Utes ranked No. 17 in final College Football Playoff Poll

After losing a disappointing Pac-12 Championship Game against Washington on Friday night, the Utes have been ranked No. 17 by the College Football Playoff committee, which is where they were a week ago. Three losses and No. 17 is probably pretty fair, but with some three loss teams ahead of the Utes, I think there are a few slots they could probably fit.

The Pac-12 took a bit of a beating, at least one team did, in these final rankings. Washington State got jobbed more than any other team. The committee put them at No. 13, which is just one spot outside of qualifying for a New Years Six bowl. There’s no way that Penn State, LSU or Florida were better or more deserving than the Cougs. Washington got a bit of a bump up to No. 9, and of course they landed in the Rose Bowl to take on Ohio State. The final rankings did make me feel a little better, because Oklahoma did get in over Georgia, showing that conference titles still matter. I’m of the opinion that if you don’t win your league, you don’t deserve to get in.

The Utes will be taking on No. 22 Northwestern in the Holiday Bowl on New Years Eve, giving the Utes a good opponent from another P5 league to finish the year out with. The Utes were ranked in all but one of the CFP top 25s this season, dropping out after losing to ASU, but jumping back in the following week after topping Oregon.

Now the Utes have to build upon this and finish strong so they can setup a run in 2019 at an even big post season destination. Roses should be the expectation next season... and who knows, maybe more.