Is this the year the University of Utah finally makes it into the College Football Playoff? Reporter Heather Dinich laid out why she thinks it could be in a new analysis for ESPN.
Her story, which drew on data from ESPN’s Allstate Playoff Predictor and explored the 20 teams with the best chance to make the College Football Playoff, noted that Utah has the 10th best odds to make the CFP, at 7.2%.
The selection committee will like that the Pac-12’s new approach to its title game ensures that the two best teams really do square off at the end of the season, Dinich wrote.
“The Pac-12 winner has a better chance to get a résumé boost from its title game,” she argued.
What the College Football Playoff committee won’t like is the Utes’ strength of schedule, Dinich added. The team has the weakest schedule among the teams included in her list.
The toughest test that Utah football must pass is beating the Florida Gators on its opening day, Dinich wrote, noting “A Utah win ... would resonate through Selection Day and give the Utes some wiggle room in conference play.”
The University of Utah’s in-state rival, BYU, did not make the ESPN list. However, it did get a shoutout in Dinich’s write-up on Notre Dame.
“With road trips to Ohio State, North Carolina, and USC — plus neutral-site games against Navy (Baltimore) and BYU (Las Vegas) — this is a lineup tailor-made to impress the committee,” she wrote.