SALT LAKE CITY — We’re talking college football today ...
— The Pac-12 might not be as good as the SEC, which has four of the top five teams in the latest college football polls, but it very well may be the most exciting conference in college football.
Every team in the Pac-12 has at least one loss, and in a half season, the conference already has a couple of seasons' worth of memorable games.
Of the 23 conference games played so far, 14 have been decided by a touchdown or less, including two one-point games, three two-point games, two three-point games and two four-point games. Two games were decided in overtime, and two games — Arizona over Cal and Arizona State over USC — were decided on last-second Hail Mary passes.
— The North Division of the Pac-12 with Oregon and Stanford was considered the stronger of the two divisions before the start of the year, but midway through the season, the South has a 7-4 overall record against the North.
— When Andy Ludwig was the Utes’ offensive coordinator back in 2005-08, he was often criticized by the Ute faithful for his offenses. Since the much-maligned Ludwig left after the unbeaten 2008 season, the Utes have tried six different offensive coordinators with much less success on offense than they had under Ludwig.
In Ludwig’s four years, the average year-end national ranking for the Utes in total offense was 42, with a best of No. 12 in 2005. In the six seasons since, including this one where the Utes rank 75th, the average total offense ranking has been 79th. Not only that, every offense except one that Ludwig has directed over the past six years at Cal, San Diego State and Wisconsin has ranked higher than Utah’s.
— I’m not surprised quarterback Travis Wilson is back in the saddle for the Utah football team. He’s clearly a better passer than Kendal Thompson and it seems to help Devontae Booker as a runner to have a better passing threat at QB so the defense can’t put seven or eight men in the box. Still, Wilson has to play much better than the last couple of weeks for the Utes to contend for the Pac-12 South title.
— In the wake of three straight losses, some folks are wondering if BYU will even make it to six wins and become bowl eligible this season. I can’t imagine the Cougars not making it to six, unless another dozen players suffer ankle injuries in the next couple of weeks. Boise State on the road will be tough, as will Cal at the end of the year. Even Middle Tennessee State (5-3 with a week off to prepare for BYU) on the road could be a challenge, but the Cougs should win that game or UNLV (2-5) at home.
As for Savannah State, the Cougars could probably play the cheerleaders and win that one. The Tigers are arguably the worst team in the FCS, finishing 1-11 in each of the last four years. They are 0-7 this year with an 83-9 loss to Georgia Southern and a 61-7 loss to Middle Tennessee so far.
— Assuming the Cougars do become bowl eligible, who might they play in the brand-new Miami Beach Bowl on Dec. 22? They’ll play a team from the American Athletic Conference and they’ve already played three teams from that league this year — Houston, UCF and Connecticut, although they are unlikely to play a team they’ve already played this year. No. 18 East Carolina is likely to get a better bowl, so that leaves Temple (4-2), South Florida (3-4), Memphis (3-3) and Cincinnati (3-3) as the possible opponents. Wonder how many Cougar fans will want to travel to Miami three days before Christmas to play one of those teams?
— Utah hasn’t become bowl eligible yet, but is on the verge at 5-1. The Utes seem to have endless possibilities at this point, ranging from the Rose Bowl to the Gildan New Mexico Bowl. Both of those are unlikely because Utah would have to run the table to get into the Rose Bowl, one of the two national championship semifinal games, and the other matches the Mountain West and Conference USA. The six Pac-12 bowls are Las Vegas, Sun, Holiday, San Francisco, Alamo and Cactus (Tempe), but with the Pac-12 possibly getting eight or nine bowl berths, another bowl like the New Mexico Bowl or Poinsettia Bowl that doesn’t get a bowl-eligible team from assigned conferences could take a Pac-12 team.
— Poor Utah State has now lost two good quarterbacks to injuries and will have to make do with senior Craig Harrison for the immediate future after Darell Garretson’s serious wrist injury in Saturday night's loss to Colorado State. Coach Matt Wells said Garretson, who was 8-3 as a starter, may be out “for a while,” meaning the Aggies will have to go with Harrison or one of two freshmen, who are redshirting.
With an upcoming schedule of UNLV, Hawaii, Wyoming, New Mexico and San Jose State (combined record 12-22) before a season-ender at Boise State, the 4-3 Aggies should eke out enough wins to get bowl eligible, even without a dynamic quarterback. The six possible bowls for the Aggies are the New Orleans Bowl, New Mexico Bowl, Las Vegas Bowl and Idaho Potato Bowl, all on Dec. 20; the Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 23; or the Hawaii Bowl on Dec. 24.