Kyle Whittingham talks QB situation, Money Parks out for season, rivalry game and more

Another week has brought about more questions surrounding the quarterback situation for Utah.
When Kyle Whittingham met with reporters Tuesday during his lone media session of the bye week, the first handful of questions revolved around the position — and for good reason.
In Utah’s 17-14 loss to Houston last Saturday — the Utes’ fourth straight defeat — true freshman Isaac Wilson was replaced in the third quarter by Brandon Rose.
It was a move, Whittingham said postgame, that Utah coaches hoped would help provide a spark for an offense that has averaged 12.5 points per game during the losing streak.
That spark didn’t come — both quarterbacks led the Utes on one touchdown drive each, which wasn’t enough after the Cougars overcame a 14-7 third-quarter deficit and scored the game-winning field goal as time expired.
Wilson, who has started five games this season, completed 13 of 22 passes for 171 yards with one touchdown, while he also lost a fumble.
Rose completed 7 of 15 passes for 45 yards and an interception — his pick set up Houston near midfield with just under two minutes to play and led to the game-winning field goal.
Now that the Utes are on a bye ahead of their rivalry matchup with BYU on Nov. 9 at Rice-Eccles Stadium, Whittingham said both Wilson and Rose will split reps during practice this week.
“We’re gonna evaluate this week. There’s two guys in the running obviously, Isaac Wilson and Brandon Rose, taking equal reps this week and we’ll see where it goes from there,” Whittingham said Tuesday.
Whittingham didn’t necessarily attribute Wilson’s struggles to injury — the quarterback endured several big hits during the loss to Houston and briefly left the game in the second quarter after taking a shot in Utah’s end zone.
“You know, he’s been pretty banged up this year, but he’s a tough kid,” Whittingham said. “He wants to be out there, and so if you’re out there, you’ve got to perform.”
Utah’s coach did bemoan the Utes’ performance in the run game against Houston — both how Utah ran it and how the team defended it.
“In this past game, we didn’t run the ball well enough. We didn’t defend the run well enough,” Whittingham said, about a game where Utah ran for 90 yards and gave up 228 yards on the ground. “We lost the turnover margin again, which has been a theme for this year, left some points out there by missing a couple field goals. It was a combination of four or five things that we didn’t do as well as we could have.”
Whittingham also confirmed the Utes will be without one of their offensive playmakers, wide receiver Money Parks, the rest of the season. Parks left the Houston game with an injury in the second quarter and didn’t return to the contest.
“Money’s gone for the season, season-ending injury. I feel bad for Money, he’s been with us for a lot of years and done a lot of good things. But he’s out for the rest of the year,” Whittingham said.
The senior finished the season with 21 receptions for 294 yards and three touchdowns, and also had seven kickoff returns on the year, with a 17.29-per return average.
BYU is currently ranked No. 9 in The Associated Press rankings and is undefeated, with an 8-0 record.
That’s the type of season the Utes were hoping for, though now the Utes and Cougars have swapped places from their preseason expectations — Utah was the Big 12 preseason favorite, while BYU was picked to finish 13th.
A win on Nov. 9 wouldn’t just give Utah its 10th in the series in the past 11 matchups — though the 4-4 Utes are sure to be the underdogs — it would provide a much-needed spark for a season that’s gone sideways.
“It would be a big help. Obviously, it’s, you know, we’re in desperate need of a win. There’s no doubt about that. We’ve had four in a row now, and the average margin is about a touchdown, so it’s not like we’re not competing,” Whittingham said. “Our guys are playing hard. They’re practicing well, today is one of our best practices. There’s just things that we’ve got to get better at, particularly on the offensive side of the ball.”
While it’s been two weeks since Whittingham confirmed seventh-year quarterback Cam Rising was lost for the season following Utah’s loss to Arizona State, his future is still on the minds of people surrounding the program — Rising could potentially come back for an eighth season if he so chooses to pursue that route.
“That’s totally in Cam’s court. The ball is in his court, and he is looking at a surgery next week, most likely,” Whittingham said. “And so, he’s got time to think about that and decide what he wants to do and you have to ask him to, you know if he wants to shed a little light on that (the decision to return or not).”