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Season-ending injuries to numerous key players have forced Utah to dig deep into the depth chart as the regular season winds down.
The Utes (7-4, 4-4 Pac-12) are thin at several positions going into their conference finale against Colorado in Salt Lake City on Saturday. Utah lost top defensive end Jonah Elliss to a season-ending injury before last week’s 42-18 loss to Arizona.
Karene Reid, a starting linebacker, and starting safety Cole Bishop were also out against the Wildcats. Both are questionable against the Buffaloes.
Without three key defensive leaders, Utah sputtered against Arizona. The Utes fell behind 28-0 after the first play of the second quarter and saw a six-game winning streak in the series end.
“We’ve got to accept the fact that they outplayed us, outcoached us and that’s that,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.
Nothing except bragging rights will be at stake between the two Rocky Mountain rivals. The Utes are assured a bowl game and Colorado will be spending the postseason at home after failing to qualify for a bowl.
The Buffaloes (4-7, 1-7) unraveled after a 3-0 start. Their struggles reached a new low in a 56-14 loss to Washington State last week. The Cougars scored touchdowns off a pair of fumble returns and a kickoff return to blow the game open.
Five of Colorado’s previous six games had been decided by seven points or less. That wasn’t in the cards against Washington State after Shedeur Sanders was knocked out with an early injury. Sanders, who was sacked four times by the Cougars, has been sacked 52 times this season.
“You give up two fumble returns for touchdowns and a kickoff return for a touchdown, that’s not the recipe for a win,” Colorado coach Deion Sanders said. “They executed early and executed often, and when they got Shedeur out of the game, it was tough sledding from then on.”
Utah has won six straight games against Colorado and leads the rivalry series 34-32-3.
–Field Level Media