Utes vault up rankings to No. 16

The Utes are locked in right now, and they’re playing some great football. They won four straight games in blowout fashion, and some voters are taking notice. These polls will cease to matter on Tuesday when the College Football Playoff Top 25 is released, but for the sake of discussion here’s the polls from both the AP and the Coaches.

AP Poll:

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Notre Dame
4. LSU
5. Michigan
6. Georgia
7. Oklahoma
8. Ohio State
9. UCF
10. Washington State
11. Kentucky
12. WVU
13. Florida
14. Penn State
15. Texas
16. Utah
17. Houston
18. Utah State
19. Iowa
20. Fresno State
21. Mississippi State
22. Syracuse
23. Virginia
24. Boston College
25. Texas A&M

Coaches Poll

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Notre Dame
4. LSU
5. Michigan
6. Georgia
7. Oklahoma
8. Ohio State
9. UCF
10. WVU
11. Washington State
12. Kentucky
13. Penn State
14. Florida
15. Texas
16. Utah
17. Houston
18. Iowa
19. Washington
20. USU
21. Mississippi State
22. Virginia
23. Fresno State
24. Syracuse
25. Boston College

Obviously, Washington State and Utah are th flag bearers for the Pac-12 now, especially after this last weekend, which did Utah a lot of favors. I don’t think Stanford should have been penalized too much, because they are still dangerous. Also, how about the Aggies of USU jumping into the teens in the AP poll, just behind the Utes? Good for them.

The question is where will the Playoff Committee have Utah? They’ve traditionally given the Utes a lot of love, and I’d expect them in about the same range when that first poll comes out Tuesday.