Utah Among Top Programs With Most College Football Playoff Ranking Appearances
May 30, 2021, 10:53 AM
Utah Utes tight end Brant Kuithe (80) celebrates after a catch and run as Utah and UCLA play a college football game in Salt Lake City at Rice Eccles Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2019. (Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
(Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The University of Utah football program is among the top schools that have appeared in the College Football Playoff rankings.
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The College Football Playoff started in 2014 and Utah is in the top 10 for most appearances since the era began. Utah is tied for seventh with Georgia with 30 appearances in the CFP.
Only Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State have appeared in every single College Football Playoff Top 25 ranking. Oklahoma comes in at No. 4 with 40 appearances, followed by LSU with 33 and Notre Dame with 32. After Georgia and Utah, Oklahoma State is ninth with 29, followed by Florida and Wisconsin with 28 each.
🙌 @AlabamaFTBL, @ClemsonFB and @OhioStateFB are the only teams to have appeared in every College Football Playoff Ranking
Which team on this list is the most surprising? pic.twitter.com/9ijkkCKQ6T
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) May 29, 2021
Utah has the most CFP ranking appearances in the Pac-12. In the very first CFP Top 25 ranking that was released during Week 10 when they came in at No. 17 in the country. The Utes made the top 25 every week that season. Same with the 2015 and 2016 seasons. During the 2017 campaign, it was the first season that Utah didn’t make the CFP top 25 at all.
That wasn’t the case during the 2018 season when they were ranked No. 15 in the first rankings. The Utes were bounced out of the rankings following a loss in Week 10 but jumped back into the top 20 in Week 11. They stayed in the CFP rankings for the rest of the season.
To that point, Utah’s highest ranking was No. 10 in 2015. That changed in the first rankings of 2019 when they were ranked No. 8 with an 8-1 record. Utah then jumped to No. 7 in Week 11 before moving to No. 6 in Week 13. The Utes were just outside the CFP in Week 14 when they were No. 5 in the country. They didn’t reach the CFP after losing to Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship and moved down to No. 11.
For just the second time in the CFP era, Utah didn’t make the rankings in the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season. With all of the talent that Utah returns in 2021, they will certainly have the ability to make the top 25 rankings this season.
Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports. You can download and listen to the podcast, here.
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