Phil Steele Ranks Utah Football Among Nation’s Elite

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – College Football Guru Phil Steele ranked Utah in the top 15 of his preseason top 40 rankings that will come out in his preview magazine.

Each year, Phil Steele talks to every college football team in the FBS as compiles a ton of information about each team, including the Utah Utes.

Among the plethora of information to get fans ready for the upcoming season, Steele puts out a top 40 preseason ranking. He put Utah in his top 15 and the third highest-ranked team in the Pac-12.

Steele put Oklahoma at No. 1, Alabama at No. 2, Ohio State at No. 3 and Clemson at No. 4. The first Pac-12 team in the rankings is Washington at No. 9, followed by USC at No. 13 and Utah at No. 15.

Oregon came in at No. 19, Arizona State at No. 21 and Stanford at No. 40. West Coast CFB tweeted out the rankings of the top four and then all the teams on the west coast in the top 40. Six Pac-12 teams made the top 40, along with three Mountain West teams. BYU did not make the list.

Phil Steele’s Preseason Top 40:

1. Oklahoma
2. Alabama
3. Ohio State
4. Clemson
9. Washington
13. USC
15. Utah
19. Oregon
21. Arizona State
29. Nevada
33. Boise State
36. Wyoming
40. Stanford

— WestCoastCFB (@WestCoastCFB) June 21, 2021

Another thing that Steele does with his preview magazine each year is do a conference outlook by making his projection for each conference. In 2021, Steele has Washington winning the North Division in the Pac-12, followed by Oregon, Stanford, Washington State, California and Oregon State.

In the South Division, Steele picked USC to win it with Utah, Arizona State, UCLA, Colorado and Arizona behind them.

Phil Steele’s PAC-12 Projection:

North:

1. Washington
2. Oregon
3. Stanford
4 WSU
5. Cal
6. OSU

South:

1. USC
2. Utah
3. ASU
4. UCLA
5. Colorado
6. Arizona

— WestCoastCFB (@WestCoastCFB) June 21, 2021

Utah is returning 19 starters from last season, including all but one starter on defense that entered the 2020 season with a completely new secondary.