Pac-12

  • West Coast Football Power Rankings for Week 5 utah usc 3

    4 games into the college football season and we are starting to get a taste of who is good and who isn’t out west. This highly scientific poll based on my personal opinion ranks all the teams in the Pac-12 and Mountain West, + BYU + Weber. 

    1. Cal: The mighty Golden Bears of Berkely are the Pac 12’s only undefeated team left and possibly their final hope for making the playoffs (Good luck). They have not entirely over-powered anyone in any game, (ex: Cal 23, North Texas 17), but their victory over Ole Miss and their one-point win over Washington in Seattle puts them number one on the list.
    2. Washington: The lightning delay game against Cal was probably a fluke and the Huskies would likely win in a rematch, but we here at PMH respect head to head wins and therefore put Cal ahead. Anyways, Washington QB Jake Eason is playing well, and UW is coming off two impressive victories over BYU and Hawaii and looks like the best team in the Pac-12.
    3. Oregon: Oh ducks. Ya blew it. With the whole country watching opening weekend you let a 15-point lead slip away while Auburn Freshman Bo Nix rallied his team to victory. Oregon ...
    4. Pre-season Outlook for Utah Football rice eccles stadium 2

      The University of Utah is set to open their season Thursday night at home against Michigan in what will be one of the most anticipated games of the opening weekend of college football. Expectations are high after the Utes went 8-4 last year and won their bowl game as well. They have several key players returning this year. So what are realistic expectations?

      • I believe Utah will be an even better football team this year but may win the same number of games. It’s important to remember Utah won several close ones last year. It is quite possible a few of those games don’t go their way this year and they end up only 7-5 or 8-4 again.
      • I heard a crazy stat on the radio a few weeks ago that Utah had not beaten a Pac-12 opponent by more than a touchdown in the past two years. It is true. Those numbers speak to how good the Pac-12 is. The conference is easily the second best after the SEC and the Pac-12 South has five incredible teams. Colorado is the only non-powerhouse in the division.
      • Close games and all, I think Utah is talented enough to be a top 15 or even ...
      • The Greatest Sports Announcer Calls of All Time cal stanford

        We’re still a month or so away from the open of Fall camp for BYU and Utah Football. The NBA finals just ended. Most sports fans are probably watching a little baseball or hitting the beach or the lake for vacation. During this relatively mild time of the sports year, I thought it would be cool to post some of the greatest sports calls of all time. Of course these calls generally coincide with the greatest sports moments of all time. You’ll recognize many of them.

        My personal favorite is Kirk Gibson’s home run in game one of the 1988 World Series since I grew up in So. California as a Dodger fan. I remember sitting around the TV watching that game with my family. Vin Scully was the TV announcer. In addition to doing Dodger games, I think he worked for NBC and did all the big games. However, his call of the home run was actually not as dramatic as the late Jack Buck, who I believe was doing the game on radio. Jack Buck’s call is on the Youtube clip. (And I believe Jack Buck was also the announcer on the Ozzie Smith home run)

        That said, the best ...

      • College Football Conference Realignment – 5 Years Later Conference map

        BYU and Utah fans remember it well – five years ago Utah received word they were joining the Pac-12 and leaving BYU behind. BYU football decided to go Independent. Check out this link to a fantastic read from Stewart Mandel of Fox Sports, one of the premier college football writers. He provides a great summary of all the conference changes and how the affected teams have fared in the 5 years since. It’s a really fascinating break-down. Hard to read if you’re a BYU fan.

        Biggest winners, losers five years after realignment hell broke loose

         

      • Runnin’ Utes Fall Flat on Saturday Against Arizona Arizona

        The #8 Utah Utes were beaten handily by #10 Arizona on Saturday 76-59. It was billed as a top 10 showdown but did not live up to the hype. Utah never got going on offense and seemed overmatched by Arizona’s height and length. Delon Wright did not play well and the Utes didn’t seem to have anyone else willing to answer the bell.

        I thought this might be a nice showcase game for Utah’s 7 footer, Jacob Poeltl – who is receiving a lot of NBA draft buzz. Arizona is loaded with NBA caliber big men and it would have been nice to see Potl hold his own. He was kind of a non-factor. Poelt had his normal 6 points in the game but was just not a force.

        Besides this bad loss, the only negative thing I have to say about Larry Krystkowiak this season is Utah doesn’t feature Poeltl enough in their offense. I think they could go more deliberately into the post with him and develop his offensive game, while helping the team score.

        Though I don’t think Arizona is 20 points better than Utah, the Utes certainly have some room to improve after this bad loss. I think they ...

      • College Football Playoff – Just as Crooked as the BCS college football playoff2

        The college football playoff committee gave an early Christmas gift to every sports talk radio show in America today – a week’s worth of material and crazed phone calls to fill segment after segment. Up to this point, we had been led to believe the committee was actually acting like the intelligent, thoughtful group of 13 individuals they are. However, objectivity, reason, and sanity went out the window at noon eastern today when the final 4 teams were announced. Money, traditional names, power, greed and TV won out once again. Nothing shocking – we all know how college football works – it was just a little jolting because the committee had seemed to actually make sense up to this point.

