1979 Utah Utes football team

1979 Western Athletic Conference football standings
	$ – Conference champion; Rankings from AP Poll

1979 Utah Utes football
1979 Utah Utes football
Conference	Western Athletic Conference
1979 record	6–6 (5–2 WAC)
Head coach	Wayne Howard (3rd season);
Offensive coordinator	Ron McBride (3rd season)
Defensive coordinator	Tom Gadd (3rd season)
Home stadium	Rice Stadium
	Seasons ← 1978 1980 →

The 1979 Utah Utes football team was an American football team that represented the University of Utah during the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. Head coach Wayne Howard led the team to a 5–2 mark in the WAC and 6–6 overall.

Schedule[]

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance
September 1	7:30 pm	Long Beach State*	Rice Stadium Salt Lake City	W 34–10	26,238^[1]
September 8	11:30 pm	at Hawaii	Aloha Stadium Honolulu, HI	W 27–23	41,511^[1]
September 15	2:30 pm	at No. 14 Washington*	Husky Stadium Seattle	L 7–41	49,416^[1]
September 22	5:30 pm	at Tennessee*	Neyland Stadium Knoxville, Tennessee	L 18–51	85,783^[1]
September 29	7:30 pm	Utah State*	Rice Stadium Salt Lake City (rivalry)	L 21–47	31,108^[1]
October 6	1:30 pm	at Colorado State	Hughes Stadium Fort Collins, Colorado	W 21–16	27,257^[1]
October 13	7:30 pm	Wyoming	Rice Stadium Salt Lake City	W 24–14	25,258^[1]
October 20	7:30 pm	at UNLV*	Las Vegas Silver Bowl Paradise, Nevada	L 41–43	24,782^[1]
October 27	1:30 pm	San Diego State	Rice Stadium Salt Lake City	L 13–17	22,196^[1]
November 3	4:00 pm	at New Mexico	University Stadium Albuquerque, New Mexico	W 26–7	19,093^[1]
November 10	1:30 pm	UTEP	Rice Stadium Salt Lake City	W 35–0	25,016^[1]
November 17	1:30 pm	at No. 10 BYU	Cougar Stadium Provo, Utah (rivalry)	L 0–27	40,236^[1]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

1979 Utah Utes football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
TE	`82`	Steve Folsom	Jr
G	`68`	Darryl Haley	So
QB	`10`	Floyd Hodge	Jr
G	`64`	Dean Miraldi	Jr
RB	`33`	Del Rodgers	So
RB	`11`	Lewis Walker	Sr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
DT	`99`	Steve Clark	So
DB	`1`	Jeff Griffin	Jr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class

One player went in the 1980 NFL Draft.

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL Club
Lewis Walker	Running Back	10	268	Washington Redskins

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l "1980 Utah Football Media Guide". University of Utah Athletic Department. Archived from the original on 2012-12-15. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
^ "Ute Record Book" (PDF). University of Utah. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
^ "1979 record". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on 2012-10-14. Retrieved 2009-09-24.

v t Utah Utes football
Venues	Robert Rice Stadium (1927–97) Rice–Eccles Stadium (1998–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games BYU: Holy War (Beehive Boot) Colorado: Rumble in the Rockies Utah State: Battle of the Brothers (Beehive Boot)
Culture & lore	Swoop "Utah Man" Pride of Utah Utah pass
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
National championship seasons in bold

1979 Western Athletic Conference football standings
v t	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 13 BYU $	7	–	0	–	0	11	–	1	–	0
Utah	5	–	2	–	0	6	–	6	–	0
San Diego State	4	–	2	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
Hawaii	3	–	3	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
New Mexico	3	–	4	–	0	6	–	6	–	0
Colorado State	3	–	4	–	0	4	–	7	–	1
Wyoming	2	–	5	–	0	4	–	8	–	0
UTEP	0	–	7	–	0	2	–	9	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll