Utes crack Andy Staples' post-spring top-25

You pretty much wrote my reply for me.

I remember the 2008 season. I remember covering the potential and knew there was a chance for something great, but there were a lot of questions. I certainly don’t believe we’re as much of a lock for a special season this year as in 2008 – but, as I said in my original post, the potential is there for a great season. Not necessarily undefeated – but maybe 11 wins and a shot at the Rose Bowl. You can’t really ask for a better start to the Pac-12 than that.

The reason I mention 2008 is because of your first point. Brian Johnson, more than anything, mirrors the current path we’re seeing with Wynn. No one knew what Johnson was capable of entering 2008 because he hadn’t played through a complete season. He sat out the last two games of 2005 due to injury, missed the entire 2006 season due to that same injury and then missed essentially three games at the start of the 2007 season.

Worse, as the year went on, Johnson regressed. His best game arguably came against Louisville in an offensive affair and that was only his second game back as a starter. Similarly, after sitting out two games, Wynn’s best game appeared to be against Iowa State, which was only his second game back as a starter.

From there, both quarterbacks regressed. Wynn’s was more noticeable because I think the schedule was far more grueling for the Utes – and even then, Wynn still managed to beat the Cougars even though he struggled. Johnson’s struggles in that game, the fact he had no arm, ultimately played a role in Utah’s defeat to BYU at the end of the season.

The big difference is that Johnson returned for the bowl game and looked good after taking time off to nurse his injury (essentially a month between the BYU game and the Poinsettia win over Navy).

Wynn never got a chance to play in the Las Vegas Bowl because of his injury.

So you’re absolutely right. There were questions about Johnson’s durability. Like Wynn, he had yet to play a full season with Utah and we didn’t know if he had what it took. In fact, Johnson had 20 games under his belt entering the 2008 season. Wynn is at 15 – with a year more to play than Johnson. Not much of a gap, if you ask me.

But more importantly, and I think this is important and you didn’t mention it fully (beyond the emotions), so I will – the best season Whittingham had as a coach was 9-4. He had yet to prove as a coach he was capable of sustaining the success needed to produce what we eventually got in 2008.

There was no track record. We thought maybe he could do it – but we weren’t sure. Whittingham wasn’t a great coach in August of 2008. We thought he could be, of course, but there was no evidence that he would be able to win enough games to, as you put it, make the leap.

I wrote an article here on Block U prior to the start of the 2008 season that essentially said that we’d find out if Whittingham was the coach capable of a great season (I didn’t necessarily think BCS – but more MWC Champs), or a coach that, like McBride, produced decent results most years…but that was essentially it.

Thankfully, he took the next step and has remained there. He is the only coach in Utah football history to produce three consecutive ten-plus win seasons and three consecutive top-25 seasons. His 33-6 record over the last three years is the best three-year stretch in the program history.

So Whittingham has proven he can lead a team to an undefeated season. Prior to 2008, we all only hoped he could.

I’d say that was a pretty big turd in the punch bowl at the time.

Do I think Utah will go 13-0 (14-0) in 2011? Na’.

Do I think they can surprise and contend for a Pac-12 title? Yes.

Will they? Well as I said prior to 2008, we’ll see…