next up in our preview is actually the favorite to win the Big 12 and the new look big 12 next year that is the Utah Utes and a big reason for that Dawn is their coaching staff which really flexed their muscles last year see Kyle Whittingham right there they went eight and five and lost the Las Vegas Bowl and you think oh that's not great they won the last two pack 12 titles before that you got to remember they didn't have their Star Quarterback and cam rising and then had their star tight end and bran key for the entirety of that season they had a pig farmer and Bryson Barnes playing quarterback for them the entire year as well so really impressive job by Kyle Whittingham and his staff to even get to a bowl game let alone win eight games uh with the roster that they had but the biggest strength of this team Doan has to be that both rising and keithy are back for another season absolutely and if it brings anything it brings stability right these are guys that led them to a Rose Bowl LED them to pack 12 championships and everything like that it's just injuries really derailed them right cam Rising is probably one of the top 20 quarterbacks in the country when he's healthy and Brent keithy is like a top eight tight end so talking about really really talented guys coming into a team that won eight games despite look you got things you got three different quarterbacks actually I should say two different quarterbacks Rising never touched the field but Barnes and Nate Johnson took a lot of snaps last year you had safeties playing running backs you had guys just trying to fill in in the secondary all over the I mean there was just so many things going on in a loaded pack 12 but the two things they do have for sure now if they're healthy they have Cam Rising they have Brandt keithy and they have one of the best HomeField advantages in college football so it's never fun to go into Utah no matter who's on the field because Kyle Whittingham and those guys they're going to have whatever 22 guys out there playing playing above really playing above above their talent level and playing over their heads yeah listen they're going to want to keep uh cam rising and break health healthy if they want to do that the pass protection has to get better man they were horrible in pass Pro last year fifth worst pass blocking grade in the country at a 46 Mark last year and three starters from their offensive line are gone now as well so they really need to step up in terms of their pass protection or else uh cam Rising been taking a lot of hits back there which is a guy a guy who coming off a Tor ACL you don't want him taking a lot of hits they got to improve the pass Pro in order for him to uh to stay healthy and and be the quarterback that that he's been leading them to back toback pack 12 titles and back-to-back Rose Bowl appearances as well for the over the last two years but tell me more about cam Rising D obviously we haven't seen him in over a year now uh what should we know about him heading into I believe his seventh season of college football um it's a bit more intangible that than we usually get around here but what cam Rising is first and foremost is a leader right and he just plays this inspirational brand of football he's not the biggest guy he's not the fastest guy he doesn't have the biggest arm but he's got the Heart of a fraking Lion Man I mean you talk about breaking 48 tackles across 2021 and 2022 that's the 12th most by a power five quarterback in the country he's a productive passer even though he doesn't have the strongest arm he wins with accuracy he wins with ball placement he wins with timing and he really doesn't turn the ball over right across those two years just a 2.4% turn over worthy play rate I think what you have is a guy who we need to see if he can make the big plays right and between the pass protection the the knee injury and just kind of coming back and being in Rhythm the one thing you saw in 22 compared to 21 there a lot less production down the field on the Deep ball right is he going to be a more just conservative passer and just kind of work within the confines of a 15 yard box because he doesn't have the biggest arm he doesn't straight up he's got a compact delivery it's not leveraged for like the most velocity or the most you know the most air yards or anything like that but he's a leader and he does things his way and if they can find plays downfield then I start to think about okay this is a really really and they're an inner circle big 12 Contender anyway whittingham's going to have him in contention but cam rising's health and his ability to make throws down the field is going to be a huge X Factor for this team and the other big x- factor is obviously the health of Brant keithy right and even cam Rising was he last played in the Rose Bowl of the 2022 season Brant keithy has basically been outd for almost two years now I mean he tore his ACL and miniscus against Arizona in uh the fourth game of the 2022 season so he missed all of 2023 and most most of 2022 with that knee injury even so even though we haven't really seen him in two years he's still one of the best returning tight ends in college football in fact I ranked him as my number three tight end in college football entering next year he was named to pff's all Pack 12 team in 2019 2020 and 2021 and he was a third team allamerican in 2019 as well um over those three years he has 31 forc Miss tackles that leads all tight ends in the country and the fifth most receiving yards at, 1449 and gotta remember too DL concade was on some of those teams too so he's got a first round tight end to compete with and even so BR keithy is putting up really good numbers so as long as that knee is fully recovered and again it's been two years since we've seen Brant keithy he should still be one of the top receiving threats at tight end in college football uh if he could fully recover from that torel and Tor miniscus for sure and and both of those guys are big big X factors and I think the one thing Kyle Whittingham does well is he's one of these coaches that preaches that the entire team wins ball games right and he's going to want to play good defense with these guys recovering and maybe not going to have their A+ game early in the season right on that defense they lost some really good players they lost Jonah Ellis they lost Cole Bishop they lost C vaky but one guy they get to keep around was cornerback zamiah vaugh man he's been one of