That is kind of like saying before the season starts that every team controls their own destiny because no other team has an advantage over them. ESPN FPI has the chances of UCLA beating Utah at about 10% and the chances of being USC at 20%. The chances of wins over both are astronomically low and they have two additional games with plenty of opportunity to screw their chances up. When a team has a pretty clear path, that saying works, but not really in this situation.