 5-1 at home, 4-2 in Provo and 1-0 on a neutral field when the two teams played against each other in the Las Vegas Bowl in 2015.

Utah has outscored BYU 377-281 since Whittingham has been in charge. Only two games has been decided by more than a touchdown in the last 14 years, first game was in 2008 when Utah beat BYU 48-24 in Salt Lake City and a 54-10 win at LaVell Edwards Stadium in 2011.