Utah Football: Should the Utes be the PAC-12 South favorite in 2018?
Only time will tell if Kyle Whittingham can get Utah football in contention for a PAC-12 South Title anytime soon, or even in 2018.
Utah football usually flies under the radar, and the 2018 off-season looks to be no exception. The PAC-12 South was won by the USC Trojans last year, and that program loses some of its best talent. USC was led by star quarterback Sam Darnold and running back Ronald Jones II last year.
Some of the top teams in the PAC-12 South in 2018 should include the Trojans, Utah Utes, UCLA Bruins, and potentially the Arizona schools. The situation surrounding the Arizona Wildcats is very dependent on new head football coach Kevin Sumlin and a Heisman contending quarterback in Khalil Tate. Meanwhile, the Arizona State Sun Devils enter 2018 also with a new head football coach in Herm Edwards. And, Arizona State has an intriguing quarterback-wide receiver duo between Manny Wilkins and N’Keal Harry.
Yet, Utah might be the safest pick to win the PAC-12 South in 2018. The Utes return a solid quarterback in Tyler Huntley and an experienced defense under head football coach Kyle Whittingham.
Last season saw the Utes round things out with seven wins. It was a mark lower than what the fan base is accustomed to. A collapse in the middle of PAC-12 play led to Utah declining rapidly after a nice undefeated start to the season through the first four games.
This time around, Utah can have a plan in place to prepare for the tougher stretches of conference play to avoid 2017 happening again. Yet, near victories at the end of the regular season against high-quality opponents like the Washington Huskies and Washington State Cougars put Utah in position to finish things out with two straight wins.
It’s possible that those two straight wins over the Colorado Buffaloes and West Virginia Mountaineers will be enough to get Utah back into contention in the PAC-12 South. The return of both Huntley and standout rising junior running back Zack Moss will help out too.
On the defensive side of the ball, Utah has some key pieces coming back including the 2017 sack leader in defensive end Bradlee Anai and the interceptions leader in cornerback Julian Blackmon. That could be enough to power the Utes defense to marginal improvement at least this fall.
The rest of the PAC-12 South doesn’t stack up too great, so the opportunity is definitely there for the Utes to make a run at winning the division. UCLA will be an intriguing pick with new head football coach Chip Kelly coming to town. And, USC is always a trendy pick because of all the talent consistently present on the roster.
Next: Utah football draws very tough schedule in 2018
Utah is a nice pick for the PAC-12 South in 2018. The key pieces of the roster are coming back on both sides of the ball. And, this is a safe pick with the rest of the PAC-12 facing some major question marks all around.