We try to steer clear of knee-jerk reactions in week one games that involve a far superior team beating a much inferior opponent (at least on paper) here at CFT, but there’s something about Utah’s 27-10 win over Montana State that just doesn’t sit well in the stomach.
As you’ll recall from our Pac-12 predictions, JT and I had had the Utes finishing third in the Pac-12 South behind USC and Arizona State, but I thoroughly believed Utah was the sleeper team to make it to the Pac-12 championship game.
Against the Bobcats, though, Utah did little to inspire confidence in that decision.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” said Utes coach Kyle Whittingham after the game. “We’ll have a chance to watch USC and Minnesota (Saturday) and get a feel for where they’re at and build from there. From our own perspective we’ve got to get significantly better in the next nine days.
“But we won’t win a game in the Pac-12 if we play like this the rest of the way, it’s pretty evident.”
“We’ve got to play better. I’ve got to play better,” quarterback Jordan Wynn added. “We’ll watch the tape and learn from it.”
Utah jumped out to a comfortable 24-0 lead before being outscored 10-3 by MSU. Call it cruising; call it playing to the level of the competition; the Utes will have to play better when they travel to USC in nine days. The Trojans have some depth issues, but they’re as talented as anybody in the Pac-12.
Beyond next weeks matchup against USC, Utah’s Pac-12 schedule is manageable enough -- again, on paper. Whether the Utes will experience the same results is yet to be seen.