Utah Utes

2005 Season Summary

2004 was a dream season at Utah as the Utes went 12-0 straight up and 10-2 against the spread in a year that was capped off with a 35-7 Fiesta Bowl rout of Pittsburgh for a nice BCS payoff to conclude Urban Meyer's brief two-year tenure as coach.

Cash cow under Meyer

Utah was 22-2 straight up and 20-4 against the spread as they were a literal cash cow under Meyer, who departed for the "big time" at Florida after the 2004 season.

A new era with an old reputation

The new head coach would be Kyle Whittingham, a BYU graduate who rejected his alma mater to stay with the arch rival Utes. Whittingham was Meyer's defensive coordinator and it was expected that he would serve to keep things going with mild disruption during the transition.

Whittingham would begin a new era with an old reputation as Meyer's teams set the bar unrealistically high and it would be tough for any coach to maintain that 2003-04 run of excellence.

Betting value would likely be shot

Whittingham also faced the unenviable task of not only replacing Meyer but of having to replace 12 starters from those powerhouse teams, 10 of whom would be attending NFL camps.

With that phenomenal 20-4 mark against the spread over the previous two seasons, Utah's betting value would likely be shot as, like a stock, what goes up must come down and with the combination of Utah's significant changes/transition along with that 20-4 ATS mark, a correction was inevitable.

The reactive public was caught holding empty bag

Utah would begin 2005 with a reputation as a powerhouse with the mainstream gambling public who would stupidly believe that based on the past two seasons, Utah would simply plug in more covers. For the mainstream gambling public, they would again learn the perils of buying high rather than low.

The season opener against Arizona was the first sign of trouble, as Utah as a pricey 7-point chalk in a 27-24 win in which the reactive public was caught holding an empty bag.

Market crash

Next was a home game against Utah State, which was a 31-7 win/push. A road trip to TCU to face the newest member of the Mountain West Conference was next. Utah, the defending MWC champions, was a 3-point chalk on this ESPN weeknight TV game and lost 20-23 as a college football betting market crash was well under way.

From cash cows to bankroll busters

Utah next hosted Air Force and barely escaped with a 38-35 win as 7-point chalks. This was followed up with a trip to North Carolina against a Tar Heel team seeking revenge for a humiliating loss at Utah the year before. UNC was a 5-point chalk and the revenge angle paid off in a 31-17 Carolina cover. Utah next lost 17-21at Colorado State in what was a heart crusher, as they failed to score with four shots from inside the 5-yard line late. They came home and were unable to shake off the devastating loss at CSU as they fell to inconsistent San Diego State 19-28 as 9.5-point chalks. Next was a trip to UNLV to face their former offensive coordinator, Mike Sanford, who was now the Rebel head coach. Utah won 42-32 as 11.5-point chalks for their 6th loss along with 2 pushes against the pointspread as they completed their transformation from cash cows to bankroll busters.

Betting value was restored

As the season was in the final stretch Utah had lost the masses of asses who were fed up with getting burned and, thus, their betting value was restored. The closed with three covers in their final four games that was capped off with a 38-10 bowl win over Georgia Tech as 9-point chalks.