Utah Football: Can Utes keep in contention for Pac 12-South vs. Colorado?

No. 19 Utah football heads to Boulder, Colo., this weekend to take on the Colorado Buffaloes in an attempt to stay in the Pac-12 South Race.

I’m still trying to understand how Utah defeated the Oregon Ducks last week.

Utah lost 84 percent of its offensive production in less than a week before taking on Oregon. Oregon doesn’t necessarily do anything great, but a team that loses that much on offense should have no shot at beating a team that is on the verge of an eight-win season.

Jason Shelley and Armand Shyne seem to have taken over for Tyler Huntley and Zack Moss and basically did the same things that the latter have done all season long. Tyler Huntley was averaging 209 yards and a score through the air with a 29-yard average on the ground and a score every other game this season and Jason Shelley came in against Oregon and threw for 262 with 22 yards on the ground and two scores.

Zack Moss was averaging 121 yards per game on the ground with a score per game and Armand Shyne came in with 174 yards and 6.7 yards per carry.

With Shelley and Shyne at the disposal of Kyle Whittingham, Utah is back in a position to compete for the Pac-12 South title with a win this week before they take on BYU in the Holy War next week. Arizona State owns the rights to the top of the Pac-12 South right now but if they fall to Oregon or Arizona in their final two weeks then the Utes will reclaim control.

Colorado is in a difficult position going into this game. Coach Mike MacIntyre was notified earlier in the week that he would be allowed his job until the end of the season and that has to be a factor going into this game. Players play for their coach and if their coach is MacIntyre, they could make this a game in an effort to honor their departing coach. If not, then they won’t be as motivated and we have an entirely different ball game.

On a brighter note, stud sophomore receiver Laviska Shenault Jr. is back in business for the Buffaloes and caught ten passes for over 100 yards last weekend against Washington State. Shenault is an absolute game-changer for the Buffaloes and has a very promising career moving forward. Can he resume where he left off earlier in the season?

Date: Saturday, Nov. 17
Time: 1:30 p.m. ET
Location: Boulder, Colo.
Venue: Folsom Field
TV: Pac-12 Network
Live Stream: Pac-12 Network or FuboTV

Keys to Victory

Colorado’s offense benefits greatly with the return of Shenault and if they aren’t throwing to him, he has to be on the field. He is a huge matchup problem against most teams with his 12.6 yards per reception and he has to be on the field to, at an absolute minimum, be a decoy for the 57th nationally ranked pass defense.

Defensively, they must be able to stop the run which is something they haven’t been able to do fully against the stronger ground games they’ve played this season (Nebraska, 329; UCLA, 151; Arizona State, 145; Washington, 201; Arizona, 216).

Utah needs to go out and play like they did last week. They still have the running threats to win at quarterback and running back and still have the same offensive identity that they’ve had all season long. Get the ball going on the ground and kill the clock. Shenault is a man amongst boys on the field and if Utah can either find a way to guard him or eat as much clock as humanly possible this weekend to keep the ball out of his hands then they will do just fine.

Betting Odds

Courtesy of OddsShark

Points Spread: Utah -7
Over/Under: 54

Prediction

So Utah has struggled in November in the past but this year just seems different. They go into this game with a chance to claim a division championship for the first time since joining the Pac-12 (that of course with an Arizona State loss). Colorado has absolutely collapsed as a team since losing to USC in October and the MacIntyre firing doesn’t make anything better for their chances.

Final Score: Utah 31, Colorado 14