the best corners in I should in the Pack 12 I almost forget all the realignment one of the best corners in the Pack 12 over the last two years with an 82.2 coverage grade 15 Force incompletions you got a 6'2 Corner out there who can really shut some people down for stretches you're talking about this is going to be a really important guy especially when you lose both starting safeties you lose a lot of that communication you you lose a lot of like the variance and things you can do in coverage right so having a guy like vaugh on the outside to lock things down especially when you're playing Colorado with Travis Hunter if you're playing Arizona with tedo and McMillan you're playing some of these good receivers in the Big 12 you need that guy on the outside and vaugh is one of those guys yeah absolutely he's a really good coverage player and a really good run Defender uh as well all right dalan with Brent keithy and cam Rising back a lot of the sports books think that Utah is the team to beat in the Big 12 next year right now they are plus 310 on on FanDuel to win the conference do you agree and think hey this is the favorite to win the Big 12 and make the college football playoff or do you think that maybe they're getting a little bit overrated in the sports books right now this is one of the hardest teams to predict in the entire country because last year's numbers would tell you no probably not but you've got Kyle Whittingham who just always coaches this team up right like better than you think they should be you've got cam Rising who's taken this team to a Rose Bowl Brent keithy is one of the best tight ends in the country and they just have that thing where they find ways to win games right it like you almost sit there and and at the end of some of those years you go they've won 10 11 games you go how like how do they do it when all these teams come in here with with a Caleb Williams or with you know with certain especially going into Utah this is one of the best HomeField advantages in the country right so that's going to be a problem playing at altitude playing in that Stadium it's wicked loud and they just have that culture down there so I think they're in that they're in that mix I you have to consider them in that mix just because of even if only because of Kyle Whittingham and their reputation for situational football and just finding ways to win I I don't think they're the most talented team in the Big 12 by any means but they find ways to play above it right it's almost like you know to a lesser extent like all those years we'd watch Tom Brady and the Patriots and go well they have Tom but like what else is here and then they win 12 games anyway right it's Utah's got that thing going right now so it's hard not to consider them at least in the top three or four it's really hard man and you know that's the thing about college football is that like coaching matters so much more in college than it does in the NFL right it does still matters a lot in the don't get me wrong but coaching is like that has to be a factor right Kyle Whittingham and his staff have always like again Bryson Barnes was a pig farmer and they won eight games with him and they had horrible passing grades horrible pass blocking grades not a lot going offensively and somehow they still won eight and five right for any other program that would like tank a season when you take away your Star Quarterback and your star offensive player and they were like all right we we'll win eight games we're not going to win the Pack 12 like we did before but we'll still win eight games that's crazy man and Kyle winingham is a terrific head coach we actually have an interview with Whittingham from a couple years ago on this channel um it's pretty funny going back to because he actually said it was right before week one and I asked him you know what's the the time frame for cam rising and BR Keith like oh they're they're 5050 for week one and they didn't play all year so he's kind of holding his cards close to the chest than that one I got to respect that from Kyle woodingham but yeah man I'm I'm really I'm intrigued by this team and also D they have an easy schedule man they play the fourth easiest schedule uh in the Big 12 according to our power rankings and they play I'm looking at it right now they play Oklahoma State they play Arizona and Iowa State and Colorado and UCF like that's winnable right I I think the only game I'd maybe not pick them to win is maybe that Arizona game but then again like you said the HomeField advantage that's at Utah for that game there there are huge splits last year and this is the part that I think is actually along with the health of the two big guys we've been talking about there are huge splits last year on both sides of the ball in their production home and Road on the road they were one of the worst teams in the Pack 12 at home they were maybe the best team in the Pack 12 except when Oregon came in there and laid the wood to them but Oregon was a different Beast altogether right that's going to be a big thing is which I'm curious which of those games you just mentioned are on the road yes all right so they are on the road against Oklahoma State they are on the road against Colorado and they're on the road against UCF they host Iowa State and they host Arizona those are like the key games I would say uh on that schedule so man Utah at Colorado is gonna be fun isn't it wow yeah I'm excited for that one that one was in November but yeah that's a great game and honestly Don look at that schedule um I think I might lock in Utah as one of my big 12 championship teams like to go to the game I don't think they're going to win at all I think Arizona is going to win the Big 12 championship and I think Arizona maybe they'll beat Arizona at home and then lose to Arizona in the Big 12 Champion game maybe that's what's going to happen next year but I really like that schedule for Utah and I love the fact they got cam rising and keithy back and I love love love their coaching staff one of the best coaching staffs they have in college football but that's what we got for our preview of the Utah Utes hey thanks for watching the PFF college football show before I let you go though we have an unbelievable deal for you guys right now if you use the code cfb2 you get 25% off your PFF plus annual subscription we got the 2024 college football preview guide you can find 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