Heading into the 2014 season, there were a lot of
There were some
Here is a
ATHLON SPORTS | SPORTING NEWS | USA TODAY | PHIL STEELE | |
RECORD | 6-6 (4-5) | No prediction *Do note schedule suggests no improvement from 2013 |
5-7 (3-6) | Not available |
BOWL | Independence Bowl |
None | None | Not available |
ALL PAC-12 |
Andy Phillips (K) - 1st Team
Tom Hacket
Eric Rowe (S) - 2nd Team Defense
Geoffrey Norwood (PR) - 3rd Team Specialists
|
Tom Hacket (P) | Eric Rowe (S) |
Tom Hackett Andy Phillips Geoffrey Norwood (PR) - 2nd Team Jeremiah Poutasi (OT) - 3rd Team Nate Orchard (DE) - 3rd Team Devontae Booker (RB) - 4th Team Jason Whittingham Eric Rowe (DB) - 4th Team Brian Blechen |
ALL AMERICA | None | None | None |
Tom Hackett Andy Phillips (K) - 3rd Team |
OFFENSE | Expects new OC Dave Christensen to have a big impact on |
Utah finished 11th in the Pac-12 in total offense in 2013. Dave Christensen is expected to "create a sense of urgency in Utah's spread offense." | Without Travis Wilson last season, the offense "borders on abysmal." | Not available |
DEFENSE |
|
The Utes biggest defensive issue is replacing Reilly, which may be by committee. Utah's secondary needs Reginald Porter to rebound from a hip injury to help shore up the | Linebacker |
Not available |
NOTABLE | Utah ranked 11th in Pac-12 in kickoff returns, a stat that should change as head coach Kyle Whittingham takes over coaching the special teams. Utah also ranked 112 in FBS in turnover margin (-10). |
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USA Today hangs the season on the shoulders of new offensive coordinator Dave Christensen, but they do note the "brutal" schedule and don't anticipate improvement on last season's 5-7 record. | Not available |
Now, almost a year after this chart was originally published, let's review the predictions and see how accurate they were.
Prior to the season, many analysts predicted Washington State and Colorado to be much improved and possibly give the Utes a run for their money. They were right. WSU gave the Utes their most humbling loss of the year on a rainy September night at Rice-Eccles, while Dominique Hatfield needed a late game pick six to secure a Utah win over Colorado. Where Utah exceeded pundits predictions, was against the likes of UCLA, Stanford and USC all three which were considered pretty heavy favorites to beat Utah before the season. As we know, Utah was able to go a surprising 3-0 against these schools, taking Whittingham off the hot seat and making the difference between finishing the regular season 5-7 and 8-4.
Moving on to the All-Pac-12 predictions, both Tom Hackett and Andy Phillips were predicted to be first team selections by both Athlon and Phil Steele. Their predictions proved to be correct as Andy Phillips and Tom Hackett both were recognized as first team All Pac-12 along with Nate Orchard and Kaelin Clay. Only Phil Steele had predicted post season accolades for Orchard
On offense, both Athlon and Sporting news
Defensively, there were concerns about replacing Trevor Reilly and the secondary was a question mark having only recorded 3 interceptions in 2013. While Reilly was a great player for the Utes, Orchard and Dimick more than compensated for his loss, as each outperformed Reilly's 2013 performance. The move of Rowe to cornerback and the emergence of Dominique Hatfield seemed to shore up the corner position with each grabbing an
Overall the 2014 Utes surpassed national predictions in all facets. Looking ahead to next season, the Utes will again have a bear of a schedule. They have proven talent