SALT LAKE CITY — Utah is expected to contend again in the Pac-12 South, but it won’t be the favorite.
The Utes were picked to finish third behind USC and Arizona State in the league’s South Division in the preseason football media poll released Wednesday morning. Utah, the two-time defending Pac-12 South champions, did receive four first-place votes and 168 points, behind USC (220 points, 32 first-place votes) and Arizona State (181, two) and ahead of UCLA (109), Colorado (63) and Arizona (57) in the South.
“We lost a lot of good players, and I would say that’s probably to be expected and about what we anticipated,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham told the media about being picked third in the division. “We don’t put a lot of stock into that. All that matters period is what you do on the field, and everyone will have their chance to prove their case as to where they belong and how good they are.”
“All that matters period is what you do on the field, and everyone will have their chance to prove their case as to where they belong and how good they are.” — Utah coach Kyle Whittingham
Defending league champion Oregon (222, 35) is favored to win the North Division title, and is also favored to win the Pac-12 championship, with 21 votes. USC received 15 votes to win the league’s championship game, while Utah and Arizona State each received one vote to win the title game.
Teams picked to finish behind the Ducks in the North include California (176, three), Washington (161), Stanford (105), Oregon State (76) and Washington State (58).
Last year, a senior-laden Utah team was picked to win the 2019 Pac-12 title — it was the first time the Utes were the favorites to take the league crown. Utah won the Pac-12 South before falling to Oregon 37-15 in the conference championship game.
Utah opens its 2020 season on Nov. 7 against Arizona at Rice-Eccles Stadium in what will be an abbreviated regular-season schedule due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. One key stretch for the Utes in defense of the Pac-12 South title will be when they host USC on Nov. 21, followed by a road game at Arizona State on Nov. 28.
The Pac-12 South’s top two teams in the preseason poll, USC and Arizona State, face each other in their season opener on Nov. 7 in Los Angeles, another key early matchup expected to have major division title implications.
“When you look at this season and a shortened season, every game is heightened so much. It’s tenfold,” USC coach Clay Helton said during a video media session of playing Arizona State first. “... To be able to have that challenge right off the bat is a great test for our team and where we are at.”
Utah split its games with the Trojans and Sun Devils last year, falling to USC 30-23 in the Utes’ lone regular-season loss while beating Arizona State 21-3.
“We’re approaching it no differently than we do any other year — whether we’re picked first, third, sixth, it doesn’t really matter to us. We’ve got to go out and play and prove ourselves on the field,” Whittingham said.