1. Best win/loss PAC outcome this weekend

For the Utes?
2 For the PAC?
3. Most likely outcome?

Colorado versus Arizona is the most intriguing with implications towards Utah. I would think Colorado winning would be in Utah’s best interest.

I believe Oregon beating Cal is good for the conference as much as Washington over Stanford. The depth in the Pac12 of anybody can beat anybody is also the demise of the Pac12

Nobody cares about Oregon State and UCLA anymore

Here is what I see as the results that would be the best for the Utes. I think this is also in the best interest of the conference, since a 1 loss Utah team is in the conference’s best interest.

Arizona over Colorado–can they both lose? I think Colorado is more of a threat to us than Arizona.
Oregon State over UCLA–always cheer for the North against the non-Utah south.
Oregon over California–just because we need a one-loss team to beat in the championship game.
Washington over Stanford-ditto.

4 Likes

I would actually go the opposite here. We play more south teams than north teams, and we want our wins to look as impressive as possible, so we should root for the south teams to win all their other games. Leave one team to do very well in the north and be ranked (a team that we don’t play, ideally), have a couple other ranked teams in the south, beat them, have a good strength of schedule.

2 Likes

In this case, though, isn’t it a wash as the Utes will play both of those teams?

In this case, yes, we should root for the stronger team to win. But in general to me rooting for North teams is counter-productive.

Maybe, but losing to USC makes us anything but a lock for the South. I think we need all the help we can get. Therefore, North over any team other than Utah. We’re not going to the CFP, so none of the records of the South matter in regards to strength of schedule. We just need to win to be able to go to the conference championship game. Rose Bowl is our realistic goal.