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SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah was the flag bearer for every team that was in a small conference looking to make a statement. The Utes are decorated in BCS games with victories over Pittsburgh and the powerful Alabama. But in their first season as a "big boy" of college football they have seen their flag get tattered and torn. Last week's loss to Cal has added to the questions about where Utah really belongs.
The Utes have had a tough time on offense especially in their Pac-12 losses. Jon Hays isn't Jordan Wynn and Wynn wasn't a top-tier Pac-12 quarterback. The problem may not just be Hays though. When grading last week's game Jon Wilner, a columnist for the "Mercury News" said, "Jon Hays is not a Pac-12 level quarterback, which is one of many examples of the Utes lacking the depth to thrive in their new conference." This could be one of the big problems. They have great talent starting, but when they lose Wynn and DeVonte Christopher, whose impact is huge, it's hard to have extra players beyond them. This will take time for Utah and it may be a rough year or two.
The Utes schedule does lighten up with their final games against the traditional weaker opponents and they will need them to get into a bowl. An interesting story line will be whether Colorado takes enough heat away from Utah as this season goes on. The Buffaloes are the other new team in the Pac-12. They came from another BCS conference, the Big 12, and have a winning history, winning a national championship for one, but they have played horribly. People may focus on them instead of the Utes as the season continues. "CBS Sports" has them as the big loser in the Pac-12. This may not put up wins, but at least the Utes don't have to worry about being the worst in the league.
There are people talking about Utah's shortcomings. In two separate columns about what was learned from last week the Utes were brought up. Bud Withers of the "Seattle Times" brought up the Utes in his column saying, "This Pac-12 thing isn't working very well for Utah." Even Ted Miller of the ESPN Pac-12 blog thinks the Utes may be dead this season. Miller has been a big supporter of the Utes this season and usually had them higher than most other sites on his power rankings. He still has the Utes going to a bowl game this year, with them slotted to go to the Las Vegas Bowl. They will need to get four wins for that to happen, but with a favorable late schedule it's not out of the question.
Most of the power rankings have the Utes just below the middle in the Pac-12. Miller has them at seven. He said that they aren't better than the teams they lost to and all they have left is the teams under them in the rankings and we don't know how they compare. The Utes last opponents go in order down on Miller's ranking starting with Oregon State just below the Utes and Colorado at the end of the season and the bottom of the rankings.
Athlon Sports also has Utah at seven,[Searchingforakilismith.com has their rankings split by divisions,](<http://searchingforakilismith.com/football/pac-12- week-8-in-review-and-power-rankings/ >) but has Utah below Arizona and fourth in the South, which would probably place them at either eight or nine. They recognize a bigger problem than just talent in the league, "Sure depth is an issue, but without the turnovers all these games become winnable."
Utah could still go bowling this season, but in order to they will need to improve. This will probably have to start this week against Oregon State.
