In case y’all didn’t know. We run it out here.

Alex and Ryan Young of the USC Rivals site give their predictions on the Pac-12 Championship:

I thought this was a really impressive win in a lot of ways:
- Branden Carlson's three point shooting really kept the Arizona defense off balance
- Keba Keita looked like a defensive and rebounding machine
- Arizona started to claw back in the second half and instead of folding and giving the game away, Utah threw their own run together and regained their big lead. I liked the grittiness.
- Free throws concerned me, but thankfully it didn't become a huge issue

Great way to start the Pac-12 schedule. Let's hear what everyone else's thoughts.

Alex's series with USC's publisher Ryan Young continues with their players to watch in the title game:

Looks like three-team race now:

Alex takes a closer look at the most recent addition to the class:

Home against Arizona who appears to be the class of the league.

Our team is still establishing its rotation and will have its work cut out for them tonight. Still, we should see a clear step forward from last year.

Curious to see how Mike Saunders is used tonight and how he performs.

Utah stopped the #4 team in the country in their tracks tonight and put together an impressive win to start the conference schedule:

Tough conference opener with the #4 team in the country, so it'll be interesting to see how this one plays out.

Starting 5 for Utah is Carlson, Carlson, Madsen, Anthony, and Worster.

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I’ll have an article up shortly. Matthews silently committed to Utah during his OV when Utah beat USC.

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Any information on how healthy these two will be tomorrow night. Staying in Mesquite tonight. Headed to Vegas tomorrow. Go Utes!!!!

Right here:

I combined with USC publisher Ryan Young on some Pac-12 Championship Previews. Here’s the first one…

https://utah.rivals.com/news/pac-12-championship-preview-utah-wins-if

nm

Halie and I are heading out later today to beat tomorrow’s storm and last minute traffic craziness. Everyone be safe!

I’ll be dropping some collaborative pieces with USC publisher Ryan Young soon, like I’ve done for past the lat two Pac-12 Championship games.

I am still flabbergasted that Rising would chose to leave. Not a given he will but I would be stunned if he sticks to his decision to leave. He is the 5th rated passer in THE CONFERENCE and he is the 9th rated passer in yards tossed. Hardly leave early statistics. Mid season Rising was the 5th rated passer in the NCAA.... He is now 28th behind the likes of Hall at TDS.

Further... there are TEN senior quarterbacks who are rated higher than rising. 10 guys eligible to be drafted due to graduation alone. In addition, there are 13 JUNIORS that are rated higher than Rising. So... Of the 23 draft eligible guys, Rising is behind them all. I would be utterly stunned if he is not back next year:

He may never be a league guy let alone a leave early guy. Hope I am wrong on the former but I would 100% expect him to be back in SLC next year.

Spread this link around for Clark. It’s a quick and easy vote.

https://paycom.com/jim-thorpe-award...9XdFkf2BMBF00flbAvpBs4fVTCtzPWWEV7t906SusPYuc

Here’s Sean preview for the big rematch:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/pac-12-championship-game-opponent-preview-usc

Halie answers last week’s questions and looks ahead to the Pac-12 Championship Game:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/burning-questions-heading-into-the-pac-12-championship-game

I’m still baffled, so I wrote about with Dustin’s PFF help:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/the-mackey-award-voters-got-it-wrong

Here’s a breakdown of Whittingham’s press conference:

-They find themselves in a similar situation to last year—having to beat a really good team twice.

-USC is very efficient on offense. They’re No. 1 in total yards per play. That’s more important to Whittingham than total offense number. They’re best statistic is the turnover margin. 27 takeaways to 4 turnovers.

-The second half of the USC game was a turning point for the Utah defender.

-Whittingham joked that nobody counts Covid, so the Utes are in their 4th championship game in 4 seasons. It’s a real testament to the football team and how bought in and dedicated they are.

-Ja’Quinden took a huge step forward, he’s really starting to settle in and be productive. Whittingham says they grade ball security—not just fumbles but how the guys hold the ball. His ball security score went way up. Micah Bernard really had an opportunity to get out and run and showed great things. Jaylon Glover did some really nice things as well.

-They expect Dalton Kincaid to play. It’s not a guarantee, but they expect it to happen.

-USC went from 10-personnel to 11-personnel since their last meeting.

-Someone during the game showed Whittingham an ESPN game predictor and at one point it showed Oregon at 99.3 percent. He started getting a steady flow of info on that game with about 7 minutes left in their game against Colorado.

-Responding to some people who say they backfired their way into the championship game, Whittingham said, no, they won the games they needed to win to get in.

-Establishing the run is their MO and will remain that way on Friday.

-Having all the experience they have in the Pac-12 Champion Game should help a lot. They have guys who have been there and done that. A handful of guys have been to four of them.

-Kincaid is so dynamic and special that you have to get him the ball as much as possible. Whittingham expects USC to really key on him come Friday.

-Caleb Williams is the most difficult QB they’ve ever had to try and sack. What he’s doing is special and he’s the odds-on favorite to win the Heisman.

-There’s been no dropoff for USC since Travis Dye was lost for the season.

-Answering as politically correct as possible, Whittingham was asked if he was surprised with how fast Lincoln Riley has turned things around. He said he’s not surprised because of the transfer portal. It used to be a 3-4 year turnaround, now it’s 1-2 years.

-On David Shaw stepping down at Stanford, Whittingham said he respects him a ton. He’s a tremendous football coach and a tremendous person. He gave back to the game a lot off of the field through football committees. The news took Whittingham by surprise, but he expects him to be back in coaching. There just comes a time for everybody when it’s time.

-Everyone pretty much has USC already winning, going to the CFP, and Williams winning the Heisman. Whittingham says he loves the chip on the shoulder role with nobody giving them a chance. He mentioned that they seem to thrive in that capacity.

-It’s important to keep Williams caged up and not allow him to get outside the pocket.

Ends it with, “Okay guys, see you in Vegas.”

Who all is going?