Utah football: Realistic post-spring expectations for 2023

For a second straight season, Utah football secured a Pac-12 title and Kyle Whittingham proved once again that he’s one of the best coaches in college football.

The Utes went just 10-4 overall, but beating USC the way they did in the Pac-12 title game was more than impressive. They outplayed the Heisman Trophy winner and Whittingham out-coached Lincoln Riley. And now the Utes are on the hunt for Pac-12 title No. 3 in a row.

Utah returns Cameron Rising at quarterback and he’ll be one of the most veteran passers in college football. He’ll have Money Parks, Devaughn Vele, and Brant Kuithe to throw to.

In the backfield, Tavion Thomas is gone, but breakout candidate Ja’Quinden Jackson returns after averaging 6.8 yards per touch last season. The run game should be a strength.

On defense, Utah should have one of the best units in the Pac-12 yet again after landing some key players in the portal. That seems to be a Whittingham staple.

So what can we expect from this team after spring ball?

Realistic Utah football post-spring expectations

The Utes will have one of the better offenses in the Pac-12 with Rising back and Jackson in the backfield as a potential 1,000-yard rusher and I can see the defense remaining in that top-40 range.

If that happens, Utah will be hard to keep from a three-peat.

Looking at the schedule, the sure wins for the Utes have to be Weber State, Cal, Arizona State, and Colorado. The games that I lean win for Utah are Florida, UCLA, and Arizona. That would give Utah seven wins right there with 50/50 matchups against Baylor, Oregon State, and Oregon. The likely losses would have to be USC and Washington.

So let’s say the Utes go 1-2 in those 50/50 games and win the ones they’re supposed to as well as lose to USC and Washington, an 8-4 finish seems realistic.

However, I could see Utah stealing a game it probably shouldn’t win and finishing 9-3. I’ll go with either 8-4 or 9-3 for the Utes this year.