This week included three major upsets that would shuffle the AP Top 25. The No. 1, No. 6 and No. 12 teams lost to lower-ranked Top 25 teams. No. 23 Oregon beat No. 12 Ohio State by 13. No. 13 Tennessee beat No. 6 Kentucky, along with No. 11 Notre Dame dropping No. 1 Miami.

What did not happen is No. 3 Utah losing to No. 8 BYU.

In arguably the most important Holy War of at least recent memory, Utah controlled for the most part. Some of that was due to significant penalties and turnovers. Utah deserves credit for creating turnovers, but BYU did themselves no favors.

The Utes put up almost 400 yards of total offense, and the defense held BYU scoreless in the second half. The defense also kept Bear Bachmeier and LJ Martin in his first game back, within reason. Beyond Isaiah Glasker’s seven receptions for 118 yards and a touchdown, Utah executed a very solid game plan that allowed them to control the game.

Utah holds the No. 2 ranking

As previously reported, Utah rose to the second spot in the AP Top 25. Utah and UCLA remain the only unbeaten teams in playoff contention. In addition to the No. 2 ranking, Utah also received 12 first place votes.

The current AP ranking is the highest for a Utah team since 2008. In 2008, Utah finished with an undefeated record and a conference title. The largest difference between 2008 and now, is the college football playoff, not a computing model. The Utes were recognized by BCS computer models as a co-National Champion that season. A shared title that the program still does not recognize.

Utah is finding a way to be Utah, within the NIL era. Of the top 15 teams in the AP poll, Utah is one of four teams that are viewed nationally as outside the norm. Utah, UCLA, Wake Forest and Houston. Instead of the typical cast of characters from the SEC and Big Ten. Miami, Ohio State, Indiana, Alabama, Texas, Oregon, Ole Miss and LSU have all stumbled. Everyone mentioned except Miami and Indiana have at least two losses.

Utah is competing and outperforming teams that usually dominate recruiting. Utah is playing with the 35th ranked recruiting class for 2026. They have two players with a four or five-star rating. Morgan Scalley promised to not change Utah’s culture or how they play football. However, he is finding situational football success in ways that have been missing in the recent past.

Utah controls their own destiny in a way no one else does in the Big 12 conference. They only have one ranked opponent remaining, and it’s a two-loss Arizona team who struggled to put away the 13th best Big 12 team in TCU. Then the Utes will travel to Fort Worth, Texas to take on those same Horned Frogs. Before wrapping up their season with a home game against West Virginia. Another bottom half of the Big 12 team.

The No. 1 spot in the country is not completely out of reach for Utah. Georgia still has two ranked teams to play and is in the middle of a string of four consecutive games against ranked opponents. With games against No. 18 Missouri and No. 21 South Carolina, there is the possibility Georgia drops one.

If they do and Utah wins out, Utah could finish at No. 1. The prevailing thought would be that Georgia is unlikely to lose those game, however, they did lose to unranked Auburn three weeks ago. Even if Georgia does not lose a game in the next three, there is still an argument for Utah at No. 1 given Georgia has a loss to an unranked team.

Utah has the opportunity now to make a significant statement and set themselves up for an impressive playoff run. All of this comes in year one of Scalley as the head coach. In a year when most pundits believed this would be a transition year for the Utes.