This is the second season where Utah was picked to win the Pac-12 and they failed to do so (the other being 2019, though, they did make the Pac-12 title game that year).
It seems we just have a real aversion to living up to significant hype. The only time it's happened in the Pac-12 that I can think of was one game: the Pac-12 title game last year. Utah was favored. They were expected to win. And they did.
But Oregon was a mess of an opponent whose coach was on his way out and no one on their sideline even seemed to care. Regardless, they lived up to a significant expectation.
The irony is that it came AFTER everyone wrote them off multiple times that season: after the SDSU game ... then again after the Oregon State game. They flew under the radar until Oregon rolled into town and Utah surprised the Ducks, ending their playoff hopes.
But outside that one blip of success as a major underdog-turned-favorite, I can't think of many games where Utah rose to the needed expectations and took care of their business as favorites.
Certainly not this season against Oregon and UCLA and Florida. Florida may be the most egregious because the Gators are, at best, mediocre this year. But Utah couldn't handle the preseason expectations and went out and got beat by a rookie coach. UCLA I can forgive because they're good - even if they didn't look good prior to the game. Oregon? Oregon didn't look good tonight. They were hobbled at quarterback and struggled in the second half. Yet Utah crapped the bed.
Fitting that the best win came against USC a week after UCLA - when everyone was starting to write Utah off.
In 2019, Utah crapped the bed at USC, a bad USC team, as favorites and while it did not derail their Pac-12 South chances (would have had they played Oregon in the regular season, tho), they turned around and got kicked in the teeth vs Oregon in the Pac-12 title game as not only favorites, but positioned for the playoffs.
We are great at flying under the radar. We are a mess when everyone expects us to win a big game.
Just disappointing because these are the big games that we probably need to win if we want to remain on the radar of top programs for conference realignment.
Sadly, so many lost opportunities to take the step from a really good program to a great.
Just a handful of losses as favorites from being a truly elite program. Like legit elite.
Maybe we'll get there one day. But it's hard buying the hype on Utah football when you know it's likely going to end in disappointment.
It seems we just have a real aversion to living up to significant hype. The only time it's happened in the Pac-12 that I can think of was one game: the Pac-12 title game last year. Utah was favored. They were expected to win. And they did.
But Oregon was a mess of an opponent whose coach was on his way out and no one on their sideline even seemed to care. Regardless, they lived up to a significant expectation.
The irony is that it came AFTER everyone wrote them off multiple times that season: after the SDSU game ... then again after the Oregon State game. They flew under the radar until Oregon rolled into town and Utah surprised the Ducks, ending their playoff hopes.
But outside that one blip of success as a major underdog-turned-favorite, I can't think of many games where Utah rose to the needed expectations and took care of their business as favorites.
Certainly not this season against Oregon and UCLA and Florida. Florida may be the most egregious because the Gators are, at best, mediocre this year. But Utah couldn't handle the preseason expectations and went out and got beat by a rookie coach. UCLA I can forgive because they're good - even if they didn't look good prior to the game. Oregon? Oregon didn't look good tonight. They were hobbled at quarterback and struggled in the second half. Yet Utah crapped the bed.
Fitting that the best win came against USC a week after UCLA - when everyone was starting to write Utah off.
In 2019, Utah crapped the bed at USC, a bad USC team, as favorites and while it did not derail their Pac-12 South chances (would have had they played Oregon in the regular season, tho), they turned around and got kicked in the teeth vs Oregon in the Pac-12 title game as not only favorites, but positioned for the playoffs.
We are great at flying under the radar. We are a mess when everyone expects us to win a big game.
Just disappointing because these are the big games that we probably need to win if we want to remain on the radar of top programs for conference realignment.
Sadly, so many lost opportunities to take the step from a really good program to a great.
Just a handful of losses as favorites from being a truly elite program. Like legit elite.
Maybe we'll get there one day. But it's hard buying the hype on Utah football when you know it's likely going to end in disappointment.
