Recapping Lone Matchup Between MSU's Fitzgerald, UM's Whittingham

The 2026 season will be the second time in three years that both Michigan State and Michigan will have first-year head coaches.

Both MSU and UM essentially hired the most experienced candidate possible. The Spartans went and got Pat Fitzgerald, the former head coach at Northwestern for 17 years. The Wolverines chose Kyle Whittingham, who had been the head coach at Utah for 21 seasons, with 15 of those seasons at the Power Five/Four level.

Sep 27, 2025; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; Utah Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham walks along the sidelines during the second quarter against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

The tenures of these two coaches at their respective previous schools overlapped nearly entirely. Whittingham became the full-time head coach of the Utes in 2005; Fitzgerald took over his Wildcats the following year.

During that long overlap, these two coaches, who helped transform and raise the standards of their schools, met once: the 2018 Holiday Bowl. Here's how the game went:

Game Recap

Kyle Whittingham, Pat Fitzgerald — Dec 31, 2018; San Diego, CA, United States; Northwestern Wildcats head coach Pat Fitzgerald (left) and Utah Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham talk during the 2018 Holiday Bowl at SDCCU Stadium. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Northwestern entered the game 8-5 and 22nd in the CFP rankings, having won the Big Ten West. The Wildcats gave No. 6 Ohio State a good fight in that conference title game, too, being within three points during the third quarter and within seven during the fourth quarter.

Utah entered ranked 17th with a 9-4 record, also finishing as the runner-up in its own conference. The Utes had lost the Pac-12 championship game to then-No. 11 Washington, 10-3.

The first half of the game was entirely dominated by Utah. Northwestern's offense was lousy during the first and second quarters, while the Utes' offense and defense settled in. ESPN's win expectancy graph gave Utah a 95.3% chance at victory at halftime, as the Utes held a commanding 20-3 lead.

Then the third quarter began. If Utah dominated the first half, the Wildcats sent the Utes to the Earth's core in the third. Northwestern outscored Utah 28-0 over those 15 minutes, forcing four turnovers and scoring touchdowns on three of its four offensive drives (one turnover was a scoop-and-score).

Dec 31, 2018; San Diego, CA, United States; Northwestern Wildcats wide receiver Riley Lees (19) carries the ball on a 8-yard touchdown run in the third quarter against the Utah Utes in the 2018 Holiday Bowl at SDCCU Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Suddenly, the Utes were shell-shocked. The Wildcats kept getting stop after stop in the fourth quarter, forcing another turnover in between, and wound up winning a game where they were down 17 at halftime by 11 points.

This game is really one of the best in Fitzgerald's career at Northwestern. He had five seasons in his 17 years leading the program where he led the Wildcats to a top-25 finish, and this is one of them. Again, the program record at Northwestern for single-season wins is 10 --- Fitzgerald did this three times --- so getting to nine is a big deal.

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