SALT LAKE CITY-Friday, the resurgent Utah Utes’ football team, fresh off of a 40-21 rout of Stanford at Palo Alto, Calif. host the Arizona Wildcats in a key Pac-12 South tilt.
The Utes are celebrating their fifth annual Ute Pro game Friday, while fans are encouraged to purchase and wear Ute Proud T-shirts to the game. All proceeds will benefit Ute Tribe scholarships and youth programs.
In previous Ute Proud games, the Utes are 2-2, having beaten Utah State and Arizona State with losses coming to Arizona and Washington.
Utah and Arizona were once conference foes in the Western Athletic Conference before once again becoming league brethren in the Pac-12 and have been playing since 1924.
The Utes lead the all-time series 22-19-2 and are 12-9 against the Wildcats all-time in Salt Lake City.
The Utes’ defense remains among the best units in FBS football in various categories.
Utah is third nationally against the run (75.4 yards), 10th in total defense (296.4 yards) and second in red zone defense (.615) in national annals.
With a win, Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham will have participated in 200 wins at Utah as either the head coach or as an assistant coach.
Incidentally, both his first career head coaching win (September 2, 2005) and his 100th career head-coaching win (October 8, 2016) came against Arizona.
This is a national television broadcast on ESPN with an 8:00 p.m. MDT kickoff from Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.
