Utah has been sitting near the top of the college football world through the first eight weeks of the season. It has seen its ranking rise every week, it hosted College GameDay and the Utes were the lone remaining undefeated team in the Pac-12.
Yes, it’s been a nice ride thus far for Utah in 2015. But unfortunately for Utah fans everywhere, the former No. 3 Utes were brought back to reality in a harsh way.
No longer is Utah a College Football Playoff contender and no longer is its ranking on the rise. Rather, the Utes fell 10 spots to No. 13 in the most recent AP Poll — not surprising after a 42-24 loss to an unranked opponent (given, we all know USC is much better than just any unranked opponent).
There’s no doubt that this team is disappointed. How could it not be?
These players just watched their dreams of playing for a national title go down the drain. Let’s make this clear though — they did not bring all of those expectations onto themselves. Whittingham preaches every week how his team focuses on the opponent that week and that week only. Even so, the thought of being in the CFP was still present.
But now it’s gone and sorrow has set in, understandably so. But the Utes better not dwell on this loss for too long because there’s still so much to play for.
The Pac-12 has shown in these first eight weeks that anything can happen and that’s true for the remainder of Utah’s games. As the division standings are right now, Utah still owns a one-game lead over anyone else in the South, despite its loss. Because of this, it would be in the Utes’ best interest to leave this game in Southern California.
No literally, leave it there. Don’t even talk about it. It’s over with. As far as Utah is concerned, and I’m sure Whittingham is already on it, the only thing on its mind should be Oregon State.
Look, every team has an off week. The best teams figure out how to win during those off weeks. Utah couldn’t do that against USC, which leads us to another harsh truth that Ute fans have to accept — Utah isn’t the top team everyone hoped it was.
But let’s turn the clock back to the start of the season and remember where this team started — unranked. The College Football Playoff wasn’t a thought for even the most optimistic of Ute fans heading into the season, so the fact that Utah will probably not crack the committee’s final four teams at season’s end isn’t all that disappointing.
Now the Utes can focus on the more realistic goal in front of them: winning the Pac-12 South. As previously mentioned, Utah still holds the keys with a one-game lead and if they can take care of business the rest of the way, the Utes will hold a spot in the Pac-12 Championship game.
The story was great and the ride was even better. This Utah football team has done great things for its fan base, student body and program in 2015, and none of that will be viewed as wasted. Sure, the loss stings — it’s supposed to. But the Utes have already given so much this season, and still have so much left to fight for, that they don’t have time to sit around and sulk over the loss.
A Pac-12 Championship, Utah’s best record since joining the Pac-12 and a New Year’s Six bowl are still very achievable goals for the Utes this season.
Whittingham’s teams are known for their toughness and grit and we should all expect this 2015 version of the Utes to get back up even stronger after being knocked down for the first time this year.
@GriffDoug