2011 Utah Utes football team The 2011 Utah Utes football team represented the University of Utah in the 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season . The team was coached by seventh year head coach Kyle Whittingham and played their home games in Rice – Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City , Utah . After playing the previous 12 seasons in the Mountain West Conference , this was Utah ' s first season in the new Pacific - 12 Conference in the South Division . They are the first former " BCS Buster " to join a BCS conference . They finished the season 8 – 5 , 4 – 5 to finish in a tie for third place in the South Division . They were invited to the Sun Bowl where they defeated Georgia Tech 30 – 27 in overtime . Before the season . The Pac - 12 media picked Utah to finish third in the South Division . Four media members ( out of 42 total ) voted Utah first in the division . The media picked USC to finish first , but USC will be ineligible for the inaugural Pac - 12 Championship Game due to NCAA sanctions . Arizona State came in second , and Arizona , UCLA , and Colorado finished fourth , fifth , and sixth , respectively , in the South Division voting . The media also picked Oregon to win the North Division with 29 first place votes , and to win the Pac - 12 Championship Game and thus be the Pac - 12 Champion . Coaching changes . Kyle Whittingham made a few changes to his coaching staff for the 2011 season . Prior to Utah ' s appearance in the 2010 Maaco Bowl Las Vegas defensive line coach John Pease retired from coaching . During the offseason , Whittingham replaced Pease with Chad Kauhaahaa , a second team all - WAC defensive lineman for Utah in 1996 . The previous two seasons he had been the defensive line coach for Utah State . The Utes also hired Norm Chow to be the Offensive coordinator and coach the tight end s . He had been an offensive coordinator at UCLA the three previous seasons . In 2002 , when he was the offensive coordinator at USC , Norm Chow won the Broyles Award . Former co - offensive coordinators Aaron Roderick and Dave Schramm were reassigned to coach different positions in the offense . They will coach the receivers and the running back s , respectively , positions they have both previously coached for the program . Finally , Whittingham hired Tim Davis to coach the offensive line . Davis replaces Blake Miller who left the program to coach the same position with Memphis . Davis coached the offensive line the previous three seasons at Minnesota and has had a prior stint as Utah ' s offensive line coach 1990 – 1996 and worked under Chow at USC 2002 – 2004 . Move to the Pac - 12 . During the 2010 offseason , Utah successfully negotiated to join the Pacific - 10 Conference ( Pac - 10 ) for all sports , including football . Utah , along with Colorado , officially joined the Pac - 10 on July 1 , 2011 to form the Pacific - 12 Conference ( Pac - 12 ) . The previous 12 seasons , Utah competed in the Mountain West Conference . Game notes . Montana State . Sources : Utah leads series : 10 – 0 Utah played Montana State for the 10th time on September 1 . Entering the game , Utah had beaten Montana State in all of their nine games , all but one of which have been played in Salt Lake City . During those nine contests , the Utes outscored the Bobcats 455 – 25 . Utah once again beat Montana State in their 2011 meeting . Utah built a 24 – 0 lead with a little less than 12 minutes remaining in the second quarter , and then scored 3 points the rest of the game to win 27 – 10 . The Utes finished with 101 passing yards on 15 - of - 23 passing by quarterback Jordan Wynn . Running back John White finished with 150 yards rushing to lead the Utes . Linebacker Brian Blechen set - up Utah ' s first touchdown when he returned an interception 39 - yards to the 8 - yard line ; Montana State quarterback DeNarius McGhee threw the errant pass . Three plays later , Wynn connected with wide receiver DeVonte Christopher for the touchdown . Montana State punted on their next possession , and Utah ' s offense had its second scoring drive . This one resulted in a 5 - yard touchdown pass from Wynn to White ; the drive took nine plays and gained 62 yards . Utah blocked MSU ' s next punt . Montana State blockers flipped Utah lineback Matt Martinez into the air , which caused Martinez to block the punt with his feet . The ensuing Utah possession resulted in a field goal ; kicker Coleman Petersen successfully booted a 37 - yard attempt . Following Montana State ' s third punt of the game , Utah had a nine - play , 59 - yard touchdown drive for their last touchdown of the evening . Montana State scored their only touchdown of the evening with 35 seconds remaining in the first half . McGhee passed to receiver Tanner Bleskin for a 7 - yard touchdown reception . Each team only scored a field goal in the second half for the final 27 – 10 score . USC . Sources : Utah trails series : 3 – 7 BYU . Sources : Utah leads series : 55 – 34 – 4 Washington . Sources : Utah trails series : 0 – 7 Arizona State . Sources : Utah trails series : 6 – 17 Pittsburgh . Sources : Utah leads series : 3 – 0 California . Sources : Utah trails series : 3 – 5 Oregon State . Sources : Utah trails series : 6 – 9 – 1 Arizona . Sources : Utah leads series : 20 – 15 – 2 UCLA . Sources : Utah trails series : 2 – 8 Washington State . Sources : Utah leads series : 6 – 5 Colorado . Sources : Utah trails series : 24 – 31 – 3 Georgia Tech – Sun Bowl . Utah leads series : 2 – 0