PK: The Standard For Utah Football Is At All-Time High

Aug 29, 2024, 11:16 PM | Updated: Aug 30, 2024, 3:26 pm

Talk Show Host at KSL Sports Zone

SALT LAKE CITY – Without question, crazy as it sounds, the standard for Utah Football this season is the highest ever in program history.

Boldy proclaimed, the new playoff format that begins this season makes this strong statement accurate. For contending teams, which includes the Utes, it’s the playoffs or bust.

There’s no gray area this time around. Either the Utes are one of the 12 teams in the tournament, or the season goes down as a disappointment.

134 schools from coast to coast all with their sights on the 12-team Playoff.

The journey begins today.#CFBPlayoff 🏈🏆 pic.twitter.com/15rlBfcH7f

— College Football Playoff (@CFBPlayoff) August 24, 2024

This first of 12 tests, which increases to 13 counting the Big 12 conference championship game, was nothing more than a dress rehearsal. The heavily favored Utes handled Southern Utah 49-0 in the season opener on Thursday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

With the outcome virtually assured before the ink dried on the contract, the game was more about quarterback Cam Rising and tight end Brant Kuithe playing for the first time in nearly two years.

Both players missed all last season with injuries, but their returns to full health tops the list of reasons the Utes are dreaming big. Both accorded themselves well enough against the lesser competition.

Off to a g00d start ✅#Big12FB | @Utah_Football pic.twitter.com/XxG7tOH2R6

— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) August 30, 2024

Rising got an early wakeup call in his first return to competition since the Rose Bowl in 2023, taking a hard hit on an incomplete pass on Utah’s first play from scrimmage on offense. He followed it up with touchdown passes on Utah’s first five possessions, with three going to Kuithe.

Just like old times for the two players who each were college freshman in 2018. Big 12 opponents will need to figure out a way to contain the lethal combination.

In addition to staying in college for cash – the NIL deals are lucrative for them – both players also want at shot at the national championship. If the all the preseason expectations come to pass, Utah will participate in the new playoff and could earn a first-round bye by winning the Big 12.

⏳ #Big12FB 🫣

— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) August 29, 2024

Imagine the Utes playing host to a playoff game at Rice-Eccles Stadium this winter or even getting a bye in the first round as a top four seed. It could go down as the program’s best accomplishment, better than two Rose Bowl appearances, beating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and busting the BCS to play in the Fiesta Bowl.

Talk about a lot of hype for a program that averaged 4.7 losses during the 12 full seasons as a member of the Pac-12. Yet that’s the real estate Utah is living in this season.

Most likely, forget about expecting Utah to run the table for the third time in the last 20 years. Prevailing unscathed rarely happens, but the good news is it’s not required to make the playoffs.

The Utes don’t even need to win the Big 12 regular-season championship. They can get in by finishing second and winning the conference championship on Dec. 7 in Arlington, Texas.

But dare we say, Utah could go 12-0 in the regular season. And they’ll know early if it’s possible.

Reasonably assuming a 3-0 non-conference start, the two toughest Big 12 games might be the first two at Oklahoma State and against Arizona the following week at home. A clean start against the two only preseason-ranked teams on the schedule could pave the way for a glorious run and zoom up the national rankings.

BREAKING: Georgia is No. 1 in the preseason AP Top 25 and Ohio State is No. 2 as expanded SEC and Big Ten dominate.

See full poll: https://t.co/7dTTUiSC1j pic.twitter.com/xhzCrzACze

— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) August 12, 2024

Of course, as it does for all teams, success depends on the team’s health. Another injury to Rising could spoil the anticipated party.

Far from a perfect team, the Utes still do appear set with talent and experience at most of the other positions. And remember, the standard for an historic season here is making the first 12-team playoff and not winning it all.