Utah didn't take as much of a dive as I expected here- with about 10 points of offense lost on weird special teams plays, a pretty solid YPP differential, and an underestimated NIU defense the advanced metrics held fairly strong for the Utes. Cal continues to be an outlier, but Colorado's projections have started to adjust to their performance a bit. Watch out for ASU- although I predict the model will think less of the Michigan State win as the season goes on and the Spartans lose some games.
The biggest gain Utah made was that one of USC's losses is no longer theoretical. Since USC's loss was in-conference, that advantage percolates over to conference win percentage side of things- but it's not enough to put Utah in the South driver's seat. A win over Washington is needed to convince the subscriber-exclusive PAC 12 model that Utah has a good shot of winning the PAC.
The biggest gain Utah made was that one of USC's losses is no longer theoretical. Since USC's loss was in-conference, that advantage percolates over to conference win percentage side of things- but it's not enough to put Utah in the South driver's seat. A win over Washington is needed to convince the subscriber-exclusive PAC 12 model that Utah has a good shot of winning the PAC.
