Watch the video if you have access. For the first time in quite a while, Oregon and Utah are on the big board with the sports analysts picking the Top 5 in the CFP discussion. The good news is that two Pac-12 teams are “on the board” even if they are outside of the last four at the moment.
One game at a time, I get it. Assuming Utah maintains that focus with favorable results, we know that a number of the top 10 teams in the SEC and Big 10 will face off over the next few weeks. Oregon and Utah are both on winning streaks. What allowed them to ascend in this ESPN exercise is that other top teams are beaten. In other words, the rise is an artifact of winning and not from better analysis by the east coast sports writers, if you see what I am saying.
Last week, after Utah beat ASU on FoxSports1 (I think), the Fox sports announcer the next day or so made some quite favorable comments about Utah’s team. I think I read something like ‘most under rated’. Right now ESPN is focused on their darling SEC, Clemson and a few select teams in the Big 10 and Big 12. You know, the usual power teams. Baylor and Minnesota, like Utah have “backed into” their rankings. For the most part, ESPN looks past them.
Obviously, Utah needs to do what Utah is doing week in and week out. Maintain the focus, continue to win, and create phenomenal stats on D and for Tyler Huntley. If Utah manages that, their relative strength will at some point be impossible to ignore.
Just keep winning and see how it all plays out. Hopefully no one on the team is dreaming about what could be and is focused on beating UDUB. Peterson so far owns Whitt, I’d like to see that change first. Nice to see the team getting credit, I just don’t want to see our second top 10 ranking vanish on the road like the USC trip did.
My NSFW viewpoint: BSPN can choke on that SEC * that they’re so busy gargling. They don’t have much of a financial interest in the PAC12, not PAC12 network for them, like the SEC network that they have. It’s in their interest to push SEC and ACC (thus Clemson) since they have those 2 networks under the ESPN umbrella. Yes BSPN pays the PAC12, but without the complete rights (like ACCN and SECN) they’re less interested in the PAC12.
Hope that makes sense. So, my view stands, let them choke on what they’re gargling.
Makes me happy to see BSPN spew and sputter over PAC12 teams doing well. Keep it up Oregon and Utah.
If what they say about a Head Coach not truly being hands on with the players due to his Head Coach responsibilities, then Peterson has owned all of our previous OC’s. I’ve said as much before, but there have been multiple times when I’m watching the offense and I literally say “that’s beautiful”.
There have been plays that built on each other so well that I was initially fooled, as the play starts out, and then see how that run up the gut (that ended in 2 yards a cloud of dust the first two times it was run) is now a perfectly timed play action or bootleg that fooled me and the defense. Well timed reverses, screens, etc. There were times previously and especially under ARod where I thought we were just running screens to run them. We’d just run the same plays over and over and hope they other team didn’t notice. Now there’s a rhyme and reason to the madness and you can see the results.
He’s seen tough and hyped games his whole career, and his recent stint in the SEC has only seasoned him like a fine bottle of Caymus.
It would be nice to get a win against them instead of these games where they eek out a win and we’re left with a Poppinga Victory (just realized we may still need the old Utefans.net dictionary to explain that one).