        These were the rankings (I just have the top 16) released last Tuesday night (just 5 days ago):

        1. Alabama
        2. Oregon
        3. TCU
        4. Florida State
        5. Ohio State
        6. Baylor
        7. Arizona
        8. Michigan State
        9. Kansas State
        10. Mississippi State
        11. Georgia Tech
        12. Ole Miss
        13. Wisconsin
        14. Georgia
        15. UCLA
        16. Missouri

        Here’s the final top 10 rankings released today:

        1. Alabama
        2. Oregon
        3. Florida State
        4. Ohio State
        5. Baylor
        6. TCU
        7. Mississippi State
        8. Michigan State
        9. Ole Miss
        10. Arizona

        TCU is out of the top 4 and Ohio State is in.

        Here is what transpired over the weekend.

        • #1 Alabama easily handled #16 Missouri 42-13 in the SEC title game and secured their spot
        • #2 Oregon crushed #7 Arizona 51-13 in the Pac-12 championship game
        • #3TCU destroyed a ...
        • Attention SEC Honks – You can now come back down to earth sec

          All year long we heard how unbelievable the SEC was, particularly the SEC West. That one division was gonna send 3 teams to the innagural college football playoff and perhaps allow one infidel from elsewhere in the country to participate. Of course a lot of this was driven by ESPN as they own the SEC network and will televise the playoff games.

          Every time I heard this nonsense, I would wonder to myself if any of those people had ever stayed up till 2:00 in the morning to watch the likes of Oregon, Arizona, UCLA or Utah kick off at 8:00 Pacific time. Or if they had seen what Baylor was doing offensively in the Big-12 for the past 4 or 5 years. I don’t blame SEC fans and media for getting caught up in their own hype all year, but even they’ve got to acknowledge – the PAC-12 was loaded this year. In fact it was a much deeper and more competitive conference than the SEC top to bottom. The SEC was still #1 but not by as much as it used to be.

          Just a few thoughts:

          • The SEC and PAC-12 both have tons of skill position players that can change ...
          • Win over Michigan could really set up Utah’s season pac 12

            Utah fans are thrilled to be in the PAC-12 and playing great teams week in and week out. They are not thrilled to have gone 5-7 the past two seasons and not played in bowl games. It is widely rumored that Coach Whittingham and his staff could be on the chopping block if the Utes don’t go at least 6-6 this year. A win this weekend to run their record to 3-0 would be huge!

            Should Utah secure a win over Michigan on the road and move to 3-0, you’d sure like their chances to go at least 3-6 in the Pac-12 this year, finish 6-6 and secure that elusive bowl game invitation.

            Many Utah Fans are even more optimistic – and with good reason. They finally have a healthy quarterback who seems to be playing well. Kenneth Scott is back making plays at receiver after injury last year. Utah’s defense is very solid as always. The defense will have Gionni Paul in the line-up for the fist time. He is expected to have a big impact. Paul transferred from Miami and was injured in Spring ball.

            The Utah offense has looked good in the first two games. The first game was basically ...

          • Pac-12 Home Opener for Utah – A Long Deserved Celebration

            A major event will draw attention to downtown Salt Lake City this weekend. It’s one that happens every 6 months and anyone from this region of the country is familiar with – the LDS Church General Conference.

            However, a major event of a different variety will also take place this weekend just up the hill from downtown. This one will likely have a much more festive and celebratory feel to it. The University of Utah will play their first home game in the Pac-12 this weekend against Washington. Saturday will be a monumental day for the program and Salt Lake City, win or lose. Living in Salt Lake, it’s been fun to see the build up to this game and this moment.

            It’s amazing to think how far the Utah football program has come in just the last 15-20 years. It was not long ago that the U was playing bad football in a broken-down stadium. Then Ron McBride became head coach in 1990 and had a break out year in 1994. Utah continued to win much more consistently through the late 90’s and early 2000’s. The Olympics came to town in 2002 and brought about a face lift to the now ...

          • BYU vs. Texas, Utah vs. USC – Week 2 Preview
            Imagine the following conversation taking place in mid-January, 2006, somewhere in Salt Lake County. College football season has just ended and these two neighbors are out shoveling snow off their drive ways and shootin’ the bull:

            Buddy #1:
            Even though I can’t stand BYU, I’m glad you guys finally got rid of Crowton. This guy Bronco at least got you to the Las Vegas Bowl in his first year.

            Buddy #2:
            No doubt. And even though I hate Utah, I’m still stoked you guys went to the Fiesta Bowl last year and represented. That was great.

            By the way, did you watch that incredible national championship game between Texas and USC two weeks ago? That guy Vince Young is unbelievable. Wouldn’t it be awesome to be at those guys’ level some day instead of just trolling around the pathetic Mountain West Conference?

            Buddy #1:
            Hey dude, I think it could really happen. I can almost see it now…..

            On a sunny September afternoon in 2011, Utah will be on the road to face USC in a conference game and on the same Saturday BYU will be an