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SALT LAKE CITY — The preliminaries are over for both the BYU and Utah football programs, with each accomplishing its primary objective.
The Utes didn't exactly breeze through the nonconference season but still won all three games in good enough fashion. The Cougars pulled off the biggest surprise, falling behind by 14 points in the opening minutes against Arkansas only to win in scintillating fashion.
Now commences the interesting part for the next nine games, beginning this week with conference play. The following is a look at the prospects for both local teams.
Big 12
Despite beating a Southeastern Conference team on its home field, the Cougars are the underdog at Kansas in their first conference game since leaving the Mountain West in 2010. The Jayhawks, also 3-0, struggled to put away winless Nevada but have an offense good enough to give a scare to Jay Hill's improving defense.
For the Cougars to have any chance at the program's first conference championship since 2007, they likely will have to pull off upsets against either — or both — Texas and Oklahoma. Both teams, which are joining the SEC after the season, are off to impressive 3-0 starts with high-flying offenses.
Texas has lived up to its status as the preseason favorite to win the conference in its third season under coach Steve Sarkisian, a former BYU quarterback. The third-ranked Longhorns have the sport's best win so far, soundly beating perennial power Alabama on its home field.
Picked 11th out of 14 teams, notwithstanding the nice start, BYU is a longshot to contend for the top two spots in the conference and qualify to play for the championship in Dallas. A more realistic goal is a winning record in conference play, which allows the Cougars to exceed expectations at 8-4.
Outside of playing No. 3 Texas and No. 16 Oklahoma, BYU's schedule in the Big 12 might be easier than anticipated. Cincinnati, Iowa State and Oklahoma State each have lost to Group of Five teams this month.
Pac-12
In its final season before the money-grab — otherwise known as realignment — destroys the conference, the Pac-12 will go out in style. A record eight teams are ranked on the top 25, making the conference unquestionably the deepest in college football.
Led by reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams of USC, the depth and quality of quarterbacks sets the Pac-12 apart from its peers. From Seattle south to Tucson, Arizona, nearly every quarterback the Utes face will be capable of lighting up a defense.
In addition to the dynamic Williams, who plays the position arguably as well as anyone in the game's history, the conference can boast having several future NFL quarterbacks. Michael Penix Jr. (Washington), Bo Nix (Oregon) and Shedeur Sanders (Colorado) each have outstanding chances at making professional rosters in the next season or two, along with several others who will get a chance down the line.
As it stands, Arizona State and Cal look like the only two pushovers on Utah's remaining schedule. Even Arizona, which was picked to finish eighth in the conference, has a potent quarterback in Jayden de Laura with the ability to, at least, test Utah's defense.
Perhaps the team with the biggest concern at the game's most important position is, ironically enough, the two-time defending champion. For all his bravado in the week leading up to the first game against Florida, starting quarterback Cam Rising can claim to feeling "pretty damn good," but he's yet to put on the uniform.
Donning a headset while wearing shorts and T-shirt during games is not the most productive way to spend the nonconference portion of the schedule. Ideally, after suffering a knee injury in last season's Rose Bowl game, Rising would have had a taste of live action before starting conference play.
His first game will come during the conference season, which hopefully for Utah's sake, is this week against UCLA at Rice-Eccles Stadium. But with coach Kyle Whittingham continuing to guard Rising's status as if national security depended on it, Rising's return likely will remain a secret until game time.
Whittingham said up to 16 players are out with injuries, a number unlike anything he's seen in 40 years of coaching. Without a healthy Rising, a third consecutive conference championship seems doubtful.
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