Utah Football: 3 reasons Jake Bentley can take Utes to 2020 playoff

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - AUGUST 31: Tomon Fox #12 of the North Carolina Tar Heels watches as Jake Bentley #19 of the South Carolina Gamecocks reacts after his team scores a touchdown against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the Belk College Kickoff game at Bank of America Stadium on August 31, 2019 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

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SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – NOVEMBER 02: The Utah Utes celebrate after defeating the Washington Huskies 33-28 during their game at Husky Stadium on November 02, 2019 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /

1. Surrounded by a roster of contenders

There are two vast differences between South Carolina and Utah — at least right now. One, the Gamecocks play in the SEC where they’re usually somewhere in the middle of the pack and two, South Carolina just doesn’t have the dogs to compete for either a division or conference title.

Basically, Jake Bentley traded his roster of non-contenders for one that has the pieces to make a run not only in the Pac-12, but as we saw this season, on a national level.

Utah may not have Zack Moss back or a couple of other big names, but we do know the Utes will play good defense and have plenty of weapons on the offensive side of the ball. Especially since Andy Ludwig is getting his feet wet in Salt Lake City again, the offense should be a well-oiled machine surrounding Bentley.

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We saw how well Bentley played on a roster that wasn’t going to compete for any titles, so just imagine what he’s going to do on the Utes when he’s surrounded by nothing but solid players coming off a Pac-12 title appearance.

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