Well, here it is. The Utes get Oregon State from the north. We get Arizona, USC, and Oregon State at home. I think this is a reasonably good schedule for us.
Nov. 7 - Arizona
Nov. 13 - @ UCLA
Nov. 21- USC
Nov. 28 - @ Arizona State
Dec. 5 - Oregon State
Dec. 11 - @ Colorado
This looks great.
I don’t see a reason for Utah not to be undefeated.
Agreed. But I tend to be very optimistic about these things. It’s hard to know where the team stands right now, but I like Utah’s chances. It looks like we’ve got some decent options at QB and RB (though there are pretty big shoes to fill), and the defense has been pretty consistent the last few years.
ASU/USC week 1. That’s tough for those two.
They got an advantageous road schedule
We know nothing about this Utah team. You gave LSU a ton of leeway because they are replacing key pieces. Well, Utah is also replacing key pieces, and we aren’t replacing them with 5* recruits.
Utah has 7 players taken in rounds 2-6. LSU had 14 taken total and 5 in round one. I think replacing 14 is harder than 7. Also, I am looking at the South being weaker than the North. Your schedule also lines up well.
But I could be wrong. I’m not an expert at Pac 12 football. I picked Utah to win it all last season.
Hopefully we can go two years in a row without ASU having their best game of the century against us.
The USC/ASU back to back is a tough draw.
FB back on! Not crazy that the PAC appears late to the party, and the conversation will be about how a 7 game team could possibly be in the Final Four, but I’m confident they’re doing this as safely as it can be done. That means something.
Upsides: no eligibility burned, we have a short season, it’s like a set of televised scrimmages with PAC schools. Since we’re in a reload mode after watching all those big time contributors have a great 2019, this abbreviated 2020 PAC season is a buffered transition to what should be a full, robust '21 Ute football season.
The QB competition between an SEC-experienced grad-transfer and a promising redshirt Soph will hopefully extend into next spring & next year. We’ll probably need both Rising & Bentley, and this season isn’t a play-now-or-don’t-play-at-all proposition for Bentley. Big bonus.
The Lineup
Opening at home vs Arizona is a reasonable way to help the new contributors find themselves with a good chance to start with a “W”.
If our talent is what we think it is, going to UCLA is another reasonable PAC-only substitute for our regular preseason games. Road conference games are never a foregone conclusion. (So much to be revealed)
USC here is a high point, but going to Tempe the next week is as wicked as this season gets. Football is about challenges & overcoming adversity. This part of the schedule promises that opportunity.
Oregon State then @ CU, with maybe another PAC North team in there - we damn well better win those games.
This entire year has been crazy and challenging. We’ll see how our collective passion, the FB Utes, usher in the beginning of a return to normalcy.
Go Utes! ! !
He’s predicting a 5-1 “regular season” record.
I just don’t see SC being the team everyone predicts this season. Utah by a Million.
What don’t you see/like about USC? Their coaching? Something else?
Last year ASU had that game against Oregon with the QB who we held to twenty-five years passing putting up over 400 against the Ducks.
We screwed the Ducks over big time. Daniels has all the potential in the world but he has some massive, I mean MASSIVE holes in his game (namely, he can’t throw from the pocket). We exposed him. Instead of copying us, I think Oregon looked at us, looked in the mirror, saw how they had a lot more talent than us, and thought “we got this”.
If you keep Daneils in the pocket, like we did, he is not good. If you let him get out of the pocket, he is elite. Oregon let him run around and they lost their playoff bid because of it.
It’s also why ASU is so overrated this year. They have 4 new OL, new WR, new RB. DC’s will study what Utah did and try to copy it. And ASU is relying on a ton of freshmen WR/RB to carry this team. And a short offseason = limited reps for 4 new OL = a disappointing season.
ASU will not live up to expectations this year, everyone will write them off and then in 2021 they will win 10+ games and “shock” the world.
How different is Daniels if he had come to Utah? He sits out last year, watching Huntley have an amazing season instead of playing at ASU. Now, he was very good at ASU, but he can’t play in the pocket. He gets to spend a year learning with Ludwig, and working on his play in the pocket and getting his body right.
Instead of starting 2020 for ASU with a bunch of freshmen around him, he gets to start for Utah with 4 returning OL, Nacua, Thompson, Enis, Covey, Kuithe and the RB stable we have behind him.
He gets to play for an offense that doesn’t need him to do anything. He can play like Huntley last year, relying on the run game and taking advantage of the play action game. He doesn’t lose any eligibility.
If he was QB at Utah, Utah would be the favorite in the south (although nobody would be talking about Utah). Utah would win the south with Daniels leading this offense.
We win the south, I’d like our chances vs the Oregon/UW with a QB like Daniels leading us. He is special.
Then, we get to do it all over again the fall of 2021, with the whole team returning. We would be a legit playoff team, Daniels would be in the Hesiman conversation, and a possible top 3 pick in the 2022 NFL draft.
Instead? He had to carry ASU last year, didn’t get to work on his body or play in the pocket, has a limited time to improve on those areas, will have to carry this team this fall for ASU to have a chance, and then in 2021 will have to hope he stays healthy and ASU can figure out their OL or he will be heading into the 2022 draft hoping to be taken on “potential”.
Crazy how one decsion can affect so much.
I think ASU wins the south this year.
I’ll admit, losing him still stings. Screw ASU
You’re a year early. There is a great chance ASU starts out 0-2.