Pete Fiutak at College Football News has one of the best track records as a college football preseason prognosticator. He has ranked teams going into the 2023 season from 1 to 133. 

 

Pac-12 Rankings

 

8. USC - Strength of Pac-12 Schedule (SOS) Ranking - 1 being the most difficult - 10.

 

9. Washington - SOS - 4

 

13. Oregon - "The return of QB Bo Nix is huge, but the Ducks lose a ton from both sides, especially up front. The talent is there but it is young." SOS - 11

 

16. Utah - SOS - 7

 

18. Oregon State - SOS - 8

 

27. UCLA  - SOS - 12

 

43. Washington State - 43 - SOS - 9

 

51. Arizona - 51 - SOS - 5

 

65. - ASU - SOS - 6

 

69. - Colorado - SOS - 1

 

70. - CAL - SOS - 2

 

78.. - Stanford - SOS - 3

 

Teams on the Pac-10 Expansion Radar -

 

55. Tulane

 

56. Fresno State

 

66. San Diego State

 

79. SMU

 

112. UNLV 

 

Oregon P5 out-of-conference opponent -

 

24. Texas Tech - "QB Tyler Shough is going to be huge leading the high-powered offense."

 

Pete's Top 4 -

 

1. Georgia

 

2. Ohio State

 

3. Alabama

 

4. Michigan

 

If we had a 12-team playoff in 2023 -

 

1. Georgia - SEC vs. 9. Washington - At Large (AL) at 8. LSU - AL

 

2. Ohio State - B1G vs. 10. Tennessee - AL at 7. Penn State - AL

 

3. FSU - ACC vs. 11. Texas - B12 at 6. Michigan - AL

 

4. USC - Pac-12 vs. 12. Boise State (MW) at 5. Alabama (AL)

 

Note - Boise State is preseason ranked #54 - makes the field by finishing as the 6th highest ranked conference champion.

Edited April 11, 20232 yr by Jon Joseph

Why do people underrate Utah every year?

Not sure I would use the term "every".  Kyle hasn't managed to lose less than 3 games since joining the Pac 12. 

 

If you think Oregon has a banana peel problem, Utah definitely has one.  Every Oregon coach, with 2+ years as HC since Brooks, has managed to lose less than 3 games in at least 1 season.

 

ESPN's preseason/Final ranking for Utah:

2017 - NR/NR   7-6

2018 - NR/NR   9-5

2019 - NR/16    11-3

2020 - 22/NR    3-2

2021 - 24/12     10-4

2022 - 7/10       10-4

 

 

On 4/11/2023 at 4:20 PM, Dr Hilarius said:

Why do people underrate Utah every year?

Good question but this season Utah has a more difficult confereacheule schedule having to play at SC and with an opening game vs Florida and a 2nd OOC P5 game at Baylor.

 

And, will QB Rising be healthy?

Edited April 11, 20232 yr by Jon Joseph

On 4/11/2023 at 5:10 PM, Tandaian said:

Not sure I would use the term "every".  Kyle hasn't managed to lose less than 3 games since joining the Pac 12. 

 

If you think Oregon has a banana peel problem, Utah definitely has one.  Every Oregon coach, with 2+ years as HC since Brooks, has managed to lose less than 3 games in at least 1 season.

 

ESPN's preseason/Final ranking for Utah:

2017 - NR/NR   7-6

2018 - NR/NR   9-5

2019 - NR/16    11-3

2020 - 22/NR    3-2

2021 - 24/12     10-4

2022 - 7/10       10-4

 

 

And the schedule ratchets up for the Utes this season.