University of Utah head football coach Kyle Whittingham picked up his 100th career win with a 36-23 come-from-behind victory over the Arizona Wildcats at Rice-Eccles Stadium Saturday night.

Quarterback Troy Williams threw for 245 yards and a touchdown and ran for another as the 24th-ranked Utes (5-1, 2-1 Pac-12) rolled off 24 points in the second half to take control of the game.

The win ended Arizona’s (2-4, 0-3 Pac-12) four-game winning streak in the series. The Wildcats looked like that were going to win five-straight after scoring on a 75-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the game.

But the Ute defense stepped up and they forced a safety late in the second quarter to completely turn the game around.

Safety Chase Hansen had a huge hit in the middle of the third quarter and Marcus Williams made an incredible interception on the same play to thwart any comeback attempt made by the Wildcats.

With the win, Whittingham was honored after the game with a special video tribute highlighting his victories over the years. Whittingham is now just one of only 24 active college head coaches with at least 100 career victories.

“I’ve had the opportunity to have a lot of good players and a lot of good teams,” Whittingham told reporters after the game. “I appreciate them all and I’ve been here as the head coach for 12 years and it just means we’ve had a lot of good players come through this program.”

After the game, players presented Whittingham with a special jersey (No. 100) to honor his milestone.

The chase to 100

After Urban Meyer left for Florida in 2005, Whittingham earned his first-ever victory in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl where the Utes destroyed the Pittsburgh Panthers 35-7. His first regular season victory came against Arizona which ironically enough was the team he just beat to earn win No. 100.

During his 12 years at the helm, Whittingham has guided his teams to a 9-1 bowl record to give him the best bowl win percentage in NCAA history. He was also named the Coach of the Year in 2008 when the Utes went undefeated and beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.

Whittingham is the second winningest head coach at Utah behind Ike Armstrong (141-55-15). But at the same time, Whittingham has been a part of the most wins (185) in school history since joining as an assistant coach back in 1994.

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