{"id":66230,"date":"2024-08-17T01:19:07","date_gmt":"2024-08-17T06:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=66230"},"modified":"2024-08-17T01:19:07","modified_gmt":"2024-08-17T06:19:07","slug":"pete-thamel-predicts-utah-as-winner-of-big-12-no-3-seed-in-college-football-playoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/pete-thamel-predicts-utah-as-winner-of-big-12-no-3-seed-in-college-football-playoff\/","title":{"rendered":"Pete Thamel predicts Utah as winner of Big 12, No. 3 seed in College Football Playoff"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pete Thamel expects Utah<\/a><\/strong> to make a stunning introduction to the Big 12 in the 2024 campaign. On Wednesday, the ESPN analyst revealed his predictions for the Utes during their first season in the loaded conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m banking on the Utah Utes to win the Big 12,\u201d Thamel said.<\/a><\/strong> \u201cCameron Rising<\/a><\/strong> needs to stay healthy. If he does not stay healthy, they will not win the league. I just think it\u2019s that simple\u2026 They need Cam Rising to stay healthy.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou like the addition of [USC<\/a><\/strong> wide receiver] Dorian Singer<\/a><\/strong>. Damian Alford<\/a><\/strong> was Syracuse<\/a><\/strong>\u2018s leading receiver last year. He\u2019s a good player. They have really honed in on their weaknesses, and they should become more strengths.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thamel believes Rising is the key to Utah unlocking Big 12 prosperity, and it\u2019s understandable why. Although Rising has not played a college football game in 554 days, he is a proven leader. During his two seasons as Utah\u2019s starting quarterback, Rising led the program to back-to-back conference championships.<\/p>\n

Rising was particularly phenomenal in 2022, recording 3,034 yards on 249-of-385 passing (8 INT, 26 TD) while adding 77 rushes for 465 yards and six touchdowns. For his efforts, he was named an All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention.<\/p>\n

Now, Rising is healthy again with a cast of offensive talent by his side. Not to mention, Utah\u2019s defense appears to be stellar, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a quintessential Utah defense,\u201d Thamel said. \u201cThey have bangers up front. Lander Barton<\/a><\/strong> is one of the best linebackers in the country. They have a really high-end, back end. Zemaiah Vaughn<\/a><\/strong> is the star corner there, who could end up as an All-American type guy and a high draft pick.<\/p>\n

\u201cJunior Tafuna<\/a><\/strong> has played a lot of games there and been really good up front at the defensive tackle. And, I think if there\u2019s one thing that we\u2019ve learned to count on with Kyle Whittingham<\/a><\/strong> and Morgan Scalley<\/a><\/strong>, it\u2019s they\u2019re going to have a defensive-based identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to FanDuel<\/a><\/strong>, Utah is currently the favorite to win the Big 12 with +280 odds. Kansas State<\/a><\/strong> trails slightly behind with +440 odds. The Utes will kick off their 2024 campaign with a showdown against Southern Utah<\/a><\/strong> at 9 p.m. ET on Aug. 29.<\/p>\n

Thamel expects the game to be the beginning of an excellent season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Utah is the safest pick to win a league,\u201d Thamel said. \u201cI have the most conviction about Utah winning the Big 12 over any other pick to win a league.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Pete Thamel predicts Utah as winner of Big 12, No. 3 seed in College Football Playoff<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pete Thamel expects Utah to make a stunning introduction to the Big 12 in the…<\/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-66230","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\/66230","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=66230"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66256,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66230\/revisions\/66256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}