Tag: Utah Utes football

Big 12 predictions for week 2: Pac-12 powers come to Texas, Longhorns travel to Alabama

Alabama vs. Texas and three nonconference games with the Pac-12 highlight the Week 2 Big 12 predictions.

This weekend’s nonconference slate in the Big 12 is a lot of fun. The Texas Longhorns travel to Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama while Baylor, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State have matchups with the Pac-12. Cincinnati reunites with an old Big East foe. Last but not least (though offense might provide the least) is an in-state rivalry game on top of all of the other action for this weekend.

There are a lot of fun matchups to keep you tuned in to Big 12 action this weekend. But who comes out on top? Check out this week’s Big 12 predictions.

 

When Pac-12 teams leave in 2024, how will the Big 12 be different?

How will the departure of the Four Corners schools — ASU, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado — change the Big 12?

Our friends at Buffaloes Wire are heading to the Big 12 next year. When they get there, whom will they want to play the most in their new (old) conference?

Buffaloes Wire wrote the following:

“The Big 12 that Colorado will be rejoining in 2024 is a vastly different conference than the one Buffs fans remember from 13 years ago. Missouri and Texas A&M are now in the SEC, and Texas and Oklahoma are set to follow after this year.”

Buffs Wire added that the old Big 12 rivalry with Kansas State “picked up some steam in the late 1990s and early 2000s with several close games coming between the two teams. Although Colorado hasn’t faced its old conference rival since 2010, I’m confident that this matchup will pick up right where it left off.

“Our Tony Cosolo included Kansas State in his list of Colorado’s five best football rivalries.”

We asked Colorado and Oregon experts, plus our own staff at Trojans Wire, the following question:

“Will Colorado-Utah become the biggest game of every Big 12 season, with everyone else fighting for third or fourth place?”

Let’s give you the answers from our panel:

Comments by Utah coach Kyle Whittingham on realignment have everyone talking

Before the ACC votes on adding #Stanford, #Cal, and #SMU, #Utah’s football coach wondered how permanent all of this will be.

A few days ago, Utah football head coach Kyle Whittingham made some newsworthy remarks in a conversation with Utah-based radio host and podcaster Spence Checketts.

Whittingham was discussing the future of the BYU-Utah football rivalry, but what he said about that game also flowed into the larger discussion of college sports conference realignment.

It’s a much longer conversation, so you will want to listen to the full show to get the complete context. That said, this one paragraph is impossible to ignore. It reasonably caused a stir:

“Well, first of all, you use the word permanently, and I can say it’s far from that,” Whittingham said. “I think in two-to-three, maybe five years at the outside, everything is gonna change again. And so this may be just a quick couple years of the game (BYU-Utah) returning, and then everything is blown up again and people go their separate ways.”

Since BYU-Utah will be a conference game in the Big 12, people will obviously wonder what Whittingham thinks about the structure of conference realignment in several years. It is reasonable to think that a lot of changes (Florida State and Clemson to the SEC, for example) will occur. How far these changes spread is obviously something we’ll all wonder about.

Let’s gather some reactions to Whittingham’s comments and then make a few extra points at the very end:

Twitter reaction to Utah joining Big 12 as the Pac-12 turns out the lights

Utah joins BYU in the same conference over a decade after the two schools coexisted in the Mountain West. #SPICY

“Turn out the lights. The party’s over. They say that all good things must end. Call it a night. The party’s over. And tomorrow starts the same old thing again.”

If you’re old enough to recognize those lyrics, chances are you heard them on Monday Night Football, when Don Meredith pronounced a game as being done and dusted on ABC television.

The Pac-12 is turning out the lights. The party is over. The Conference of Champions is effectively done. The conference is down to four schools: Stanford, Cal, Oregon State and Washington State, after five schools jumped ship on an historic Friday. Utah followed Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, and Washington out the door. While Oregon and Washington moved to the Big Ten, Utah joined Arizona and ASU in going to the Big 12 to form a 16-school conference. The Utes, Wildcats and Sun Devils quickly reunited with Colorado days after the Buffaloes began this domino effect.

Social media reaction was explosive, as you could well imagine. Emotions ran high. Here is a sampling of what went down on a landmark day in college sports:

Twitter reaction to Kyle Whittingham’s fashion choice at Pac-12 media day

The new-look Kyle Whittingham drew plenty of comments in Las Vegas. #Utah #Pac12

Everyone who follows Pac-12 football was blown away by Kyle Whittingham at Pac-12 media day on Friday. Whittingham, among all the Pac-12 coaches, was the star of the show. Both in his appearance and in his comments, Whittingham made the biggest splash and made the most news at this one-day event in Las Vegas.

We noted in a separate article that Whittingham’s views of the relationship between offense and defense have evolved.

““I believe you’ve got to have a quality defense to compete for a championship, but if you look at the analytics, offense has really taken the forefront for what is more conducive to winning football games. I think it was, offense is responsible for 50 percent of your outcome, defense 35 percent and special teams 15 percent. In that regard, in order to win a championship, you better be pretty good on offense,” Whittingham said.

This is a new-look Whittingham, and that new look manifested itself with a choice of wardrobe which had everyone talking, as you’ll see below:

Kyle Whittingham surprised everyone at Pac-12 media day

Everyone who watched or followed #Pac12 media day was amazed when Kyle Whittingham spoke about offense and defense.

There were plenty of notable storylines from Pac-12 media day. USC and UCLA partaking in their final one before leaving for the Big Ten had everybody buzzing.

