utah utes

Homepage www.UtahUtes.com

The Utah Utes are the athletics teams of the University of Utah. They are named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans. The men's basketball team is known as the "Runnin' Utes"; the women's basketball team, formerly known as the "Lady Utes," now prefers to be referred to as the "Utes"; and the women's gymnastics team is known as the "Red Rocks." Contents [hide] 1 Football 1.1 Conference championships 1.2 Bowl games 2 Men's basketball 2.1 Conference Championships 2.2 Post-season tournaments 3 Women's basketball 4 Women's Gymnastics 4.1 Post-season History 5 Skiing 6 Fight Song 7 See also 8 External links 9 References //

Football

Main article: Utah Utes football

The University of Utah college football program began in 1892 and has played home games at Rice-Eccles Stadium since 1927. The Utes have a record of 11-3 (.786) in bowl games, which is the highest percentage in the nation for teams who have been to more than 10 bowls. They have won 26 conference championships, including six in a row from 1928 to 1933 when they were part of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Rice-Eccles Stadium

After a 28-year stretch of not playing in a bowl game, Utah football experienced a resurgence in the early 1990s under head coach Ron McBride. The Utes played Washington State in the 1992 Copper Bowl, losing to the Cougars 31-28, and reached their peak under McBride when they finished the 1994 season ranked 10th in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and recorded a 16-13 victory over Arizona in the Freedom Bowl. The team has won their last eight bowl games -- making their bowl winning streak the longest in the nation -- and are the only Mountain West Conference (MWC) team to play in a BCS bowl.

The Utes have a 76-33 (.697) record since the beginning of the 2000 season. Along the way, Utah engineered an 18-game winning streak and went to bowl games all three seasons, winning all three. They also produced the best season in school history in 2004, when the Utes were 12-0 and became the first school from a non-Bowl Championship Series conference to play in a BCS bowl game. The Utes played the Big East Conference champion University of Pittsburgh Panthers in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl, winning 35-7. The Utes finished the season ranked #4 in the AP poll. Later that year Alex Smith, who was Utah's quarterback for the 2003 and 2004 seasons, was drafted #1 by the San Francisco 49ers in the 2005 NFL Draft. He became the first player in the state of Utah to ever be drafted first. This culminated in the University of Utah becoming the first school