Outside of a couple of sports, the 2013-2014 academic year for the University of Utah has come to a close. This season we had a roller coaster football season, a resurgent men's basketball season, an injury plagued women's basketball season, and a gymnastics season that featured the University's first Pac-12 championship, followed up by a disappointing NCAA Championships.
In today's episode of The U Fan Cast, Adia, Steven and myself list our Top-5 moments from this year. It could be have been a game, a play, a storyline, really anything to do with Utah athletics.
Adia stuck to just basketball for her list, here are her Top-5 moments.
5 - The return to relevance for the basketball program. The program is back on everyones radar once again.
4 - The 2014 recruiting class. Loaded with highly touted kids, with a ton of talent, this could be the final piece of the puzzle to push the team back into contention.
3 - Signing Coach Krystkowiak to a new 5-year contract. Keeping Coach K on campus was a huge win to maintain the positive momentum of the program.
2 - Beating #25 UCLA at the Huntsman Center. A win that many people consider the statement win the basketball team needed, and it helped put the Pac-12 on notice that Utah basketball isn't the basement dweller anymore.
1 - Beating the Team Down South. After being dominated for a decade in the rivalry, Utah rolled to their own dominating victory at the Huntsman Center, changing the basketball hierarchy in the state of Utah.
As for Steven, he mixed it up a little bit. Here are his Top-5 moments.
5 - Kelvin York rushing for 132-yards and 2 touchdowns in the win against Colorado, while in the same game Dres Anderson crossed the 1,000-yard mark on the season in receiving yards, the first since David Reed in 2009.
4 - Jordan Loveridge drops 21-points against the Team Down South in the dominating victory. Loveridge himself may have single handily turned the momentum of the rivalry.
3 - Utah blows out the Team Down South at the Huntsman Center. In the victory Utah shut down WCC Player of the Year Tyler Haws, and in front of a rejuvenated, rowdy Huntsman Center crowd.
2 - Utah upsets Stanford at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Beating the #5 team in the country gave Utah their signature Pac-12 win.
1 - Utah gymnastics finally wins a Pac-12 championship. After two years of frustrating Pac-12 championship meets, the Red Rocks finally got the conference championship monkey off their backs.
And finally, here are my Top-5 for this past year.
I cheated, I had a honorable mention...
Honorable Mention - Travis Wilson's video game like performance against Oregon State. He tallied 279-passing yards and 147-rushing yards, giving him 426 total yards in the game. He also had three rushing touchdowns and two passing touchdowns, many of which came in the second half to erase a deficit and take the lead over the Beavers. While he did have three interceptions (two of which were not his fault), he single handily erased a bad defensive performance by Utah on that night, giving the Utes a chance to win.
5 - Trevor Reilly bringing his daughter out on the field on senior day, and capping off his day with the game winning interception to finish his Utah career.
4 - Beating the Team Down South in football. There was a lot on the line bragging rights wise in this game. For Utah it was an opportunity to win their fourth straight, sending the seniors out undefeated in the rivalry. Conversely for the Team Down South, their seniors were winless in the series, and this was their last chance to get a win. Whoever won this game also had two extra years of bragging rights, because of the incoming break in the series. Not to mention the game was in Provo, so winning down there made this a little sweeter for Utah, and extra bitter for the boys wearing royal blue.
3 - Beating the Team Down South in basketball, same reasons as above.
2 - Red Rocks winning the schools first Pac-12 title, same reasons as Steven.
1 - Beating Stanford at Rice-Eccles. When you combine the 50-yard touchdown catch by Dres Anderson on the 3rd down pass from Travis Wilson, the fantastic overall offensive game plan, and having a final stand in the fourth quarter to knock off the defending Pac-12 champs, that's a victory Ute fans will not soon forget.
So those are our Top-5 overall moments from 2013-2014. Make sure to listen or watch the podcast for our more in-depth discussion around our picks. Share with us in the comments below your Top-5 moments!
Don't want to watch, just listen? Here is the audio version:
Would you like to participate in a future recording of The U Fan Cast and share your thoughts, passion, and opinions? Email shane@theufancast.com or raven@theufancast.com and we'll get you on the show!
You can also subscribe to the podcast on iTunes! Click here!