If Utah wants Pac-12 title shot, it needs to go through Michael Penix Jr.

SALT LAKE CITY — In a Pac-12 football season that was billed back in the summer as potentially "The Year of the Quarterback," the University of Utah has already had to deal with two of the conference's best in USC's Caleb Williams and Oregon's Bo Nix.

Williams is the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, Nix is deep in the Heisman conversation this season. Now the Utes have to deal with another Heisman hopeful Saturday afternoon when they face the University of Washington.

Sixth-year Huskies senior quarterback Michael Penix Jr. leads the nation in passing yards per game (355.7) and total passing yards (3,021), all for a Huskies team that leads the nation in passing offense (383.1) and ranks fourth nationally in both total offense (509.1) and scoring offense (41.7 points per game).

"He's very mobile in the pocket, he's got a great pocket presence," Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said Monday. "He can sense the rush, he does a great job, like all really good quarterbacks, of keeping his eyes downfield while he's on the move, and certainly would rather throw it than tuck it and run; although, he's very capable of doing that."

The backdrop to the Utah-Washington matchup is what's at stake. With two conference losses, the Utes (7-2, 4-2 Pac-12) need to win out at Washington, at Arizona and at home against Colorado, even before needing outside help to get back to the Pac-12 championship game on Dec. 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Conversely, Washington (9-0, 6-0 Pac-12) is thinking not just about a trip to Las Vegas, but a trip to the four-team College Football Playoff, which, at the moment, is likely to require an unblemished 13-0 mark.

The winner will have its No. 1 remaining goal still intact. Penix Jr. is at the center of it all, likely to play a leading role in the outcome.

"The thing that stands out, obviously, is the quarterback and the throw game," Whittingham said. "They're leading the nation in throwing the football. They've got an outstanding running back, as well, but their focus is throwing the ball and they do it better than anybody in the country."

Whittingham not (yet) concerned about 2024 Big 12 schedule

Utah has three Pac-12 regular season games remaining, so Whittingham hasn't had time to be concerned with next season's move to the Big 12, even if the Utes now know their conference opponents for 2024.

The release on Wednesday of the Big 12 football scheduling matrix for 2024-27 included a quirk pertaining to Utah.

The Utes, who will join the Big 12 this summer after 12 academic years as members of the Pac-12, will play Baylor next season in a nonconference game, despite both being in the Big 12. Utah and Baylor played this season back on Sept. 7, and were already scheduled to play on Sept. 14, 2024 as the back end of the home-and-home agreement.

Utah will officially play the standard nine Big 12 games in 2024, but the Baylor game will be a nonconference contest, essentially giving the Utes 10 Big 12 games in their first season in the conference. For what it's worth, Utah athletic director Mark Harlan said Saturday on the ESPN 700 pregame show that they had to go to the Big 12 for permission to make that a nonconference game.

Such a move makes life a little easier scheduling-wise as Harlan now just has to find one nonconference game instead of two. Next season's return of Utah-BYU after a two-year hiatus was scheduled as a nonconference game but has instead been rolled into the Big 12 schedule with a TBD date.

Whittingham has been consistent since the late-summer Big 12 announcement that he is focused on the Pac-12 and the Pac-12 only this season. That sentiment did not budge on Monday.

"Zero input and zero concern about it right now," Whittingham said. "I'm sure when this season's over, we'll start to digest the Big 12 scheduling, and see how it lays out, then adjust accordingly. Haven't really given it much thought at all yet."

With nonconference games against Southern Utah and Baylor set for 2024, Harlan indicated Saturday that the third and final nonconference game could be finalized and announced within the next couple of weeks.

Smith Snowden impresses; Will Tao Johnson eventually switch positions?

One under-the-radar storyline from Saturday's 55-3 rout of Arizona State was that Smith Snowden, a four-star freshman defensive back from Skyridge High, got extended reps on offense for the first time.

Snowden had been out with injury for about a month, Whittingham said Saturday, but has impressed in practice since returning. With the game out of hand by halftime, Snowden got almost 40 reps at nickel with Tao Johnson's day done, and Whittingham liked what he saw.

"He performed exceptionally well for his first real opportunity," Whittingham said. "He's been on special teams throughout the season, but we decided, and I think I mentioned in the postgame, that it was time for us to see what he could do in a game situation on defense and he answered the bell. He played exceptionally well."

Long-term expectations for Snowden are big, and Whittingham did not shy away from that Monday. He indicated that as soon as next season he sees Johnson moving to outside cornerback or free safety, which would free up nickel for Snowden, who Whittingham on Monday called a "prototypical slot corner."

"We feel like that's where his future is, and you saw him do that on Saturday," Whittingham said.

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