College Football Rankings 2017: Projected Week 6 AP Top 25 Poll

Utah is among the five teams in the AP Top 25 that took a bye this week. After USC’s loss on Friday night, the Utes are now the last unbeaten team in the Pac-12 South. They are tied atop the division with Arizona State, who has two more losses in non-conference play.

Kyle Whittingham’s team has been winning this year thanks in large part to a stifling defense. No team in the country has generated more turnovers per game than the Utes, who are averaging 3.5 takeaways after the first third of the season. They have also clamped down hard against the run, allowing only 87 yards on the ground per game.

The schedule gets tougher once Utah comes out of its break. Next weekend, the Utes host Stanford in an interdivisional battle. In Week 7, Whittingham’s crew heads to Los Angeles for a Pac-12 South separation game against USC. If the Utes win those next two, they will vault up the AP Top 25 ahead of the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season.