updated 2:02 a.m. ET Jan. 2, 2005

TEMPE, Ariz. - Utah’s defense shared the spotlight with the offense this time and gave Urban Meyer a spectacular sendoff.

In the biggest game of Utah’s perfect season and Meyer’s finale, the Utes set a Fiesta Bowl record with nine sacks and overpowered Pittsburgh 35-7 Saturday night.

“Not very often do you get a chance to be 12-0,” Meyer said. “It’s going to be hard to say goodbye, but we’re saying goodbye 12-0.”

And apparently leaving the team in good hands. Defensive coordinator Kyle Whittingham is replacing Meyer, who went 22-2 in two seasons at Utah and is taking over at Florida.

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Whittingham’s defense had one of its best games of the season, pressuring Pittsburgh’s Tyler Palko the entire game, and their nine sacks complemented another impressive night by Heisman Trophy finalist Alex Smith and the explosive Utah offense.

Utah’s previous high for sacks in a game this season was four, and the Utes had that many in the first half.

“Our front has been physical all year long. We won the line of scrimmage battle virtually every game we were in this year, so we had a good idea that we matched up pretty well,” Whittingham said.

The performance also assured Meyer that the foundation he and Whittingham built in just two years shouldn’t crumble.

Meyer led the Utes to their first unbeaten, untied season since 1930, and is leaving after helping Utah become the first team from outside the six BCS conferences to force its way into a Bowl Championship Series game.

“It is emotional but it’s not quite near as emotional (as) if I knew it were ending,” Meyer said. “It’s not going to end.”

The announced crowd of 73,519 was largely red-clad fans who made the 700-mile trip south from Salt Lake City to see Utah in its BCS debut. The stadium holds nearly twice as many fans as Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium and the “home” crowd was easily the biggest the Utes played before this season.

And the faithful had plenty to cheer — on both sides of the ball.

Steve Fafita was selected as the defensive MVP after two tackles for a loss, including a sack. Tommy Hackenbruck was credited with three sacks, capping the night by getting Palko on fourth-and-10 late in the fourth quarter. Marquess Ledbetter added two more sacks for the Utes, who broke the Fiesta Bowl record of seven held by Nebraska (1996) and Colorado (1995).

Pittsburgh gained just 26 yards on 29 carries and finished with 276 total yards. The Panthers’ only score came on Greg Lee’s 31-yard touchdown catch with 4:28 left in the third quarter. Palko released the ball just before Utah’s Eric Weddle wrapped his legs and took him down.

And if it weren’t for Palko’s scrambling, it would have been a bigger rout. Palko avoided several sacks after the Utes quickly broke through Pitt’s scattered protection. But he could only run so far.

“When you have an offense like that, you can be a little more aggressive,” said Palko, who completed 22 of 40 passes for 251 yards. “They have a high-powered offense and if they give up a big play, their offense will most likely get it back for them.”

After Utah took a 21-0 lead on Smith’s 18-yard shovel pass to Marty Johnson early in the third quarter, Fafita chased down Palko on third-and-5 deep in Pittsburgh territory for a loss of 12 yards.

Utah got the ball back at its own 48 and quickly scored again on a 23-yard pass from Smith to Paris Warren. Warren added another touchdown off a lateral late in the third quarter to just about put away the Panthers.

And the way Utah’s defense was playing, that was more than enough.

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