Utah football may have lost the Rose Bowl in spectacular fashion to Ohio State, but the 2021 season where the Utes won the Pac 12 can’t be considered anything other than a massive success. While it may have initially felt like the culmination of a squad comprised of a lot of upperclassmen, that actually isn't the case, as a lot of those players have one more year of eligibility to burn in 2022.
Now, returning a lot of those pieces including starting quarterback Cameron Rising, they look to do it all over again in 2022. With fall camp kicking off recently, it’s time to take a peek ahead at the task at hand for the Utes, beginning with the two biggest questions facing them in 2022.
2. The PAC-12
Things have shaken up in-conference for the Utes, with Oregon losing their top class head coach, and USC picking one up, but either way there’s a lot of talent to deal with across the schedule. Ignoring the season opener away at Florida for a moment, the Utes have to deal with games at home against USC and a trip to Eugene to play Oregon, while a game away at Washington State is never easy either for Utah football.
There’s definitely space in here for the Utes to pick up anywhere from 10-12 wins, but it won’t come easy, as it never does for teams at the top of college football. Not only have teams like, for example, USC, picked up quality coaching, but they've also picked up quality talent in the transfer portal, with the Trojans adding Caleb Williams under center, where he'll be throwing to fellow transfers Mario Williams and 2021 Biletnikoff Award winner Jordan Addison.
The floor for the Utes is probably something around 9-3, but the ceiling is 12-0. It's up to them to navigate the more difficult parts of their schedule and win the games they're supposed to win in between. A lot of teams falter at that point, and drop games they have no business dropping.
1. Defense
While Utah football's defense had immense performances across the season, most notably giving up seven and ten points to Oregon across two games respectively, along with holding Arizona State to only 21, the defense also gave up at least 25 points in six games in 2021, maxing out with the 48 put up by Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.
If Utah sees themselves as contenders for a spot in the College Football Playoff, which they very well could be, giving up 48 points to other contenders isn't a good thing, nor is it going to land them very many wins against that caliber of opponent. The Utes have kinda been stuck in a sort of limbo somewhere between being a perennial New Years Six team and being a contender for a National Championship for a few years, and if there was ever a time for them to make the jump from one level to the next, 2022 is as good a time as any.
Not many teams have their issues so clear cut, and it's not even that Utah's defense is bad, they're actually really good, it's just that they sometimes lose control a bit, and allow the opposing offense too many big plays, as evidenced in the Rose Bowl. It's a simple fix truth be told, but one that is absolutely necessary for Utah football to take that next step. If they can limit the big plays, they can limit the points on the scoreboard, and that's exactly what they did to Oregon twice in 2021, and will try to do to everyone in 2022.
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