How Kyle Whittingham became the face of the BYU-Utah rivalry

Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham celebrates a Utes victory over BYU at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo. | Tom Smart, Deseret News

Kyle Whittingham may never catch LaVell Edwards when it comes to victories, championships or his golf handicap, but as far as who belongs on the two-man Mount Rushmore of the BYU-Utah rivalry, they stand together.

Edwards coached in 39 rivalry games, both as an assistant and head coach. As the head man, his teams went 19-2 against the Utes between 1972-1992 and 22-7 overall. For his career, Edwards won 257 games and the 1984 national championship. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2004 the same year Whittingham was named head coach at Utah.

Whittingham has worked 26 BYU-Utah games, including the last 15 as head coach. His teams are 9-1 in the last 10 meetings against the Cougars. Still going strong at 64, the former BYU grad assistant is already Utah’s winningest coach in program history (162). He led the Utes to a pair of Rose Bowls and has a team narrowly picked as the media favorite to win the Big 12 in Utah’s inaugural season.

Prior to Edwards, Utah was 41-8-4 against BYU. The rivalry was always meaningful, but not overly competitive. Edwards flipped the script starting in 1972. He stood tall in Provo while the Utes went through Bill Meek, Tom Lovat, Wayne Howard, Chuck Stobart and Jim Fassel before they found a guy who could compete against him in Ron McBride.

McBride gave him some trouble, but Edwards’ 22 wins against the Utes remains unprecedented in BYU history. Even as he featured one star quarterback after another, including Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer, Edwards was the face of the rivalry. He was the guy Utah just couldn’t beat and the fact that he was nice about it made him hard to hate and easy to respect right up until his death in…

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Author : Deseret News

Publish date : 2024-07-11 23:15:00

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