The expectations are high for both Utah and BYU football going into this season.
The Utes have been mentioned in many circles as a College Football Playoff contender and have their highest preseason ranking in school history — No. 7 in the Associated Press poll.
The Cougars are coming off back-to-back double-digit win seasons and have the most returning talent in the country, per ESPN’s Bill Connelly, at 85%.
Could both programs be underrated, though?
With Week 1 of the season this weekend — both BYU and Utah kick off their seasons Saturday, while Utah State opened its campaign last week — seven CBS Sports writers made predictions on several topics, and among those was a discussion about who the most underrated team in the country is.
CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd believes it’s Utah.
“The Utes have surpassed Oregon as the toughest team west of the Rockies. Let’s not limit things geographically. Utah played Ohio State to its knees in the Rose Bowl and are going to Florida to open the season as a two-point favorite,” he wrote
“To me, the Utes are a playoff team this year with a talented returning quarterback in Cameron Rising, a stout defense and (spoiler alert!) my 2022 coach of the year in Kyle Whittingham” — more on that in a minute.
His CBS Sports co-worker, Jerry Palm, cast his underrated vote for BYU.
“The Cougars are the only independent besides Notre Dame that is consistently successful. Like the Irish, they have a strong national following and the resources to compete,” Palm wrote.
“BYU has not quite been able to get the kind of schedule that gives them a shot at the playoff, though. However, the Cougars are coming on at a good time. They finished the 2021 season No. 13 in the CFP Rankings, a program-high. BYU needs to keep that momentum going as it enters the Big 12 next season. Maybe then it can earn the attention that comes with a program of its quality.”
What other predictions did CBS Sports make?
In addition to the most underrated team, the CBS Sports group made their picks for most overrated team, the College Football Playoff participants, the 2022 Heisman winner, this year’s coach of the year and the 2022 national champion — spoiler alert, Alabama and Ohio State got all the votes.
For coach of the year, though, Whittingham was a popular pick. Dodd, Barrett Sallee and Shehan Jeyarajah all gave Utah’s coach the nod.
“Whittingham has spent 17 years getting the Utes to the point of becoming a national power. In Year 18, he has a physical, accomplished bunch who are coming off a Pac-12 title,” Dodd wrote. “I have them as a playoff team and repeat Pac-12 champion. In the last four years, Whittingham has a better winning percentage than James Franklin, Paul Chryst, Mark Stoops and Mike Gundy.”
Is Utah predicted to make the College Football Playoff?
The CBS Sports writers nearly had a consensus on the top three teams for this year’s CFP — all seven predicted that Alabama and Ohio State would make the playoff, while five of the seven had Georgia.
Utah, though, got three votes as the No. 4 seed, from Dodd, Sallee and Jeyarajah.
Two other writers — Chip Patterson and David Cobb — had the Utes among the first two teams just outside the CFP field.
Only one writer, Palm, didn’t have the Utes in his top six teams.