I’ve always said there are three things to look at when predicting a team’s record (in order of most important to least):
1 – SOS. Who do they play, when do they play them, and who does their opponent play before them?
2 – Returning OL. QB is important and can cover a lot of sins. OL makes everyone look good. A great QB can make you good. A great OL can make a bunch of mediocre players look great. If you can have an average QB and great OL or great QB with average OL, take the great OL every time.
3 – Can your coach win big games
4 – Returning players
Let’s skip #1 for a minute. Utah will have one of the most experienced OL’s in the country this fall. That is a great checkmark for #2. Our coach can win big games and is one of the best in business. And we return basically everyone from last year.
So, #2-4 set us up nicely for a great season. The biggest question is just schedule. And ours is tough.
Let’s look at it:
Week 1: Weber State: A very good FCS team. We should win this easily. Most likely won’t be the 70-3 drubbing we recently gave them, but I’d expect a 45+ to 17 or less game.
Week 2: at Northern Illinois – This game has a purpose. I know everyone has been whining about this game for a long time, but smarter minds than us have scheduled this game. Why? It’s a game that we win 99 out of 100 times. It’s on the road. BUT, it’s not a pushover either. We will have to be focused, we will have to play a clean game to win. It gets the team on the road, it is a game that will make the work, but it is very easily winnable.
Week 3: Washington Huskies – This game is in a GREAT spot. Why? Because this game really doesn’t matter. Of course, it would be great to win. Of course, losing isn’t a great way to start the season out. BUT, Washington is damn good. Hopefully they will already have a win over Auburn. And if we lose, no big deal, as long as we show well. And we have the next week off, so it’s a great game to see where you stand, then go and fix issues in the bye week.
Week 4: Bye Week
Week 5: at WSU. They have USC the week before we play them. We have a bye week. Their QB will be brand spanking new. This will be a tough year for WSU. Leach wins 10+ games, then misses a bowl. I think WSU will be around 6 wins this year. Advantage: Utah. Bye week before vs WSU playing USC before.
Week 6: at Stanford. This is our first HUGE game this year. Look at our schedule before: Bye week, WSU. Look at Stanford’s: SDSU, USC, UC Davis, @Oregon, @ND, Utah, bye week. While a tough game, we get the scheduling break here. That is a grueling 7 game start to the season for Stanford. They will be worn down, tired and maybe peeking forward to that sweet, sweet bye week after our game. Advantage Utah.
Week 7: Arizona. Good game for us. This is a game we should win. Arizona has USC and Cal before us. We have WSU and Stanford. Pretty even actually. Wash.
Week 8: USC. This game is tough. This is a must win game. USC has bye week, Colorado and then us. We have WSU, Stanford, Arizona. Not a huge advantage for USC, but an advantage. No advantage the following week as USC has ASU, who should be a dumpster fire. Advantage USC.
Week 9: @UCLA. This is another tough game. Arizona, USC, UCLA. Tough stretch. The good news is UCLA will have had a tough road as well: Washington, Cal, Arizona, Utah. Not as tough as us though. Advantage: UCLA.
Week 10: @ASU. This game…big time advantage us. I almost feel bad for Herm Edwards. Stanford, USC, Utah, UCLA, Oregon, Arizona. Good luck with that. They might not even show up. ha ha. Advantage Utah.
Week 11: Oregon. Arizona, UCLA, Utah. Compared to USC, UCLA, ASU. Tough matchup for us. We have the better coach, the game is at home. Oregon is an enigma to me. I have no idea what to expect. Talent wise, they are the top half of the conference. Coach wise, they are the bottom half. I could see them being 7-2 or 3-6 at this point. Advantage Oregon.
Week 12: @Colorado. Advantage Colorado at first glance. BUT, we are just better than they are. There aren’t a lot of games where we are just more talented than the other team, but this is one of them. If we limit TO’s, it’s a win. So, Advantage Colorado but it not really mattering much.
Week 13: BYU. This is such a stupid place to schedule this game. It’s just dumb. It does nothing. BYU will have had three weeks to prepare. So, advantage Utah. BUT, the good news is, we are much, much better than they are. I don’t know if they have a player on their team that would crack the two deep on Utah’s roster. Talent wise, Northern Illinois is better. BUT, end of the year, they’ve had three weeks to prepare, we are coming off the grind of the PAC-12 schedule, makes this game closer. We should win this game by 21 or more. We probably win by 10.
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