This is going to be a stunning season

Football
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Ranking all 138 FBS teams in tiers: Who rises to the top?

espn.com article

…until the games start and there are some actual data points, we’re left to make some educated guesses. So, once again, presenting a tiered ranking of all 138 FBS teams – guaranteed to be accurate for at least as long as nobody knows any better.

Tier 4: We’re still here

Utah Utes

As for…Utah, there’s plenty to like, but…Morgan Scalley has never been a head coach.

Numbers to know:

Utah has lost 12 straight games to ranked opponents by an average of 13 points per game dating back to 2022.

Last year, Utah led the Big 12 (and was fifth in the Power 4) with a 50.8% offensive success rate. A year earlier, Utah’s success rate was 38.2%, 15th in the Big 12. The 33-percentage-point year-over-year increase was the best among Power 4 schools.

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I love the look of the kit for the University of Hawai’i at Manoa.

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2026-27 preseason College Football Playoff, bowl projections

espn article: https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/49661442/2026-27-preseason-college-football-playoff-cfp-bowl-projections

Trust & Will Holiday Bowl
Snapdragon Stadium (San Diego, California)
Schlabach: Clemson vs. Utah

It looks like Bonagura doesn’t think we’ll make a bowl.

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Wow ! He has Kansas going to a bowl but not Utah ? Crazy

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Bonagura is betting on a first season slump.

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Equal partnerships

Utah-BYU: “Holy War” is surprisingly lopsided in Utah’s favor (59-35-4) given BYU’s high profile since the 1980s. The current era is the best it’s been.

The Athletic rivalry ranking: 28

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College football archenemies for every power-conference team

espn.com article

Utah Utes

Max Hall. After leading BYU to a win against Utah in 2009, quarterback Hall didn’t hold back his feelings about the Cougars’ rival. “I don’t like Utah. In fact, I hate them. I hate everything about them. I hate their program, their fans. I hate everything,” Hall said. “It felt really good to send those guys home.” Most neutral observers can chalk up that infamous rant as something that came in the heat of the moment, but it still stands as a singular instance to demonstrate just how vitriolic this rivalry can get. – Bonagura

Editor’s note: We’re classless. We threw beer on his family and did a whole bunch of nasty things.

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Personally I would have went with that Austin Collie idiot that said “Obviously, when you’re doing what’s right on and off the field, I think the Lord steps in and plays a part in it, magic happens” after that long 4th down conversion and win.

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The terms idiot, imbecile, moron, and their derivatives were formerly used as technical descriptors in medical, educational, and regulatory contexts. The use of these terms in the context of extreme intellectual disability was broadly rejected by the close of the 20th century and is now considered offensive.

merriam-webster.com

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Pretty sure Utah exorcised any lingering Max Hall demons by winning 9 in a row after he said that.

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Well, that is kind of what I was going for in this case.

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Austin was your typical Utah county indoctrinated dweeb. I actually didn’t hold that against him as much because it was typical group think type speak. I remember hearing the same thing and parts of Weber county when I was a kid in the 70s.

The one I always remember the most because it came around the same time as I think when the cheerleader got tackled, but some guy named Lenny talking about who’s going to be pumping whose gas in the future

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“…gas in the future”

It is comments like these that make me wonder how much LDS faithful buy into the concept of ‘in the world, but not of the world’ that I remember being taught as a kid. As I grew up in the church, I wondered why people focused on being successful in their lives and not more like monks or the early christian desert fathers. It felt like a huge crack in the philosophy to me.

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Is it prophetic that no one pumps anyone else’s gas? Unless of course you live in Oregon…

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The term dweeb, which means “socially awkward” or “highly studious to a fault” got its start on college campuses in the 1960s. Frankly, no one really knows its exact etymology, but there is a lot of, well, dweeby speculation about it. It really took off in the 1980s, particularly as a result of the following quote from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: “Oh, he’s very popular, Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads—they all adore him. They think he’s a righteous dude.” In the 21st century it is considered to be a highly useful term, and its deployment in random conversation thoroughly recommended.

Source: Me

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Sleeper college football players who could break out in 2026 season

espn.com article

Jireh Moe, DT, Utah

Class: Sophomore

Height/weight: 6-foot, 280 pounds

2025 stats: 28 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks at San Jose State

ESPN recruiting snapshot: Three stars, No. 165 defensive tackle, No. 169 in California

Moe doesn’t look like most Power 4 defensive tackles, but he plays bigger than his frame and should be an interesting addition for Utah’s staff to use. He impressed throughout the spring for a new-look Utes defensive line. His relentlessness and understanding of the game jumped out, and he should help both as a run stopper and occasional pass rusher.

Coach’s take: “Jireh is 5-11, and the sucker is so strong and so quick and so disruptive,” Utah coach Morgan Scalley told ESPN. “You look at him like, ‘There’s no way,’ and then he’s so powerful and quick-twitched and he’s so productive.”

After Indiana, who could be college football’s next first-time national champion

espn.com article

7. Utah Utes

AP top-10 finishes: 4 (2000s peak: No. 2 in 2008)

Projected 2026 SP+: 9.8 (30th)

10-year SP+ average: 14.5 (second among potential first-timers)

10-year SP+ max: 22.2 (sixth among potential first-timers)

Rittenberg ranking: seventh among potential first-timers

Last FY revenue: $115.7 million

In the early 2000s, Utah made one of the best sets of back-to-back hires on record, first bringing in Urban Meyer for a supernova burst of greatness, then replacing him with Kyle Whittingham, who enjoyed eight seasons of double-digit wins and four top-15 finishes in 21 years. Whittingham ran a sturdy and strong program, and Utah would rank a little higher here if he hadn’t left for Michigan last winter. Maybe new coach Morgan Scalley kicks things up another notch, but uncertainty knocks the Utes down a spot or two.

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Hey, we’re number one in the B12 in at least one respect.

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Except they also listed Clemson as #1 too.
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Anybody at the WVU/Utah game in Morgantown last year will never see how they finish 2nd in this. The place was half full and there was no vibe at all.

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That’s because they were all busy raiding the dump for sofas to burn after the game. :wink::wink::wink:

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