If I told you a team with two consecutive conference titles was written off early in the season because of an injury to their star quarterback but found a way to reach 6-1 with multiple ranked wins, you’d probably groan about the inevitability of it all. You’d conjure images of Alabama in your head, or maybe Clemson‘s decade of dominance in the ACC, a broken record always destined to end atop the mountain no matter how the season transpires.
If I told you Utah would win the Pac-12 again, would you have the same reaction?
Yes, we’re a long way from the Utes taking the conference crown for a third straight year. They need to get through Oregon this weekend first, and it’s been confirmed that quarterback Cam Rising isn’t playing this season. ESPN FPI still has Utah with just a 7.7% chance to win the conference.
But Kyle Whittingham’s squad has the 10th-best strength of record in the country. The Utes are allowing 15.0 points per game, behind only UCLA in the conference, and that number only increases to 20.0 points per game against ranked opponents. Only 11 teams in the country are allowing 20.0 points per game or fewer to ranked opponents, and Utah is the only one of them that has played more than two ranked teams. The Utes are the nation’s No. 6 rushing defense and have a top-50 aerial defense to boot.
We’ve grown so used to Utah, which plays a physical brand of football mostly unseen among today’s top programs, taking it to playoff teams that it’s become a punchline.
I’m gonna enjoy pushing the winner of Oregon/Washington as a legit national title contender for three weeks or so before Utah beats them to death with a hammer and lets a second SEC team in
— Steven Godfrey (@38Godfrey) October 14, 2023
While there are certainly worse reputations to have in football, this is a team with back-to-back Rose Bowl appearances. They ended the USC playoff dream last year with a 47-24 beatdown, their second win of the season over the Trojans. Two years ago, when Oregon beat Ohio State in September, the Ducks were 9-1 and the No. 4 team in the country when they came to Utah. The Utes beat them 38-7, then beat them again 38-10 in the conference title game just for good measure.
The Utes get Oregon at home again this weekend, where they have a 27-game win streak. The Ducks are probably the most complete team in the Pac-12, top 20 in the nation both offensively and defensively. Utah is averaging just 23.4 points per game, probably not enough to do any serious damage or garner any playoff buzz even if they win out. But with Washington the only defeated team left in the conference and looking mighty mortal against Arizona State, why not the Utes?
If that home win streak extends to 28 on Saturday? Don’t say we didn’t warn you.