SALT LAKE CITY — Despite nearly everyone saying Utah couldn't get a victory over a Top 5 team — and let's be honest, their track record wasn't in their favor — the Utes were resilient and were the better team as they upset the No. 5 Stanford Cardinal Saturday night.

With Utah's signature victory in hindsight, it still begs the question about what could have been. Utah was 10 points away from being 6-0 in their third season in the Pac-12 — a tough year where it was difficult to see Utah even winning enough games to become bowl eligible.

Now before the comment boards go crazy and say it's pointless to talk about what could have been, I understand the Utes are 4-2 and are not bowl eligible yet. Nothing can change the past and the future of the program is still uncertain — even a bowl game is still uncertain. But the underlying point is that the Utes are a good team and have what it takes to compete in the Pac-12.

"They did a good job, a very good job. I don't want to sit here and say we weren't good enough — they're good; they've always been good; they create issues," Stanford coach David Shaw said following the game. "This is as well as I've seen these guys play on the offensive side. We knew once they strung it all together this was going to be a really, really good offensive team."

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Shaw said his team was simply outmatched by a physical Utah team, who has been close all season. In their two losses, Utah has lost by a combined 10 points to a now Top 10 team and another team that is close to breaking the Top 25.

"We knew we were coming into a hornet's nest. When you watch the film, if they don't throw six interceptions against UCLA, they probably win by two scores," Shaw said. "They played a great game. UCLA — a valiant effort by their quarterback (Brett Hundley); he played lights out towards the end of the game. He played phenomenal and brought them back. But the turnovers killed Utah in that game. Without those turnovers that might have been a different game.

"If you watch Oregon State, Oregon State had to come back and make that a game at the end," he added. "So this has been a good football team and everybody in our conference knows this is one of the toughest places to play. And they got us today. They flat out got us. They outplayed us, they outcoached us."

Related:

Utes finally get that signature win in Pac-12

After losing their first two conference games of 2013, reality was beginning to set in for the Utes. Utah had started its initial two seasons in the Pac-12 at 0-4 in conference play, and with a No. 5 team rolling into Salt Lake City, that was a trend that seemed almost certain to continue in year three.

Of course if Utah was 6-0 at this point in the season the discussion would be completely different — Utah would likely be ranked in the Top 15 and we'd likely be talking about the potential for an undefeated season. But it's important for fans, players and coaches to remember that the season is not over yet. The foot cannot be lifted off the gas pedal yet.

While it's easy to get complacent with a big victory, Utah can't expect to show up at Arizona and assume they'll win the game. Utah must continue to focus on what got them a win against Stanford and what kept them close against UCLA and Oregon State.

Utah's remaining schedule is still not easy and there are no guaranteed wins. Moving ahead, the Utes need a victory over Arizona and USC to make Saturday's win mean something. You can't brag about beating the No. 5 team in the country and then lose your next two to unranked — albeit great — opponents.

Utah's biggest test moving forward is maintaining the momentum and dealing with a road-heavy back end of the schedule — four of the next five are on the road, with No. 2 Oregon looming in the distance. Utah has yet to leave the state and will have to see how well they deal with adversity without a crowd cheering them on. How they handle any potential adversity will determine how good this Utah team really is.

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