College Football Playoff Rankings 2018: Selection Sunday Top 25 projections

With freshman quarterback Jason Shelley continuing to fill the void left by Tyler Huntley’s broken collarbone, Utah struggled to put together much offense against No. 11 Washington as they lost 10-3 in the Pac-12 championship game on Friday night. The Utes, though, also stifled Washington’s offense as they gave up only 306 yards on 73 Huskies snaps. Only a defensive touchdown separated the two teams at Levi’s Stadium.

Just making it to Santa Clara was impressive for the Utes, as they overcame the loss of Huntley to win their last three games of the regular season. Shelley wasn’t able to crack one of the nation’s top defenses, and his pick-six to Byron Murphy proved the difference on the scoreboard. But he will continue to develop and learn from this early experience.

Despite losing, the Utes finished the regular season as the Pac-12 South champion with a 9-4 record. The loss to Washington won’t be enough for the selection committee to drop Utah out of the College Football Playoff Top 25 completely, though they will fall a few spots into the low 20s of the rankings.