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SALT LAKE CITY — With fire alarms blaring at 6:30 a.m. in the team hotel in Boulder, Colorado, Utah got a rude awakening to its morning prep for a cold road contest against an undefeated division rival.
Really, what more could 2020 bring in an unprecedented year of chaos and uncertainty?
Although jarring by nature, the unplanned alarm jumpstarted a Utah team that woke up ready to spoil an undefeated record in a 10 a.m. game on the frozen tundra of Folsom Field. There was no waiting until the latter part of the day, no more jitters that lasted all day, no more playing the game plan over in the head for hours during the day — the game was here.
"It was great," Utah wide receiver Britain Covey said. "It's nice you can start thinking about the game in the moment you wake up."
"All the strength coaches acted like they were innocent in that act, but I have a feeling that one of them paid somebody to do it," quarterback Jake Bentley added. "But it was fine and it kind of got us woken up, and I applaud the guys for being ready, waking up and being ready to go."
Utah was hot right out of the gate. On its opening drive, the team went 65 yards and scored a quick touchdown off a 7-yard pass from Bentley to receiver Solomon Enis to take an early lead. The Utes slowed down as Colorado adjusted in the first half, but then pulled away in the second half and reeled off 28 unanswered points to spoil Colorado's perfect mark to the season.
For arguably the first time this season, Utah put together a solid game plan and executed it for the duration of the entire game. It still wasn't perfect, but it was noticeably different from its previous three games of an otherwise unpredictable season.
"Honestly, I think it comes down to we haven't played a full game yet, really this team," Covey said. "We've always had either one half or one quarter missing. And the first half, it's not that we were doing things bad, I think Colorado is just a good team. We came out, made some adjustments, had to battle some adversity, which is awesome, and finally played our first 60-minute game, in my opinion."
Traditionally for Utah, the fourth game of the season is when conference play begins. It comes after three weeks of nonconference play and a period where the team can work out some kinks and establish an identity.
But 2020 had other plans.
Utah's first two games of an already delayed and twice altered schedule were canceled due to positive COVID-19 results within the program, games were shifted to accommodate schedules — a road contest to Washington was scheduled after Arizona State couldn't play and a Friday night tilt turned into a Saturday morning national spotlight game — and personnel on the team was constantly changing as the virus had a grip on the program.
That's to say nothing of losing a spring season, a regular fall camp, a full schedule and all the other difficult aspects of being a collegiate athlete that has to balance school work amid a grueling schedule — Covey even had a final Saturday night after the team's win over Colorado. "If we had lost, I would have probably failed my final, but now I'll go and study," he joked.
As Utah finally starts to form an identity and is hitting its stride, the season is winding down to a close with the final regular-season contest wrapping up Saturday against Washington State at 11:30 a.m. at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Five games.
But it's all worth it to the players and coaches who feel like the season still offered more to the team's progress than any spring or fall camp could; and it's certainly better than having no games at all, like the previous option laid out as the virus started to surge again in the United States in late summer.
"It is sad. I mean this is the first time in my career where we're not playing for a championship or the opportunity to go to the championship," Covey said. "And it's different — you kind of got to dig deep, you've got to find what motivates you. We're gonna have one more game, and this is such a weird season.
"The honest truth is," he added, "and I don't think that anyone could criticize teams for saying this is: We're all pretty burned out. You saw what Boston College did, opting out of their bowl game. I don't blame them at all because the whole team, we're pretty burned out just with the emotional drag of the season. So to have one game is not fun, but at the same time, we're ready to finish strong. We want to finish with a winning record going into next year."
To head coach Kyle Whittingham, it's certainly an opportunity to test the waters for the next year, but it's more about giving the team a chance to compete for a conference championship or a bowl game — even if neither were a likely outcome to the season. It's an experience he called "invaluable."
"It has been rough; it's been different, it's been challenging, but our guys have responded as well as they possibly could have," Whittingham said. "It was tough getting the rug pulled out from under them at the 11th hour those first two ball games — that was a little bit disheartening — but it was the right decision to make. They responded and played their hearts out the last four games, even though we didn't win the first two.
"It's a season that's been a four-game season that seems like a 14-game season; it's been a journey, but you've got to be resilient, you gotta be tough, you gotta keep fighting. And that's what they've been doing."
The year has been emotionally, physically and psychologically draining, but the wins, particularly against a ranked opponent on their home field, make up for all the crazy the year brought.
"I think it's been hard — this year has been hard on all of us — and to get a big win like this, I think was just that moment of overcoming all the adversity that we faced," Bentley said.
