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Where do Utah’s at-large College Football Playoff hopes stand after latest rankings?
The Utah Utes, having climbed one rung to No. 12 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, find themselves in a painfully familiar position for any team on the playoff bubble: their destiny is no longer entirely in their own hands.The ghost of their October loss to BYU in Provo looms larger than ever, a specter that now materializes as the No. 11 Cougars sitting directly above them.The cold, hard calculus of the committee is unforgiving; if both teams win out their remaining regular-season games, BYU’s 9-1 record and that decisive head-to-head victory create a formidable barrier. The tantalizing, yet improbable, scenario of Utah leapfrogging BYU should the Cougars suffer a blowout loss to Texas Tech in the Big 12 title game feels more like fan fiction than a plausible outcome.As committee chair Hunter Yurachek carefully articulated, a conference championship is merely 'another data point,' a metric weighed against the entire body of work, and it’s difficult to envision the committee penalizing a team for participating in a title game that Utah failed to reach, especially when that team already holds the tie-breaker. The predicament for both Utah and BYU is that the Big 12 is currently projected as a one-bid conference, meaning an at-large berth is their only path.To secure that, either team must crack the coveted Top 10 by season’s end, a daunting task given their remaining schedules are devoid of Top 25 opponents who could provide a resume-boosting victory. Their hopes now hinge on the chaos of others.Last week’s seismic upset, where Oklahoma toppled Alabama, was a net negative, propelling the Sooners to No. 8 and merely nudging the Crimson Tide down to No.10, keeping both firmly in the playoff picture. Consequently, Utes and Cougars fans find themselves in the bizarre position of forming a temporary alliance, united in rooting for Oklahoma to stumble against No.22 Missouri or LSU, and for Auburn to summon the magic of the Iron Bowl to upset Alabama. For BYU, a loss by 9-1 Oregon could potentially open a door, but it invites another question: would a 9-2 USC team, boasting a statement win over a top-ten opponent, jump a Utah squad whose most significant victories—over a now-unranked Cincinnati and a Sam Leavitt-less Arizona State—lack the same luster? Utah’s path is more direct but equally precarious; they need a BYU loss at Cincinnati this Saturday.The Utes’ underlying metrics, however, tell a story of a team perhaps better than its record suggests. ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI), a predictive measure of team strength, ranks Utah at an impressive No.7, and they boast both a Top 10 offense and defense in points per game. Their two losses were competitive—a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit against powerhouse Texas Tech before it got away, and a tight 3-point loss to their rivals.In their eight wins, their average margin of victory is a staggering 35. 3 points, a statistic Yurachek himself highlighted, noting Utah is 'second in the country in their margin of victory.' This analytical profile suggests a dominant force that stumbled in key moments, a narrative the committee seems to acknowledge by placing them above a two-loss Miami, but not enough to surpass other two-loss giants like Oklahoma, Notre Dame, or Alabama. As coach Kyle Whittingham succinctly put it, the team is playing with confidence and momentum, but the final judgment on whether it’s 'good enough' will be delivered by the scoreboards across the nation over these final, chaotic two weeks. The Utes must not only take care of their own business but become the most fervent fans of every underdog on the schedule of the teams ahead of them.
#College Football Playoff
#Utah Utes
#BYU Cougars
#Big 12
#rankings
#at-large bid
#featured
