Early win projections…

USC and Oregon are always ranked way higher than they should be at the beginning of a season. 

USC had a lot of high profile skill position transfers, but I really question their defense overall. I think USC is a year away. They’ll have a great season I expect, but they won’t go from last year’s 4-8 to winning the Pac-12 and being a playoff contender.  I expect them to be 8-4 or 9-3.  

Oregon is also in a transition period. I think they have more cohesion than USC and fewer questions, but won’t necessarily be better than last year. And if they can’t get solid to great QB play, they may not even win the North (*i.e have the best record of North teams considering the change to CG). 

Honestly, if Utah is going to make the playoff. This is the year to do it. NIL and paying players changes the game for Utah and I question whether Utah can even remotely compete in the future. All the pieces are in place for the Utes to do it and they should be the unquestionable favorit to win the Pac-12 this season.

I like it.  Why?  Because it puts our Utes back in the underdog role.  I hope USC and Utah both win all their games before the matchup on October 15th.  I hope USC is ranked in the top 5 and Utah is out of the top 10.  I think we play better with a chip on our shoulders. (But, if we are undefeated going into that game, I can’t see us being out of the top 10.)

BTW, on paper – Utah has the toughest schedule prior to the game.  USC’s toughest game may be ASU.  We play Florida, UCLA, and ASU.  We will have a tough road game at UCLA the week before the USC game.

Go Utes!!!