{"id":55650,"date":"2024-06-11T19:47:27","date_gmt":"2024-06-12T00:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=55650"},"modified":"2024-06-11T19:47:27","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T00:47:27","slug":"greg-mcelroy-believes-utah-has-an-extremely-manageable-schedule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/greg-mcelroy-believes-utah-has-an-extremely-manageable-schedule\/","title":{"rendered":"Greg McElroy believes Utah has an \u2018extremely manageable\u2019 schedule"},"content":{"rendered":"

Utah<\/a><\/strong> was unable to make it three consecutive Pac-12 Championships last year before leaving for the Big 12<\/a> this offseason. Even so, Greg McElroy<\/a> doesn\u2019t see why the Utes\u2019 winning ways won\u2019t continue in their new conference<\/a> in 2024.<\/p>\n

McElroy examined Utah\u2019s schedule for this fall during a recent episode of \u2018Always College Football\u2019<\/a>. In his opinion, their schedule for this upcoming year is far easier to work with<\/a> than the one that they were dealing with in their last league.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou actually look at the schedule? The schedule, to me, is extremely manageable for Utah, especially understanding what league they\u2019re coming from,\u201d said McElroy. \u201cYou know the respect that I had for the Pac-12 the last couple years. There is no Washington<\/a><\/strong> on the schedule, there is no Oregon<\/a><\/strong> on the schedule, there is no \u2018SC<\/a><\/strong> on the schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does feel a little bit more manageable for Utah as they transition to a new league,\u201d said McElroy. \u201cYou go through the schedule and there\u2019s just not that many games that they are going to likely be in a toss up scenario.\u201d<\/p>\n

McElroy proved his point once he started assessing the games for the Utes. That included a 3-0 start for them with one of those opening up conference play<\/a> for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got Southern Utah<\/a><\/strong>, Baylor<\/a><\/strong> at home<\/a>, Utah State<\/a><\/strong> on the road in the first three weeks of the season,\u201d McElroy read. \u201cI think Baylor coming to them is advantage to the Utes all day and twice on Saturday so I\u2019m going to lean in favor of the Utes there in that game. So I think they get off to a 3-0 start.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the fourth and fifth games of their year are two that McElroy highlighted for Utah. A roadtrip to Stillwater and a home game against \u2018Zona present a pair of games that he thinks they could lose.<\/p>\n

\u201cArguably the most difficult game on the schedule is September 21st on the road at<\/a> Oklahoma State<\/a><\/strong>. That game? Extremely difficult,\u201d McElroy stated. \u201cWe know what Oklahoma State brings back, we know that Oklahoma State can pound the football<\/a>. Are they going to be able to run the ball real well against Utah? Probably not. They\u2019ve always been very stout against the run but, at the same time, I do think the weapons for Oklahoma State will pose a bit of a challenge on somewhat of a re-tooled secondary, especially there at the safety spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cArizona<\/a><\/strong> come to Utah,\u201d continued McElroy. \u201cI think Arizona \u2013 expectations are high<\/a>. I am not quite as bullish on Arizona as everybody else is. The fact that it\u2019s at Utah? I think it\u2019s a game that they should win. But is it losable? Sure. You can certainly make a case for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

From there, though, McElroy didn\u2019t see another matchup that certainly concerned him over their final seven. There are tests, including a rivalry game against<\/a> BYU<\/a><\/strong> and a road game at<\/a> Colorado<\/a><\/strong>, but none that he labeled as losses.<\/p>\n

\u201cArizona State<\/a><\/strong>? I think they\u2019re still at least a year away<\/a>. TCU<\/a><\/strong> comes to them<\/a> \u2013 I would lean in favor of Utah in that game. At<\/a> Houston<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 I would lean in favor of Utah there. BYU comes to them \u2013 I think they will get BYU next year there in The Holy War. That game will be played in Salt Lake,\u201d said McElroy. \u201cColorado is on the road. I think Utah, in the trenches, will have a significant advantage over Colorado. Now, Colorado maybe can match up<\/a> with their personnel and their skill? Certainly. That\u2019s possible but I would still lean Utah there. Iowa State<\/a><\/strong> comes to them<\/a> and then they\u2019re on the road at<\/a> UCF<\/a><\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those counting them up, that leaves only two to three games that McElroy believes are possible losses for Utah over the course of their season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many games, when you think about Utah, are legitimately losable? Three, perhaps?\u201d McElroy pondered.<\/p>\n

\u201cOklahoma State on the road? Alright. Yeah, you could talk me into that one,\u201d thought McElroy. \u201cArizona at home? I have a hard time thinking Utah loses that game. At Colorado? I don\u2019t think Colorado is quite ready for what Utah is going to have in the trenches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Remove the pandemic year and Utah has won eight or more games in each of those five years with three of those seasons seeing 10 or more victories. That\u2019s consistency you can count on as of recently, regardless of what conference they play in.<\/p>\n

Still, in a new league in the era of an expanded field<\/a>, the Utes are, in McElroy\u2019s mind, in position to win double-digit games again before possibly playing for the Big 12 Championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou really look through the schedule and I think we can easily fast forward to the end of the year and Utah is sitting there at 10-2, 11-1<\/a> and en route to a Big 12 title, perhaps, and possibly en route to a College Football Playoff berth,\u201d said McElroy. \u201cIt wouldn\u2019t shock me at all, especially when you start to dive in game-by-game in the schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Greg McElroy believes Utah has an \u2018extremely manageable\u2019 schedule<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Utah was unable to make it three consecutive Pac-12 Championships last year before leaving for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55650"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55689,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55650\/revisions\/55689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}