5 teams wrongly ranked in 2016 Preseason Amway Coaches Poll
By John Buhler
Are the Division I coaches sleeping on the Utah Utes again? With the Arizona universities in a bit of flux, Colorado not even sniffing bowl eligibility, and too much quirkiness in the Los Angeles schools, couldn’t one argue that Utah is the most consistent program in the Pac-12 South entering 2016?
Utah isn’t even ranked in the 2016 Preseason Amway Coaches Poll. Kyle Whittingham’s Utah program finds itself as one of the first four schools out of the initial top 25 with the likes of Mark Richt’s Miami Hurricanes, Paul Chryst’s Wisconsin Badgers, and the venerable mid-major beast that is the Boise State Broncos led by Bryan Harsin.
Whittingham is arguably the best defensive-minded head coach in the Pac-12 this season. USC faces a brutal schedule with a newly appointed head coach in Clay Helton. UCLA could be a College Football Playoff contender behind sophomore quarterback sensation Josh Rosen under head coach Jim Mora.
The Utes will be solid in the trenches on both sides of the ball this year. Barring a Heisman campaign from Rosen in Westwood or if Helton is the next Pete Carroll, Utah feels like the safe pick to win the Pac-12 South. With that being the case, how are the Utes not a top 25 team at the start of the year? The coaches gave the Utes the shaft in this initial poll.
Next: 4. USC Trojans.