The Utah Utes are the No. 3 team in the country, which is the highest ranking in the AP Top 25 Poll over the past two decades. Behind only Georgia and undefeated Miami. For ages, it seems the best way to win is to have the best recruits. The team with the most five stars is most likely to have the best success.

This has been the gold standard route during the playoff era, the BSC era and even before that. Morgan Scalley's Utes are one of a handful of teams that are competing with teams that focus on highly rated talent.

The NIL era has changed the equation. Teams still look for highly rated talent, but now the money alters the approach. Not every team has a top 10 budget. Not every team can burn money as it's an unlimited resource. Some teams take a different approach.

Utah is competing without five-star talents

In the current AP top 10, there are seven teams with extremely high recruiting rankings. Three are decidedly lower on that metric. Yet all ten are competing on a similar level.

Miami (1) has the No. 9 recruiting rank. Georgia (2) has the No. 3 recruiting rank. Notre Dame (4) has the No. 5 recruiting rank. Indiana (6) has the No. 20 recruiting rank. BYU (7) has the No. 21 recruiting rank. Alabama (9) has the No. 2 recruiting rank. Texas (10) has the No. 1 recruiting rank.

Outside those seven, Kentucky sits in the 8th spot with a No. 58 ranking. UCLA sits at 5 with a No. 54 rank. With Utah leading the pack, sitting in 3rd spot with a No. 35 ranking. While there are several factors that could differentiate programs and recruiting ranking, it's obvious Utah (35th recruiting ranking) is somehow outperforming Texas (1st recruiting ranking).

Despite any number of variables, Utah is winning games with ‘measurably’ less. Utah quarterback Devon Dampier is the highest rated player on the current Utes roster at 89. Texas has six players rated at 90 or above. Alabama has five. Notre Dame has five. Georgia has five. Miami has five. Even BYU has two. Utah is undefeated and a real playoff contender with none.

Talent is only part of the equation

Morgan Scalley clearly had an advantage over an outside hire. Scalley was the head coach in waiting for some years, not to mention a combined tenure at Utah of 26 years. Scalley understood he did not have to dramatically change anything.

Scalley inherited a program that helped shape and develop over the course of two decades. When he replaced Kyle Whittingham, he made no effort to change the culture or the mentality of what it meant to play Utah's brand of football. The idea of Utah football has been sound, disciplined and physical. When speaking with ESPN, Scalley called it ‘the buy-in’.

“I think its just the buy-in from everybody,” Scalley told ESPN last week. “I don’t have the magic sauce. We have two great quarterbacks, but the buy-in from players and what we’ve been asking in terms of team football. If you ask everyone in our building what your culture is, you won’t get ten different answers. It's RSNB. Relentless, smart, nasty, ballhawks.”

There is also a steadfast adherence to one game at a time. Scalley added, “No one puts on their resume. Hey, we were undefeated in week seven." In the world of sports, a team can only win or lose the games in front of them. Utah has been a model of that concept.

Whether it has been Idaho and Utah State or Iowa State and No. 14 Houston, Utah has handled business and done so with a margin of victory. The only team they played close to was a surprising win over a Colorado team that was 14th in the conference.

Up next for the Utes is the highly anticipated Holy War rivalry game vs. BYU. Both teams will enter that game with top 10 national rankings for the first time ever. With an undefeated season on the line, Utah only needs to do one thing. Treat BYU like they’re just the next team on the schedule.

No. 7 BYU at No. 3 Utah will kick off at Noon ET and will broadcast on ABC.