In Utah’s first three years as a Pac-12 affiliate, they lost 19 conference games. The six years since? Just 21 losses—and 33 wins. With Utah’s victory over UCLA, the Utes are now .500 against Pac-12 opponents since joining the conference.
The Utes won a grand total of eight conference games their first three seasons in the Pac-12. If the Utes come away with victories in their final two games of the regular season, as they’re heavily favored to do, they’d have seen as much success against Pac-12 teams in 2019 as they saw from 2011 to 2013.
Saturday night in Tucson, the Utes will have an opportunity to reach 41-40 in Pac-12 play. After so many early growing pains, and the meteoric rise to dominance that followed, how can you come away with anything other than admiration for Kyle Whittingham’s Utes?
Last Week’s Questions
First thing’s first… how does Utah beat UCLA?
Seemingly contradicting the 49-3 final score, UCLA actually moved the ball relatively well against Utah’s defense. Joshua Kelley ran for 78 yards, and Dorian Thompson-Robinson was able to scramble for some nice games. The difference was Utah’s overwhelming, overpowering defensive front. The defense combined for five sacks, 10 tackles for loss, and five turnovers. Result being? Four trips to the redzone, three points.
How does Utah improve its perception to CFP and AP voters?
A 46-point victory definitely will resonate with the Sunday box score crowd. But a primetime, 8:00 p.m. EST kickoff was a perfect opportunity for the Utes to showcase their dominant offense and defense. Couldn’t have asked for a better outcome or margin.
How do the Utes get into the College Football Playoff?
With Georgia beating Auburn (why does Georgia’s home loss to South Carolina get less attention than Oregon’s loss to Auburn?), that gives the Bulldogs three wins against top 25 teams. It would spell disaster for the Pac-12 CFP candidates if Georgia beats LSU in the SEC Championship game.
A scenario of 12-1 LSU (win over no. 3 Alabama) , 12-1 Georgia (win over no. 1 LSU) would give the committee enough cause to leave Oregon or Utah out of the picture. Best case scenario would be for LSU to win out, giving the SEC only one legitimate candidate for the playoffs. With Tua Tagovailoa out for the season and the committee considering injuries into their rankings, Alabama is essentially a lame duck at no. 5 in the country.
This Week’s Questions
Another offensive surge incoming?
The Arizona Wildcats have a really bad defense. As in 7th worse in the country bad, giving up 37 points per game. Arizona has given up 17 to UCLA (3 versus Utah), 51 to Washington (28 versus Utah), 41 to USC (30 versus Utah) and 56 to Oregon State (7 versus Utah). Among those common opponents, Arizona has yielded 25 more points per game than the Utes.
Arizona’s 480 yards allowed per game is the worst in the Pac-12—the Utes are first in that category at 248 yards per game. They have been decent at forcing interceptions (10), though it’ll take much more than forcing a couple turnovers from stopping Andy Ludwig’s efficiently run offense.
Catch 22: Run up the score or avoid injury?
When Tua Tagovailoa went into the game for his final drive before his terrible hip dislocation, Alabama had a four touchdown lead before halftime. Sitting at no. 5 in the country and virtually no chance of winning their division over LSU, Alabama needed to make a statement to stay in the playoff hunt.
In a perfect world, playoff contenders would be decided on the field, and the “eye test” wouldn’t be needed to determine who gets in (8 team playoff anyone?). With Utah sitting outside looking in the playoff hunt, they’ll unfortunately need to keep the starters in on both sides longer than necessary to continue to make an impression, though coaches also need to be self aware about potential harm to starters.
New Mayor of Sack Lake City?
Bradlee Anae’s 26.5 career sacks are just 3 behind Hunter Dimick’s all-time Ute record of 29.5. Arizona has a porous, depleted offensive line, which is a great opportunity for Anae to collect more sacks to be crowned the new Mayor of Sack Lake City.
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