Some are wondering why OK State is not predicted in First Place

[OldAsDirtUte]

This is relatively new territory for our Utes.

I’m not sure how they would react as favorites,
but I do know how they play when they have been slighted.

Go Utes!

[Central Coast Ute]

Whitt will somehow try to play the underdog role. He can’t help it.

[D T]

Remember, we were picked #1 in the P12 media poll in ‘22 & ended up P12 Champions.

This isn’t brand new territory for us & hopefully having some key players from that team will assist us this year.

[ukiyoronin]

The underdog role is nice as a fan, because it offers some solace in a loss, and a higher high when you win. If the team loses, you can shrug the shoulders and say “well, we were the underdog right?” And if they win it feels huge because the underdog just beat the favored team.
On the other side of things, if the team is favored to win and they don’t, it feels like a terrible loss, and if they win, it’s kind of like “well, we were supposed to win, right?”
Which is better, a mentality of expecting to win, or one of trying to prove you can win? Both approaches have pros and cons I think.

[HATUman]

But being picked first gives the guys some swagger, something that blue blood programs have a lot of. This program needs swagger, because swagger is what 4 and 5 star kids (in general) love. When Oregon went all in on swagger their recruiting boosted… we need that. Not that I don’t love development, I think we can still have that, but we could also use some highly rated recruits.

[ukiyoronin]

I agree 100%. I wonder how long it’ll take the fans / team to stop relishing in the underdog role, and accept the role of “expect to win” and have that swagger you mention.

[fosternano]

Two words, south Alabama. You don’t lose to a team like that at home 33-7.

I could see Oklahoma state have a really bad fall on your face moment so it makes more sense to put them in 2nd-4th place.

[Sanders]

I’m guessing Oklahoma State may not be in the running after September. They have the Utes early on and the following week they’re at Kansas State. They’ll probably lose them both.

[Redblood]

They have us at home, we haven’t been very good against decent teams on the road really ever. That will be a likely loss for us based on past performance.

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