Utah and USC both need to win on Saturday. Beyond that, they both need to show they still belong in the top tier of the Pac-12. It really does seem that Oregon and Washington have separated themselves from the rest of the conference.
No members of our Pac-12 football panel think USC has a realistic shot of beating Washington. Similarly, no one on our panel thinks Utah has a realistic chance of taking down the Huskies in a few weeks (in November):
Matt Zemek: “20 percent. Utah’s defense could stand on its head and have the game of the year. Kyle Whittingham’s defenses can do special things. That would be Utah’s one hope if Cam Rising can’t play. Utah would draw U-Dub into the slop and try to win a 17-16 type of game. However, the Utah offense would simply be unable to create enough separation from Washington over the course of 60 minutes.
Zachary Neel: Washington is too good on offense for the Utes to slow them down, and Washington’s defense is solid enough to stop a bad Utah offense.
Matt Wadleigh: Washington looks like the best team in the Pac-12, and Utah doesn’t have the offensive firepower it had last year. I got these odds at just 10%.
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Oklahoma fans were right about Lincoln Riley, at least for this specific season.
USC assistants need to be coaching for their jobs against Utah and into November.
Lincoln Riley did not assemble an elite 2023 roster, which surprised us and a lot of other observers.
Is USC ready to win in 2024 with Miller Moss or Malachi Nelson at quarterback? Lincoln Riley has to be honest about how he answers that question.
Brent Venables is coaching Oklahoma far better this year than Lincoln Riley is coaching USC. It’s up to Riley to change that reality against Utah.