Hey everyone! Slower turnaround on my stuff this week, big conference in my day job. =]
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Big movers were Utah, UCLA, and Oregon. USC lost still more ground as missing Washington looks like less of a good thing and playing UCLA on the road is looking like a real tough draw. Washington's collapse isn't a surprise. Cal and Washington State traded places as the longshot in the old north after WSU worked 'em over on Saturday.

Here's my look at UCLA. To me, this coud be a shoot out of a game: https://utah.rivals.com/news/opponent-preview-ucla-11

How did the Utes fair last week and what are the big questions for the UCLA game?: https://utah.rivals.com/news/burning-questions-utes-head-into-week-6

It’s a battle of two ranked teams, so what do Joseph’s numbers say this week?…

https://utah.rivals.com/news/statistically-speaking-utah-at-ucla-1

Here’s Sean’s UCLA preview:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/opponent-preview-ucla-11

Vegas isn't buying #18 UCLA quite yet, with #11 Utah opening at -1 and up to -4 or -4.5 across the board.

Vegas IS buying #6 USC, they're a 13-point favorite over WSU (although that's come down from it's opening at 14)

I'm not sure if Vegas thinks ASU is improving, but they have UW only 13.5 over ASU, although it is in Phoenix.

#12 Oregon are only 13-point favorites over Arizona, also at Arizona.

OSU is 7-point favorites over Stanford.

Cal and CU are on byes this week.

Other lines of note:

The ND/BYU line looks strange, but isn't that weird. It technically opened at ND favored by about 9, but those were pre-season odds. The odds that opened this week were about ND -2.5 and it's stabilized right now at ND favored by about 3.5.

#1 Bama is favored by 24 over ATM at home
#2 UGA is favored by 29 over Auburn at home
#3 OSU is favored by 26 @ MI ST
#4 Michigan is favored by 22 @ Indiana
#5 Clemson is favored by 20 @ BC
#7 OK ST is favored by 9 over Texas Tech at home
#8 Tennessee has a bye
#9 Ole Miss is favored by 18 @ Vanderbilt
#10 Penn St has a bye
#13 Kentucky is favored by 10 against S. Carolina at home
#14 NCSU is on bye
#15 Wake Forest is favored by 17 against Army at home

Clark Phillips III Named Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week

Sophomore comes away with three interceptions vs. Beavers


NEW HAVEN, Conn. – University of Utah Football starting cornerback Clark Phillips III has been named Walter Camp National FBS Defensive Player of the Week for his outstanding performance in Utah's 42-16 win over Oregon State.

Phillips is one of six Utes to earn Walter Camp National Player of the Week honors since 2004, and the first since 2016 (Hunter Dimick).

The Lakewood, Calif., native continues to prove he is one of the best cornerbacks in the country, coming away with three of Utah's four interceptions against the Beavers, which included a pick-six (38 yards), along with three tackles in the game. His three picks are the most in a game by an FBS player this season, also tying for second all-time at Utah in single-game interceptions.

His first interception of the game came on Oregon State's first drive, picking off the Beaver's quarterback on a first-and-10 from their own 44-yard line, returning it to the 19 to set Utah up for its first touchdown. With the game tied at 7-7 with 7:37 to go in the first quarter, Phillips would come up big once more, reading the play perfectly on a second-and-10, intercepting the ball and returning it 38 yards to the end zone to give Utah the 14-7 lead.

Phillips's final interception of the game came in the fourth quarter on a second-and-five at the Utah five-yard line. The sophomore out-jumped the Beaver wide receiver in the corner of the end zone, coming down with the ball for his third interception, giving Utah possession back with 7:16 to go in the game.

His three interceptions was the most in a game by a Ute since 2009 (Robert Johnson vs. Colorado State), bringing his season total to four, which is tied for first nationally. He has seven career interceptions with three pick-sixes, including two that have some this season.

His three career interceptions returned for touchdowns is the second-most by an active player in the FBS this season, also leading all active players in the Pac-12.

NEXT UP
The Utes will hit the road to Pasadena, Calif., to take on the UCLA Bruins on Saturday, Oct. 8, kicking off at 1:30 p.m. MT. The game will air on FOX.

Hope y'all are getting excited! The consequential games are finally coming. No surprises and limited changes in one of the lowest-interest weeks in the schedule, in terms of toss-up games. Washington-UCLA has shifted full attention to the cluster of power in the South, with Utah's upcoming slate of games promising to resolve much of the uncertainty about the conference pecking order.

It’s a four team race between Utah usc Oregon and ucla.

The Washington schools will have a say in who plays in LV. Washington the best schedule missing 2 of the top 4.

the beavers don’t have enough at the qb position. Cal is getting better but not there yet. Ditto for Arizona.

colorado, asu and Stanford are bottom feeders.

Along with JeyQuan Smith, Utah also had a mystery recruit, who is Pitt wide receiver commit, Daidren Zipperer. I’ll try and follow up with him, as well.

