Utah football: Bowl game could be statement game for Utes? D

El Paso, Texas ? Utah?s 2011 football season will not only be remembered for Utah?s inaugural experience in the Pac-12, but also for the way the defense carried the team in the absence of starting quarterback Jordan Wynn.

It?s fitting then that Utah?s defense gets one last chance to shine as the Utes face Georgia Tech (8-4) in the Sun Bowl Saturday.

The game kicks off at noon and will be televised by CBS.

Since the Yellow Jackets are the nation?s third best rushing team, averaging 316.8 yards a game, and Utah?s defense has a strong reputation for shutting down rushers, the Utes (7-5) view Saturday?s contest in Sun Bowl Stadium as a great chance to put their final stamp of ownership on the 2011 season.

"It?s an exciting offense and it can be hard to stop, but that?s why we like the challenge," safety Brian Blechen said. "You always want to stop the run and they are such a good running team, we?ve been working hard and watching film and getting ready for it. You can?t prepare enough for it."

In a testament to their team-mindfulness, Utah?s defenders are careful to give credit to Utah?s offense for games won this year as much as to themselves.

"There have been times when they?ve bailed us out too," linebacker Chaz Walker said.

Really, those times were scarce as the Utes? defense strives to own games.

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"If our offense can score 10 points, then our defense better hold [the opponent] to nine points or less," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. "That has always been our mentality, we want a shutout every game."

The Utes never got a shutout this year but do rank 18th nationally, giving up just 19.7 points a game. That is an impressive number on its own, but even more so given the number of turnovers and other struggles the Utes? offense had that put the defense in bad situations.

For a season that was anticipated to be all about Norm Chow?s new offense, 2011 was more of the same for the Utes as the defense shut down one team after another.

The only game the Utes had a poor defensive showing was in the 34-10 loss to Cal when the Utes gave up 384 yards, Whittingham said.

"The defense has played well from the onset, from Game 1 through Game 12," he said. "We?ve had very consistent football, at or near the top of all the major statistics and I attribute that to the attitude and work of the defensive players."

Others attribute it to the Utes? system, which was put in place by Whittingham?s father, Fred, and honed by his son.

It is so consistent that even Georgia Tech offensive coordinator Brian Bohannon, who was on Navy?s staff in 2007, sees similarities between the defense he played that day and the one his Georgia Tech team faces in the Sun Bowl.

"I left the field that day impressed with how tough they are and I don?t think it will be any different now," he said. "The personnel is different, but the scheme and the way they recruit, they are not going to change a whole lot."

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