Utah Football: 3 bold predictions for Pac-12 title game vs. Oregon

1. Utah beats Oregon, earns a bid to the playoff

If your name is Paul Finebaum, I’d suggest just skipping this page.

Utah is going to beat Oregon on Friday night for a couple of reasons. One, the Utes’ defense will suffocate the Ducks and make them one-dimensional. Justin Herbert has the ability to beat teams with his arm, but he’s not going to beat this secondary unless he plays the best game of his life and I don’t see that happening.

Two, the Utes are playing for much more than the Ducks. It’s easy to get up for a game when you know that everything is on the line. A win likely means the Utes will be in (barring a catastrophic turn of events where the committee takes either a second SEC team or Oklahoma/Baylor winner). And if the Utes can win handily, the chances of them making the playoff increase exponentially.

I believe this will be a close game, but I also think the Utes take care of business, prove to the nation that they’re capable of beating quality teams and head to the playoff riding a nine-game winning streak and plenty of momentum.

A red-hot Utah team is something not even Ohio State, LSU or Clemson would want to see and that’s exactly what they might get in a month’s time.