We all seem to buy into this narrative that Utah has at least one WTF? loss every year, and sometimes two or three. I decided to look at the numbers and what I found surprised me. Going back to 2008, I’ve listed every loss with each opponent’s record. There aren’t very many WTF? losses.
2008 – Undefeated Sugar Bowl season. Not a single loss.
N/A
2009 – Not a single WTF? loss. These were three very good/great teams who beat a very good Utah team.
@ Oregon(10-3)
@ TCU (12-1)
@ BYU (11-2)
2010 – Two great teams and one good team that could be argued as a WTF? loss but it was Notre Dame on the road after the beatdown TCU laid on us. Can we really call that a WTF? loss?
vs TCU (13-0)
@ Notre Dame (8-5)
n Boise State (12-1)
2011 – First year in the Pac-12. This is where we find our first WTF? loss to a 3 win Colorado team at home. The other losses were to average or better Pac-12 teams.
@ USC (10-2)
vs Washington (7-6)
vs Arizona State (6-7)
@ California (7-6)
vs Colorado (3-10)
2012 – Every single one of these teams was better than our 5-7 team. Not a single WTF? loss in the bunch. Sure, we lost some of these games in frustrating ways, but none of them were crazy losses.
@ Utah State (11-2)
@ Arizona State (8-5)
vs USC (7-6)
@ UCLA (9-5)
@ Oregon State (9-4)
@ Washington (7-6)
vs Arizona (8-5)
2013 – Again, every one of these teams was better than our 5-7 team. No WTF? losses.
vs Oregon State (7-6)
vs UCLA (10-3)
@ Arizona (8-5)
@ USC (10-4)
@ Arizona State (10-4)
@ Oregon (11-2)
@ Washington State (6-7)
2014 – Here we find our 2nd WTF? loss at home to a 3-9 Washington State team. After going up 21-0 in the rain/snow, we fell 28-27 to a terrible team.
vs Washington State (3-9)
@ Arizona State (10-3)
vs Oregon (13-2)
vs Arizona (10-4)
2015 – Based on record, you could argue that all of these were WTF? losses but looking at the circumstances of these games paints a different picture. USC in the Coliseum is always going to be a tough game and I believe Wilson was playing with an injured hand. A double OT loss @ 7 win Arizona isn’t exactly WTF? material especially when you factor in Wilson’s injury and weren’t we without Booker in that game as well as the UCLA game? Regardless, I have a hard time calling any of these WTF? losses.
@ USC (8-6)
@ Arizona (7-6)
vs UCLA (8-5)
2016 – A couple of WTF? losses here. We were a 9 win team and some how crapped the bed against a 5 win Cal team and a 4 win Oregon team, AT HOME no less.
@ California (5-7)
vs Washington (12-2)
vs Oregon (4-8)
@ Colorado (10-4)
2017 – In a rebuild year that saw us finish 7-6, none of these can be considered WTF? losses.
vs Stanford (9-5)
@ USC (11-3)
vs Arizona State (6-7)
@ Oregon (7-6)
vs Washington State (9-4)
@ Washington (10-3)
2018 – 9 win South Division champs so maybe we could call the loss @ 7 win ASU a WTF? loss, but not when you consider Huntley left the game early in the 3rd quarter with a broken collarbone. The rest of these losses were to 9+ win teams and two of them we were without Huntley, Moss, and Covey.
vs Washington (10-4)
@ Washington State (11-2)
@ Arizona State (7-6)
n Washington (10-4)
n Northwestern (9-5)
TL;DR – The narrative that Utah has 1-3 WTF? losses every year is a myth. In reality, we’ve had 4 true WTF? losses over the last 11 years and maybe a handful of others that could be argued as WTF? losses but most reasonable fans would say otherwise.
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