PK: Utah Football Opens Path To Big 12 Championship With Cincinnati Win

SALT LAKE CITY – Either lopsided wins or bitter losses have been the story through the first two months of Utah’s football season.

It figured somewhere down the line, probably in November, when the stakes get raised, the Utes would have to grind out a rugged win against a fellow Big 12 opponent. But once again, not so much, even though the opponent on Saturday was nationally ranked Cincinnati.

RELATED: Five Takeaways From Utah’s 45-14 Demolition Of Cincinnati

 

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The Bearcats came into the last month of the regular season as one of two undefeated teams, along with BYU, in Big 12 play. After a close loss to open the season against Nebraska, they had won seven consecutive games before coming into Rice-Eccles Stadium for the first time.

The result is the unscathed Cougars, who got a little help from their friends to the north, stand alone atop the Big 12 standings. Far from perfect, the Utes opened an early lead and kept Cincinnati at a comfortable distance the rest of the way to win 45-14.

Utah had rolled in each of the six victories, bludgeoning over-matched teams along the way. Almost surprisingly, given their excellence in those games, the Utes did lose conference games to Texas Tech and BYU, leaving them with an uphill climb to get back into the Big 12 race.

The Texas Tech loss, which came in September, was a shock to Utah’s system in that the Red Raiders dominated the trenches. The beatdown was enough to prompt Utah coach Kyle Whittingham to state, “Never in a million years” would he have expected it.

The three-point loss to BYU in Provo last month led a good portion of the loyal fanbase to believe any chance of playing for the conference championship was doomed. For many, the Utes were reduced to playing out the string for an opportunity at one of the slew of secondary – if not meaningless – bowl games.

But keep in mind, scary things can happen in college football after Halloween gives way to the final four weeks. Remember back to the 2022 season, when a bunch of things needed to go Utah’s way on the final day of the regular season.

Fortune shone on the Utes those two days after Thanksgiving, putting them in the Pac-12 championship game. Once there in Las Vegas, they thrashed over-hyped USC to win a second consecutive conference championship and make another appearance in the Granddaddy of them all in Pasadena, Calif.

The first week of November has already produced one significant surprise in the Big 12. Houston, which had been one of the country’s surprise teams to date with a 7-1 record (4-1 in the Big 12), lost at home to West Virginia, which got its first conference win in six games.

Behind the 5-0 Cougars, who had a bye this week, two teams – Cincinnati and Texas Tech – are tied for second place at 5-1. The Utes are one of three teams at 4-2.

They definitely could use some help to qualify for the Big 12 championship game in Arlington, Texas. But, yes, we’re saying they have a chance.

 

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Instead of worrying about all the tiebreakers and other scenarios, the most crucial point is to play good football. No worries there.

At this rate, the Utes have every reason to believe they can win out the final three games after next week’s bye. That’s not to say that, in order, at Baylor, at home to Kansas State, and then finishing at Kansas are easy tasks, but all winning all three certainly is doable.

The formula, as it always has been for the last two decades under Whittingham, is to continue the stellar play on defense and mix in the pass with a strong running game. And then, who knows, maybe the Utes will get lucky again with a few breaks from other teams in the conference.

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