What the preseason magazines say about Utah & the Mountain West
by JazzyUte on Jun 22, 2010 10:59 PM MDT
in Football
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PrintOne of the great things about summer is the seemingly endless college football preseason publications. Most are woefully wrong when November and December roll around - and yet, here we are, still buying and reading them.
Generally, it's never safe to take just one magazine as the gospel. Like election polls, they're more and more accurate the larger sample size you have.
If one magazine says Utah is going to finish fourth in the Mountain West (Rogers Poll, if you can believe it), it's probably not wise to expect it. The Utes haven't finished fourth in the conference since 2005. So you probably say that prediction is an outlier and compare it to the other predictions.
Athlon, Lindy, Phil Steele and TSN all have Utah finishing second to TCU in the conference. I think that's a realistic expectation. In fact, I believe when the Mountain West preseason media poll is released next month, that's exactly where they'll put Utah - right behind the Frogs.
That means the consensus puts the Utes at second. Not fourth like the Rogers Poll indicates (they have AFA finishing second and BYU third).
I am content with this because I think TCU is the team to beat. They dominated the Mountain West last year and return a great deal of the talent that got them to the top. No team, outside of TCU, in the conference's history has won the championship in such spectacular fashion one year and returned much of what made them spectacular.
That's what is facing Utah and the rest of the conference. Of course, TCU does have to travel to Salt Lake and that will probably prove to be their toughest test of the season. Unless Utah rolls over like they did a year ago.
I expect these numbers to change as more and more publications are added. But for the time, it looks like the Utes are destined for second...at least according to them.
Agree?
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Yes, agree.
I think you’re spot on. The TCU Utah game may be interesting this year up on the Hill but I too expect TCU to be preseason #1 and the team to beat in the MWC this year.
Hopefully we're pissed for that game...
I want to believe it was just a perfect storm and the distance between us and them wasn’t THAT wide.
I guess we’ll find out in November.
We made too many crucial mistakes.
I saw three critical errors in that game that resulted in three scores for TCU. Take those crucial mistakes away and they beat us by 7 at hteir place. I had the opportunity to talk with Jordan Wynn, and he agreed. He said that the coaching staff was saying the same thing to the team after the game. Hopefully moving forward for this season, and of course into the PAC 10/12, we can fix those kinds of issues. If we cant, we will more than likely loose to tougher competition. Play good major mistake free football, and we have a great shot at a couple of great seasons ahead of us.
Go Utes!
Athlon
Hello! I just found SB Nation and Block U and I look forward to commenting many more times in the future.
Anyways, I read the College Football issue that Athlon put out. If you paid attention to the way they predicted Utah to finish, it was a 9-3 or 9-4 finish (I can’t remember if they were factoring in the bowl game), which in my opinion is crap because they are predicting that we are going to loose all of our non conference games with that record, except maybe Iowa State. Even when I try to be unbiassed, I still don’t see us loosing to Pitt up on the Hill and I will be absolutely shocked if we do. I find it hard to see us loosing to TCU at home as well, although it’s more realistic to me than loosing to Pitt at home. TCU is definitely going to be the make or break game of the season, and Notre Dame could be too depending on what Brian Kelly is able to do his first year.
At the same time I welcome the vote of non-confidence because it seems like we play 10 times better when they say we can’t do something i.e. Win at the Big House, or even compete, let alone blow away Alabama. I think that a chip on the shoulder will be very helpful coming out to open the season because while I don’t see us loosing to Pitt, I definitely view it as our toughest Non-Conference game this year being that I can’t judge how Notre Dame will be without seeing them in action first.
I hate it when we get underestimated, yet at the same time it seems like we play better when we do get underestimated, so hopefully the poor review from Athlon will be a good thing for us this season.
9-3 is not unreasonable.
They’re thinking losses to Pitt, TCU and either BYU, ISU, or Notre Dame. I wouldn’t be shocked by losses in any of those games except maybe Iowa State (they’re improved but they’re not on our level).
So I’m not surprised by that prediction. I’ll be moderately disappointed by that result, but not shocked.
If they’re predicting bowl games, well . . . that’s ridiculous. Nobody knows what bowl game will be played, and with Utah’s track record you should predict a win no matter the opponent.
Everyone hates a pink-shirt-wearing communist.
by displacedute on Jun 23, 2010 10:41 AM MDT up reply actions
i just I wonder how brian kelly's qb (who has had reconstucted knee surgery) is going to run that
spread offense? i’ll bet when we play them we will get the second string guy. the n.d. game is late in the season and i like the number 2 postion as well. play with a chip on our shoulder.
I'm all about covering the spread and moneylines. Craig Thompson just might end up being a savvy guy if he gets the MWC to 12 teams. The University of Utah starts in the Pac-Ten in 2011. Now remember, when things look bad and it looks like you're not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean, I mean plumb, mad dog mean. cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live or win. That's just the way it is. "The Outlaw Josey Wales". To protect the sheep you gotta catch the wolf, and it takes a wolf to catch a wolf. "Training Day". Rashad will beat Rua b/c he is a far superior wrestler and a bad matchup for him. 2/1 odds. Josh Koscheck will dethrone Gsp and win the welterweight title. Last man to win a round vs Gsp. 2.9/1 odds on that too. Peace.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Jun 23, 2010 12:13 PM MDT up reply actions
I really like that #2 spot.
It has done well for Utah in the past.
BCS Evolution -- Punctuating the Equilibrium - twitter
#2 = #1
The last 3 years, every preseason #2 has seemed to finish first in the conference. BYU 3 years ago. Utah 2 years ago. TCU last year.
Hopefully that rings true this year. TCU looks scary good though. Even better than last year if that is possible. Luckily the Utes have them at home in the second half of the season. Wittingham is not the type that loses often in the second half of the season.
TCU was picked to finish first last year.
But yes, the MWC media has not had a particularly strong track record.
In 2008, BYU was picked first; Utah won.
In 2007, TCU was picked first; BYU won.
In 2006, TCU was picked first; BYU won.
In 2005, Utah was picked first; TCU won.
November 11th, 2010
TCU waxed the Utes last year and are supposed to have a better team this year, BCS bowl bound again. But I think Utah will be better too and they will be at home. Still based on last years results, I think second place for the Utes to finish in the MWC is a very reasonable prediction. Anything lower is a disappointment, a title would be a mild surprise.
BYU, while still good, has way too many losses at the skill positions to be considered a favorite. Air Force has yet to get over the hump, and the rest of the league isn’t even in the same conversation for a league title. I have to think that it will come down to the Utah-TCU game.
TCU
Spnds much more than Utah on Football. About 16 some million to our nine plus. That’s a huge difference.
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