After the Pac-12 unveiled Utah football’s shortened seven-game schedule a few days ago, the clock is ticking until Nov. 7 when the Utes finally start their season against Arizona at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Now that Utah, slated to be contenders in the Pac-12 South, has its schedule, here’s a look at how ESPN’s Football Power Index views the upcoming season.
Last season, ESPN’s preseason FPI predictions for local teams ranged between stunningly accurate (preseason FPI predicted the correct outcome for 11 out of 12 of Utah’s 2019 regular-season games), accurate (preseason FPI predicted the correct outcome for 10 out of 12 of Utah State’s 2019 regular-season games) and not-so-accurate (preseason FPI predicted the correct outcome for seven of 12 2019 BYU regular-season games).
Utah Utes
FPI rank: 23
Schedule (with FPI matchup predictor percentage)
Arizona (Utah 80%)
at UCLA (Utah 66.7%)
USC (USC 60.9%)
at Arizona State (Utah 66.2%)
Oregon Sate (Utah 83.9%)
at Colorado (Utah 78.4%)
Final tally: Favored in five games, underdogs in one
How FPI fared last season
In 2019, preseason FPI had the Utes favored in 10 games (BYU, Northern Illinois, Idaho State, Washington State, Oregon State, Arizona State, Cal, UCLA, Arizona and Colorado). The two games where Utah was not favored were against USC and Washington. Utah went 11-1 in the 2019 regular season, with its only loss coming against USC.
Games predicted correctly: 11 — BYU (W), NIU (W), Idaho State (W), WSU (W), OSU (W), ASU (W), Cal (W), UCLA (W), Arizona (W), Colorado (W), USC (L)
Games predicted incorrectly: 1 — Washington (W)
Accuracy: 11 of 12 (91.7%)