Utah football: 3 takeaways from dominant win over Stanford

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Nov 12, 2022; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Utes wide receiver Devaughn Vele (17) and quarterback Cameron Rising (7) celebrate after a touchdown against the Stanford Cardinal in the second quarter at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports /

1. Utah controls its own destiny

When Utah started the season 4-2, I was really to throw in the towel on the Utes’ title hopes because the Pac-12 looked vastly improved with UCLA, USC, Washington, and Oregon all playing well.

Kyle Whittingham’s team didn’t panic, picked up the pieces, and has since gone 4-0 with a win over USC and they’ve out-scored their last two opponents 87-27 after the blowout win on Saturday night against Stanford. This team is now in prime position to contend for the Pac-12 title, sitting at 6-1 in the league with the tiebreaker over USC.

Utah controls its own destiny even if UCLA also wins out. The Utes play Oregon next week and if they can win for the third straight time over the past two years, they’ll have a road game against Colorado to decide their Pac-12 title game fate. If they beat the lowly Buffaloes, they’ll be in the conference title game against any one of Washington, USC, UCLA, or Oregon.

It’s impressive that the Utes are in this position considering how slow of a start they got off to this season. That’s a testament to the caliber of coach Whittingham is.

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