Another National Pundit Predicts Utah Football In College Football Playoff
Feb 15, 2024, 10:28 AM | Updated: Feb 20, 2024, 1:34 pm
SALT LAKE CITY – Way-too-early college football projections are one way fans scratch the itch during the offseason, any morsel of content looking forward and making predictions is great fodder, especially when these lists are about your team of choice.
For the University of Utah, these early top 25 rankings have been very kind to the Utes football program.
- Stewart Mandel, The Athletic – No. 11
- Max Chadwick, Pro Football Focus- No. 12
- Dennis Dodd, CBS Sports – No. 13
- Mark Schlabach, ESPN – No. 13
- Nick Bromberg, Yahoo Sports- No. 14
- Paul Meyerberg & Erick Smith, USA Today – No. 16
- 247Sports – No. 16
- Joel Klatt, FOX Sports – No. 8
Within the rankings out there so far, Utah is typically either first or second among the Big 12 teams. Being in contention for the conference championship is a big deal now that the College Football Playoff is expanding to 12 teams starting next year.
Being a conference champion is even more important since the winner from a power league will all but assuredly earn a bye for the playoff.
RELATED: KSL Sports Way-Too-Early Big 12 Football Rankings
The latest projection comes from Brett McMurphy of the Action Network. McMurphy joined JJ & Alex on the KSL Sports Zone and gave out his early playoff and bowl projections for next year. Add him to the list of experts who like Utah as the Big 12 champion.
.@Brett_McMurphy joined @JeremiahJensen & @AlexKirryKSL and makes a prediction that @Utah_Football fans will REALLY like about next year.#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/fzp2FPb9lT
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) February 14, 2024
“In my College Football Playoff bowl projections, the Big 12 champ, I have them seeded fourth,” McMurphy said. “That Big 12 champ that I have seeded fourth is none other than your Utah Utes. I loved Arizona, but you lose Jedd Fisch and they’re going to lose some players.
“I think I had Arizona eighth in my preseason top 25. When I do my new one, I’m going to drop them a little bit and, obviously, I’ll put Utah above them.”
In his early 12-team bracket, he has the Utes taking on No. 5 seeded Texas in the quarterfinal round but he has Utah falling to the Longhorns. McMurphy’s early title game is having No. 1 Georgia against No. 2 Ohio State.
Others Agree With Utes Being Best In Big 12
They hype train is real for the Utes and McMurphy is not the only one. Pete Fiutak of College Football News joined JJ & Alex on Feb. 1 and called Utah’s first year in the Big 12 as “championship or bust.”
Hear the full interview.https://t.co/EK7R3BMLmJ
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) February 2, 2024
“It’s got to be conference championship or bust if you are Utah,” Fiutak said on JJ & Alex. “They are just a better team than everyone else in the conference. You go to an easier conference and Utah has to be in the Big 12 Conference championship [game] with Arizona, Kansas, and Oklahoma State as probably the three next best teams with Kansas State right around there.”
The Utes are coached by Kyle Whittingham who has been to four of the prior six Pac-12 title games and winning two of those. No other coach in the Big 12 can come close to Whittingham’s success. Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy is a distant second and has been to a pair of Big 12 title games but has zero conference championships.
There is a good reason that the Utes are considered as the frontrunner to win the Big 12 and earn a spot in the playoffs next year.
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