Better than expected start, especially being 2-0 in conference.

There are some definite problems that need fixing though. In our five non-punching bag games (Sam Houston, Ga Tech, Miss. St, Az and WSU) we have 61 less field goal attempts than our opponents, we are minus 23 on the off. boards and have 37 more turnovers.

BC and Gabe lead the team in TO's, many of which are unforced. Not sure how to clean that up but if Craig Smith and co. want to continue getting the big bucks they need to get that cleaned up.

As to our rotation, it's clear that at this point the coaches prefer Stefanovic over Exacte, Saunders and Holt and that Gavin Baxter and Luka Tarlac have fallen out of the rotation.

I'm not a big fan of Stefanovic as he's a poor shooter (36% from 2 and 31% from 3), takes a lot of shots (4th most on the team) and isn't a great defender. He does have an excellent A/T ration of 2.5/1 which is likely why he get the minutes he does at this point. Still, I don't think his ceiling is all that high and hope to see Exacte, Saunders and/or Holt cut into his minutes as they, hopefully, elevate their play.

Here are the PFF grades from the Utes championship victory:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/inside-the-numbers-utah-s-pff-grades-in-pac-12-championship

The dude is a hell of an athlete but not a great QB. Has someone in his ear likely. https://www.espn.com/college-footba...igers-qb-dj-uiagalelei-enters-transfer-portal

I’ll share my full thoughts on last night’s gigantic victory a little later, but here are the takeaways from the Utes’ Pac-12 Championship Game performance.

https://utah.rivals.com/news/takeaways-utah-is-back-to-back-pac-12-champs

Missed last year. Going this year. Any advice on tickets, game day, lodging, parking etc ?

Obviously today's CFP Rankings are finalized for 2022. Utah is #8.

Utah is #7 in the AP Top 25 Poll. This is what I want to focus on right now. Of course there will be one final AP Poll at end of the season (post bowl game/Playoff). Anyway, the nuts and bolts are that Utah started the season ranked #7 and as of today, Utah has come full circle to be ranked #7 again. That's amazing since the Utes have 3 losses.

What's interesting to me is the season long path in-between from where Utah started out losing in the Swamp and how they got back to #7 now. Again, full circle.

The hype to start the season was unprecedented. Yet despite losing to Florida jn week 1, Utah has at some point this season has been the highest ranked one loss, two loss and now three loss team in the country. This shows the level of respect that Coach Whittingham's program has obtained. It's been surprising to me.

Honestly though, if Utah beat Florida and things played out the same afterwards with the other two losses, Utah would still be outside the Playoff. At best, Utah would be ranked #5. Realistically to me, I believe Utah would be #6, one better than they are now. Nonetheless, what an incredible journey these last two years!

A win in Pasadena could move Utah up a little bit. Depending on other NY6 matchups, particularly Alabama versus K- State and Tennessee versus Clemson, I could see Utah finish the season possibly ranked #5. It would take Alabama and Tennessee losing and the winner in those games not jumping Utah. But Penn State has a ranking matching the underdogs in the other two games (K-State and Clemson). Regardless of any ranking, winning the Rose Bowl is paramount for Utah to take the next BIG step.

Better football program:

BYU before 2004 with their National Title, Heisman, Doak, and Outland or...........
Utah 2004 and after with their "recognized" National Title, 1st overall pick, 2 undefeated seasons, Fiesta, Sugar, and Rose x2 and B2B Conference Championships?

I know their is bias here but with complete honesty. Utah's run is equal to, if not better than, BYUs which begs the next question:

Top coach in the history of the state.... Sloan, Whittingham, or Edwards?

Joseph breaks this game down as only he can:

For a possible Penn State-Utah matchup in a rose bowl? I admit I don’t watch PSU a lot I don’t know much about them

Out of curiosity, which players do we know or suspect will be leaving for the draft?

Let’s get this momentum rollin’.

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He’s 12-16 for 95 yards so far, after entering in the second quarter.

Here’s everything everyone needs to know for the game:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/no-8-utah-is-rose-bowl-bound-for-second-straight-season

A. Built a statue
B. Name the field after him
C. Name the stadium after him or add his name to Rice Eccles
D. A combination of the above
E. Gods don’t die they live and Coach forever

Driving back from the game last night and I still can’t believe what I saw. Can someone help me with a rooting guide for today’s games? Is it beneficial if TCU loses or if Michigan loses? I’m not sure it does either way, but I think I would rather play Penn State in the Rose Bowl than face Ohio State for a second year in the row. I like variety and it’s easier to hate the color blue than red.

I'll keep it simple. After that first quarter it wasn't looking good, but what can you say about this team? They end up blowing the game wide open in the second half after some huge broken tackles turned into big Utah touchdowns.
- Rising threw for 310 yards and 3 TDs
- Jackson ran for 105 yards and 2 TDS on just 13 carries, Bernard had 88 and a TD on 11 carries
- The defense ended up getting to Caleb Williams 7 times
- How about that second half? The big touchdowns by Parks, Yassmin, and Jackson were awesome.

The University of Utah: back-to-back Pac-12 champions! Let's hear everyone's thoughts.

Kid goes 8-2; plays for the most storied football program in the country with most certain deep pockets.... And bolts. If Notre Dame cannot keep players then no one can. The direction of college football is getting ludicrous. No other competitive sports league in the world operates this way. Absurd.

Do the Utes hold off a hot USC team to defend their title?

We talked about how we’d expect Utah to win, now we talk about how we’d anticipate USC winning…

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

Granted, it's just one spot.

But that does open a pathway to the Rose if USC wins Friday.

Albeit one that has to end with a very narrow USC victory (last second stuff) so nothing like 2019's game.

That could possibly keep Utah ahead of Washington in the final CFP poll and therefore a viable option to be selected if SC goes to the playoffs.

Did not expect Utah to be ahead of Washington.

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: