Is Utah better suited as an underdog?


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SALT LAKE CITY — Coming off back-to-back losing seasons, few see the University of Utah football team as a viable threat at competing for a top spot in the conference in 2014. In fact, few likely see Utah as a threat at all.

At last week’s Pac-12 media event, media members selected Utah to finish the season as the fifth-best team in the South Division and 10th overall in the conference — exactly where the team finished last season.

And that’s exactly where Utah needs to be.

Three years ago, the Utes entered the Pac-12 with a bit of mysticism surrounding the program: How good are they? Can they compete in a Bowl Championship Series conference week in and week out?

As the original BCS buster the Utes were in a position of power — the team that defied the computer models and the insider conference affiliation twice. With great positioning, particularly in a new conference that was reeling from USC sanctions and several head coaches being turned out like a pack of trading cards, Utah was competitive.

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A made field goal against USC or 1 of 2 made field goals against Colorado would have put Utah in the inaugural Pac-12 Championship game its first season in the conference. However, the 2011 season was the closest Utah would come to competing in the Pac-12. Why? Because everyone doubted the Utes (and the conference wasn’t as good as it is today).

Although conference opponents said they respected Utah when the program first joined the Pac-12, most looked at the Utes as the little brother hoping to play with the big boys in the Conference of Champions — a conference seemingly far superior to the Mountain West Conference. In terms of the weekly grind, Utah has learned that there is a drastic difference in competition in the Pac-12.

Speaking about the transition to the Pac-12, Utah head coach KyleWhittingham said it has been difficult, but the transition hasn’t really been a surprise.

“I can tell you the thing that's really been very apparent is the Pac-12 in 2011 when we entered and the Pac-12 now is far superior from top to bottom,” he said. “The progress this conference has made in the last few years is phenomenal.”


In our minds, we're definitely the underdogs obviously, but this will be a David and Goliath story. We're going to come out on top. We're going to come out swinging regardless of who the opponent is. We know we have the potential to be great. We know we have the potential to win this conference and go to the championship.

–Nate Orchard


Following the 2011 season, the mantra of little brother may seem like a fulfilled prophecy, particularly with Utah failing to get to a bowl game. Utah has been competitive, but as Whittingham said at media day: “Nobody cares about being close. You’ve got to get over that hump. We thought we had gotten over that hump.”

And Whittingham is right. Few will care that Utah beat Stanford only to be followed up by a bad loss in a winnable game against Arizona a week later — the first in a five-game slide. Few will care about the injuries on the team that has derailed the program for the past few seasons. Winning cures all ills, and it’s something Utah must do for relevancy in an ultra-competitive conference.

However, Utah may be in another position of power as an underdog. With few believing Utah will be competitive this season, the team feels slighted and underappreciated, and that only adds to the motivation to win games.

“In our minds, we’re definitely the underdogs obviously, but this will be a David and Goliath story,” defensive end Nate Orchard said at the Pac-12 media event. “We’re going to come out on top. We’re going to come out swinging regardless of who the opponent is. We know we have the potential to be great. We know we have the potential to win this conference and go to the championship.”

Utah has always liked to play with the underdog mentality, but playing competitively enough to be in the discussion with other top-level teams. Whittingham has said in several instances that he prefers living under the hype and high expectations. And for most of Whittingham’s tenure, being the underdog has been a success — just not against Pac-12 opponents.

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