Utah football wins how many this year?

[BoylenOver]

I don't know if there's ever been so many unknowns heading into a season for the Utes. Brand-new conference; brand-new offensive coordinator (and a brand-new offense with him); no returning starters at running back or in the secondary; and nothing but speculation and guessing as to how Wynn will recover from offseason shoulder surgery that prevented him from throwing during spring camp.

Even with all that established, Utah catches a few breaks with their schedule; notably, the absence of Oregon and Stanford. They also get the weakest P12 team (Wazzou) on the road, and potentially the biggest game on their schedule is at home against Arizona St.

The way I see it, Utah has five likely wins (Montana St; Washington; Oregon St; @ Wazzou; Colorado), three likely losses (@ USC; @ Pitt; @ Cal), and four 50/50 games (@ BYU; ASU; @ Arizona; UCLA). Sweeping the 50/50 games puts them in the inaugural P12 title game; 3-1 or 2-2 gives them a very respectable record and a bowl game; 1-3 or 0-4 would be very disappointing, and would likely prevent them from playing in a bowl game.

IMO they finish 8-4, beating UCLA and Arizona while splitting BYU/ASU.

[ERCougar]

7.
I remember running their schedule using last years final Sagarin ratings and I'm pretty sure that it came out to 8-4, and that included a win over BYU. I don't think that win happens, so I'm going 7-5.

[MartyFunkhouser]

I don't know if there's ever been so many unknowns heading into a season for the Utes. Brand-new conference; brand-new offensive coordinator (and a brand-new offense with him); no returning starters at running back or in the secondary; and nothing but speculation and guessing as to how Wynn will recover from offseason shoulder surgery that prevented him from throwing during spring camp.

Even with all that established, Utah catches a few breaks with their schedule; notably, the absence of Oregon and Stanford. They also get the weakest P12 team (Wazzou) on the road, and potentially the biggest game on their schedule is at home against Arizona St.

The way I see it, Utah has five likely wins (Montana St; Washington; Oregon St; @ Wazzou; Colorado), three likely losses (@ USC; @ Pitt; @ Cal), and four 50/50 games (@ BYU; ASU; @ Arizona; UCLA). Sweeping the 50/50 games puts them in the inaugural P12 title game; 3-1 or 2-2 gives them a very respectable record and a bowl game; 1-3 or 0-4 would be very disappointing, and would likely prevent them from playing in a bowl game.

IMO they finish 8-4, beating UCLA and Arizona while splitting BYU/ASU.

Sounds about right, but I'm erring on the side of pessimism and have the Utes at 7-5. I'll be happy with this season as long as the Utes go to a bowl game.

[Clark Addison]

I voted 7, but I don't follow the Utes very closely, so all of my predictions except one might be off.

[Coach McGuirk]

I see losses @USC, @Pitt, @BYU, UDub and @U of A.

[BoylenOver]

I see losses @USC, @Pitt, @BYU, UDub and @U of A.

I feel moderately strong about saying UW is a "likely win". Two reasons: one, Utah's coming off of a bye week (Utah's been very strong with more than a week to prepare under Whittingham); and two, it will be the first-ever PAC game at RES. The fans and players will be especially pumped up.

I'm also interested to see if the Criner lymphoma reports are true. Hopefully the young man is okay and doesn't miss any time, but if he's out for the season, the 'Cats have nothing around Foles.

[Paperback Writer]

I'm going to be bullish on Utah and predict 10 wins (did the same with BYU). I'm going mostly by the Ute's favorable schedule rather than evaluating who is returning or will be playing at the various postion groups since I'm not that familiar with Utah football.

Only losses come @USC and @BYU. Washington and ASU will be tough games but Utah gets them at home. Have little regard for Big East football so it's not hard to predict a victory @Pitt which I don't consider an upset. Also think the games @Cal and @Arizona are winable. Most likely Utah loses one of them but can't bring myself to predict a Utah loss to the Berkeley snobs or to a Mike Stoops' team. So I'm being really optimistic. The games at home against UCLA and CU won't be a tough as some may think.

So I'm going with an optimistic 10-2 and playing in (and most likely losing) the inagural PAC-12 CCG. The Utes should end up in a decent bowl at 10-3.

[LA Ute]

I voted my fondest realistic hope: 8 wins. Anything over that is absolute gravy, IMO.

[BoylenOver]

I voted my fondest realistic hope: 8 wins. Anything over that is absolute gravy, IMO.

You voted 12 wins for BYU, but 8 wins is your realistic hope for Utah?

[LA Ute]

You voted 12 wins for BYU, but 8 wins is your realistic hope for Utah?

I was just messing with my BYU buddies. I don't follow BYU football well enough to have a decent opinion about how they'll do this year, so I went for broke.

[Coach McGuirk]

I feel moderately strong about saying UW is a "likely win". Two reasons: one, Utah's coming off of a bye week (Utah's been very strong with more than a week to prepare under Whittingham); and two, it will be the first-ever PAC game at RES. The fans and players will be especially pumped up.

I'm also interested to see if the Criner lymphoma reports are true. Hopefully the young man is okay and doesn't miss any time, but if he's out for the season, the 'Cats have nothing around Foles.

The only reason I took UDub is that things never play out as they should on paper. I think that game could be the one that let's the Utes realize they are playing in the PAC10 and even the least of the league are steps above the pieces of shit that lie at the bottom of the MWC, bye week or not.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

I see losses @USC, @Pitt, @BYU, UDub and @U of A.

I think Utah is going to beat UW. I don't think Oregon State, Arizona State and @ Cal will be automatic wins though.

[Coach McGuirk]

I was just messing with my BYU buddies. I don't follow BYU football well enough to have a decent opinion about how they'll do this year, so I went for broke.

Don't limit yourself to BYU football.

[TripletDaddy]

I don't know if there's ever been so many unknowns heading into a season for the Utes. Brand-new conference; brand-new offensive coordinator (and a brand-new offense with him); no returning starters at running back or in the secondary; and nothing but speculation and guessing as to how Wynn will recover from offseason shoulder surgery that prevented him from throwing during spring camp.

Even with all that established, Utah catches a few breaks with their schedule; notably, the absence of Oregon and Stanford. They also get the weakest P12 team (Wazzou) on the road, and potentially the biggest game on their schedule is at home against Arizona St.

The way I see it, Utah has five likely wins (Montana St; Washington; Oregon St; @ Wazzou; Colorado), three likely losses (@ USC; @ Pitt; @ Cal), and four 50/50 games (@ BYU; ASU; @ Arizona; UCLA). Sweeping the 50/50 games puts them in the inaugural P12 title game; 3-1 or 2-2 gives them a very respectable record and a bowl game; 1-3 or 0-4 would be very disappointing, and would likely prevent them from playing in a bowl game.

IMO they finish 8-4, beating UCLA and Arizona while splitting BYU/ASU.

yeah, you havent been able to stop talking about that matchup with Sparky since the schedule was released.

[LA Ute]

Don't limit yourself to BYU football.

It's true, I choose to waste my valuable time on other things. You are welcome to use this admission against me every time I claim to be an expert on football. (Tip: This has never, ever happened. )