3. Utah Utes (55 wins)
Yeah, it really is possible to go from being a great Group of Five program to a top-shelf Power Fiver.
TCU was on this list last year – and came within a questionable ruling and decision of getting into the 2014 College Football Playoff – and Utah has been able to rise up from the pack to be the winningest Pac-12 South program over the last six seasons.
USC might be splashier, but it has 51 wins over the last six seasons to Utah’s 55.
[lawrence-related id=507184]
The Utes have won nine games or more in five of the last six years, and it came within a Pac-12 Championship win last season of probably getting the No. 4 seed and the right to deal with LSU. And to think, this whole step up in weight class didn’t appear to be going so well.
A Mountain West superstar, Utah left for the Pac-10 and joined Colorado to make it the Pac-12 in 2011. Three years later, there was concerns about whether or not the program could hack it, going 18-19 before breaking out in 2014.
The Pac-12 is still very, very gettable. The South still stinks, so if Utah can make it three runs in a row to the championship, get there at 11-1, and win it this time around, it might finally get over the hump and be one of the strongest stories of the CFP era.