Pre-season rrakings

[ProudUte]

Utah is landing in many top-ten preseason rankings.  I think the positive publicity for the Utes is wonderful and will help in recruiting.

If we take off our crimson glasses for a moment – do we deserve these rankings?  Are we truly a top-ten team?

One thing I know for sure is that we are not in the same league as Alabama and Georgia.  Those defenses are loaded with big, fast, strong future NFL players.  We probably only have 3 or 4 guys on our 2021 team who would have a chance of starting on either of these teams.

That being said, there is IMO a major drop-off after the top teams.  We saw what Georgia did to Michigan.  I think we could compete with Michigan.  Ohio State’s offense is second to none and it would have been fun to see what their offense (with all their players) could have done against Georgia’s defense.

Do we belong in the top ten?  My answer is – maybe.  We have some holes to fill at LB and we need a better D-line IMO.  Can we fill the two Oline losses with players as good or better?  Covey is a big loss, but I think we can change things up and be okay.  I hope that Peppins can partially fill that role.  The kicking game needs improvement.

Go Utes!!!

  

[concerned]

too much hype for me. Except for 2004, it seems to me that everytime we have had a lot of hype we have bombed. E.G., 2010. Hope it is not bad karma.

[ProudUte]

I get your point.  

[Trailgoat]

Agree, KW is a legend and has done amazing work for Utah football. Every coach has areas of vulnerability. Playing as the hunted, and coaching in key end of game situations have been two areas KW has historically struggled with as a HC. Again, being nit picky here. If Utah wants to live up to the hype and go to another Rose Bowl, Utes need to show they are a program able to handle the pressure and beat the good teams when they’re suppose to. To be fair, the P12 in the past couple years has not had a great coach since Petersen left who pretty much owned KW when he was at BSU and UW. Next year should be fun. Go Utes!

 

[MDUte]

Agreed Proud. Too early to tell if we are going to live up to the hype we are already getting and will continue to get throughout the lead up to the season.

But what’s most important, as you already stated, is the publicity and exposure this is bringing to the program which is huge for recruiting. We’ve already seen some impact with Florida’s starting LB reaching out to our coaching staff to see if they’d be interested in taking him in the portal. That’s amazing! And hopefully that’s just the beginning of more to come throughout the off season as we continue to fill holes and upgrade the roster.

I have all the confidence in the world in Whitt and our coaches. Future is very bright for Ute football! Go Utes!!

[DataUte]

I think our end of season ranking was just about right for the whole season but by the end, I would put us in the high single digits.

Going into next season, I think we do have some holes to fill and lines to gel, but so do other teams. I’d be super comfortable being ranked in the teens and rising with wins. Do I think we have another team that could be ranked around 10 by the end. Absolutely. If things fall into place, injuries are controlled/next man up, lightning could strike and we could make the CFP. 

I’d be shocked if we weren’t favored to win the South (USC will probably get some votes but I think they are a year away from rebuilding) and probably favored to meet Oregon in the CCG again. I think a reasonable goal is win the South, win the Pac-12, and win the Rose Bowl. That’s attainable even with a couple losses (have to be the right ones though). If stuff starts to build, we could make a run for CFP, but there’s a lot out of our control (due to the politics, I don’t think anyone but a very few control their own destiny – top of SEC and maybe Ohio St.).

[MDUte]

Data, I agree with everything you posted up until the last part about the CFP. We no longer are hurt by politics, we benefit from politics because we are part of the P5 club now. Cinci was in the boat where they didn’t control their own destiny and needed all kinds of help in front of them in order to get the final CFP spot. But that’s not us anymore. Being P5 in the PAC, if we finish either undefeated or win the conference with 1 loss, we are in the CFP…it’s that simple. Had we beaten Oregon in the CCG in 2019, we were in. Doesn’t matter if the PAC is down, look at how the committee viewed us at the end of the season. We were the highest ranked 3 loss team in the country and were ranked higher than most 2 loss teams. Win and we are in. And if we end up losing 2 games but win the conference, we have the best consolation prize you could hope for in the Rose Bowl.

[ProudUte]

I agree.

[Stone]

Embrace the high rankings! We are never ranked this high pre-season; let’s have fun with it! Are we overrated? Who knows! Doesn’t matter. In college football, and particularly in the recruiting game, perception often is reality – so whether the ranking is deserved or not, embrace the ranking and have fun! It could lead to a bump in recruiting, which then turns into even better teams and on-field performance in the future. Not since Majerus was on the hill have I seen Utah’s name mentioned in pre-season top 10 rankings (obviously, that was basketball).

How awesome is this to be named in the pre-season by multiple prognosticators?! I will tell you: it is really awesome! Many fans can only dream of this (and until now, we were among those fans). So enjoy it while it lasts.

[Author]

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