Rose Bowl: There is some chatter among Utah fans that an 8-5 record almost guarantees us a Rose Bowl bid. This is far from the truth. Personally, I feel that our chances are not good at 8-5, especially if ASU goes 9-3. Note that the 2016 P12 runner-up, a 10-3 Colorado, lost the bid to USC. Granted, USC is a bigger name, but ASU could be ranked and will have 2 fewer losses than us at 9-3. I don’t like our chances in this scenario.
OSU/ASU teams: After the ASU win and OSU loss, Utah fans were mostly high on OSU but meh on ASU. I didn’t get it. Surely, OSU has made great strides and ASU hasn’t lived up to the expectations, but it is all relative. OSU has sucked so badly for so long that any decent improvement they make was going to seem significant. ASU, while undisciplined, is talented enough to flip the outcome as was seen in their UW game. All said and done, the OSU loss is going to look much worse than it did then, while the ASU win is going to look much better.
UA game: As many have observed, the UA team is much better than their record suggests. It felt like it was one of the best D we have faced this year, and I’m glad our O played didn’t miss a beat. Our D is young, but there’s no excuse for boneheaded penalties at this point. And I have lost faith in our STs, especially the punting unit. It is astonishing that a top-25 D1 program is unable to field an average ST.
2019 vs 2021 team for UO game: In 2019, Utah was blowing out opponents, ranked #5, and there were playoff implications going into the UO game. In short, that team was super-hyped, and for a good reason. Everyone was talking about Utah’s physical game, and a win was almost seen as a foregone conclusion by pundits and fans alike. To our chagrin, UO played with a chip on their shoulder, and it showed. Come 2021, and the script is flipped. The pressure is much higher on UO than on Utah. I still think it is a toss-up, and UO has a slight edge, but hopefully playing at RES negates that. Go Utes!
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