Utah Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham, the man who has won back-to-back Pac-12 titles, offered up some interesting comments of his own, especially after Utah was picked to finish third in the preseason media poll.

Whittingham’s comments on the state of the game and how it’s an offense-driven game brought some attention as well (h/t Zach Barnett of Football Scoop).

“I believe you’ve got to have a quality defense to compete for a championship, but if you look at the analytics, offense has really taken the forefront for what is more conducive to winning football games. I think it was, offense is responsible for 50 percent of your outcome, defense 35 percent and special teams 15 percent. In that regard, in order to win a championship, you better be pretty good on offense.”

Cam Rising has returned, so the Utah offense is looking dangerous despite losing Dalton Kincaid to the NFL. Nonetheless, the USC Trojans’ offense is arguably the most loaded. Whittingham and the Utes might need to find a way to top them if they want to three-peat in the Pac-12.

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Twitter reaction to Commanders pick of Braeden Daniels at No. 118

Twitter reacts to Washington’s selection of Braeden Daniels.

After the Commanders started their 2023 NFL draft selecting back-to-back defensive backs, they have now chosen back-to-back offensive linemen.

In the first two rounds, they had chosen Emmanuel Forbes (16th overall) and Jartavius Martin (47th overall). Now they have determined to make additions at center and guard with Ricky Stromberg (97th overall) and Braeden Daniels (118th overall).

What was the Twitter reaction to the Commanders selecting the guard from Utah?

Utah Football Schedule 2023: Analysis, Breakdown, 3 Things To Know

Utah football schedule 2023. Analysis, breakdown, 3 things to know

Utah football schedule 2023: Who do the Utes miss on the Pac-12 schedule and what are 3 things to know?

Utah Football Schedule 2023: 3 Things To Know

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Aug 26 OPEN DATE

Sept 2 Florida

Sept 9 at Baylor

Sept 16 Weber State

Sept 23 UCLA

Sept 29 at Oregon State

Oct 7 OPEN DATE

Oct 14 Cal

Oct 21 at USC

Oct 28 Oregon

Nov 4 Arizona State

Nov 11 at Washington

Nov 18 at Arizona

Nov 25 Colorado

2023 College Football Rankings 1-133: First Look

Utah Football Schedule What To Know: Who do the Utes miss from the Pac-12 slate?

The two-time defending Pac-12 champs don’t get a whole lot of schedule breaks overall. Last year they didn’t get Cal, but they also caught a massive solid by not getting Washington.

This time around there’s no Washington State – that’s not a bad thing considering what a tough battle that was in a 21-17 Ute win last season – to go along with the horrible break …

No Stanford. This year, that’s the Pac-12 team you want to face. The Utes took it down 42-7 in 2022.

Utah Football Schedule What Really Matters

Cal is a home game, but the date with Huskies is up in Seattle in mid-November. That’s a problem made worse by the road game at USC and the trip to Corvallis to deal with a nasty Oregon State squad.

There might be back-to-back road games against Washington and Arizona in mid-November, but there are just four Pac-12 game away from Salt Lake City. Getting UCLA and Oregon at home helps.

Utah Football Schedule What To Know: What does it all really mean?

Give the Utes credit. They’re not shying away from a non-conference challenge (cough … UCLA … cough).

Now Florida has to deal with Rice-Eccles.

It was one of the better games of last season, and it came in the opener. Utah had the Gators in big, big trouble before Cam Rising’s late interception. That starts the season followed up by a trip to Baylor.

The overall schedule is just hard enough to keep the Utes from getting to the College Football Playoff – there are at least two losses in there somewhere – but it’s not nasty enough to keep them from playing for another Pac-12 championship.

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2023 College Football Schedules: All 131 Teams

Comparing Utah’s 2023 football schedule to USC

Can Utah three-peat? The #Pac12 gave the Utes a few really rough schedule elements, similar to USC. A Friday night game at Oregon State is very Larry Scott-ish.

The 2023 Pac-12 football schedule was released on Wednesday morning on the Pac-12 Network.

It will be the final year with USC and UCLA in the conference before the LA schools make the move to the Big Ten.

The Utah Utes are the back-to-back Pac-12 champions, and their schedule has some notable difficulties shared by USC and not shared by Oregon.

Can Utah three-peat in the Pac-12 with Cam Rising returning for one more year at quarterback?

Here is a look at the dates and opponents for Utah in 2023, including a trip to Southern California to face USC in a Pac-12 title game rematch on October 21, one week before they host the Oregon Ducks. That’s part of the profoundly rough road the Utes have:

Score predictions for major bowls, including Texas vs Washington

Oklahoma and Texas play bowls back-to-back on December 29.

The on-ramp to bowl season begins this week as the Bahamas Bowl and Cure Bowl begin the slate on games on December 16. More intriguing matchups as the postseason progresses.

Louisville and Cincinnati battle in what could be termed the Scott Satterfield Bowl. Cincinnati, who lost its head coach to the Wisconsin Badgers, poached Satterfield from its old Big East rival. The teams will play on December 17.

The same day, Florida and Oregon State will compete against each other in a surprisingly even matchup.

The best games begin on December 27 when Wisconsin faces Oklahoma State. The Cowboys will be a team to watch after an early portal exodus saw them lose Spencer Sanders and Trace Ford, top players on both sides of the football.

December 29 features a Red River double header on ESPN. At 4:30 the Oklahoma Sooners face the Florida State Seminoles. At 8, the Texas Longhorns take on the Washington Huskies.

Let’s predict some of bowl season’s biggest games.