Sports Illustrated has Utah and SC tying for the Pac-12 South in their conference preview. However, with the Trojans under NCAA sanctions, in this scenario, it would be the Utes playing in the first Pac-12 title game against the Oregon Ducks, who they peg as the North champions.
They expect the Utes to go 9-3 on the season and 7-2 in conference play, meaning they're projecting a loss at either BYU or Pittsburgh (highly unlikely they see a loss in the season-opener against Montana State).
The magazine also lists the Utah-SC game as one of three key conference games this season. It is, of course, the first ever Pac-12 game, even though Colorado and Cal technically play each other earlier in the day in what has been deemed an out of conference game for both schools.
Here's to SI being right!