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I just spoke with JeyQuan Smith and firstnoffer, he was a great interview and really seems mature for his age. The Utah relationship started about three weeks ago and it’s progressed smooth and fast. It’s down to Utah and Washington, he’ll still keep an open mind on visits before deciding possibly in late November. Ludwig and Bumphis’s attention to detail really won him over. With Ludwig it was explaining how the they would create things towards his skill set. With Bumphis, he was impressed with the detail on how he practices his group.

Whittingham’s presence was also a gigantic positive for Utah.

Article to come. Utah is in a very good spot right now, though…

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Prepping for the game against UCLA Whittingham says Chip has his own unique style and way of doing things. He emphasized that DTR is playing exceptionally well.

Going with a talented rushing attack, the Bruins’ offensive line is rock solid and wide receivers are a tough match-up.

A focal point for the defense this week is containing DTR not allowing him to make extended plays, noting he can be dangerous when he has the opportunity to do so. This means staying assignment sound and not trying to overreact in plays.

Whittingham also stated he’s been happy with his defense, last week the secondary stood out to him but overall all three levels are performing well and the improvements they’ve been making have been key.

If you are a father or son, you get it...

Here’s Dustin’s in-depth look at how Utah graded out PFF wise against Oregon State…

https://utah.rivals.com/news/inside-the-numbers-utah-s-pff-grades-vs-oregon-state

Utah has one official visitor this weekend, JeyQuan Smith. The receiver currently has offers from Uta, Ole Miss, Washington, Washington State, Oregon, and Penne State:

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Here are the takeaways from the game. Everyone add yours as well…

https://utah.rivals.com/news/takeaways-utes-win-behind-phillips-dominant-game

-Perfect in the red zone, said he doesn’t count that last drive.

-Run defense was bad in the first half.

-He highlighted Rising and Phillips’ performances.

-Whittingham likes the 12:30PM PST time.

-When it comes to the slow starts, you judge the game in its entirety, not segments.

-DTR is playing his best football.

-The ability of Jonah Elliss and Connor O’Toole to cover tight ends, allows Utah to do 5 DL lineups. This will continue to be a package.

-Whittingham was happy with how the receivers performed. Although, three catches was too little for Kincaid. He needs to be more featured. It wasn’t anything that OSU did.

-The offense adjusted well to Kuithe’s absence.

-OSU had good schemes, forcing the weaker rushing performance.

-Bernard has been a little banged up, but they want him out there more. He’s their most well-rounded back.

-Barring setbacks, Tavion is improving on accountability and other things, in order to get into the field and increase his workload. (Alex take: I’ve heard Tavion is trying a little more and that’s great. At the same time, what else is Whittingham going to say? He always defends his guys publicly which is what you’d want to see)

-A team needs to be on that upward trajectory from game 1 to game 12 if they want to win a championship.

-When you watch film, the game slows down. Phillips does an outstanding job studying film.

-Diabate was rusty, but they were happy to see him back and pleased with some things.

-Whittingham believes the early coaching firings have everything to do with early signing day.

-Coaches make enough that they need to perform or else they’re expendable. It’s also become a win-now situation.

Not a surprise. They’ve really struggled…

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The Bruins have suddenly made this a good and beneficial matchup:

https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll

This was a great statement game, as the Utes also got revenge on the Beavers.

Phillips’ three interception performance was the first at home by a Ute since 1970, which was accomplished by Norm Thompson.

The defense was far from perfect, but Phillips and Hubert had some clutch timely interceptions that helps swing momentum.

Rising really stepped up today and looked really comfortable with spreading the ball around. He connected with 8 different targets. He looked really comfortable going to Devaughn Vele who had 7 receptions for 94 yards and a TD. Rising was also clutch on the ground, and they needed that with the RBs not doing much in the ground. When he focusing on running, good things happen: 7 carries for 73 yards and a TD.

The defense was honestly bailed out by some big plays—giving up 417 yards while the Utes offense put up 361.

Lastly, Ludwig is lucky that his random wildcat call didn’t impact the outcome of the game. Yes it was bad execution, but it completely killed Utah’s momentum for a while.

Now onto UCLA and their Jekyll and Hyde was. When they’re on, they’re a scary team. It’s likely about to be a matchup of two top 20 teams after the Bruins huge win. The question is, how much will Utah climb?

Lets hear everyone’s reactions…

It's time to avenge last season's lone Pac-12 loss in Corvallis. Last I checked, it is still a Utah double-digit spread, but I think this one will be a little too close for comfort for most of the game.

Covey signed

So happy for him and the Utes. Great day to be a Ute!!!

Here’s Dustin’s deep-dive on the Oregon State Beavers:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/inside-the-numbers-oregon-state-2

Here’s my Q&A with BeaversEdge:

https://oregonstate.rivals.com/news/behind-enemy-lines-5-questions-with-utah-expert-2