Kyle Whittingham Not ‘Putting A Lot Of Stock’ Being Picked To Finish 3rd In Pac-12 South

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham didn’t put a lot behind his program being picked to finish third in the Pac-12 South Division.

The conference announced the preseason media poll on Wednesday and Utah was picked to finish third behind USC and Arizona State.

Whittingham met with the conference media in a virtual “Pac-12 Media Day” and was asked about being picked to finish third.

“We lost a lot of good players,” Whittingham said. “I would say that’s probably to be expected and about what we anticipated. And you’re right, we don’t put a lot of stock into that. All that really matters is what you do on the field and everyone will have their chance to prove their case as to where they belong, and how good they are. So we’re approaching it no differently than we do any other year. Whether we’re picked first or third, sixth doesn’t really matter to us, we’ve got to go out and play and, you know, prove ourselves on the field.”

Utah received four first place votes from the media. Oregon was picked to win the conference.

Last season, Utah was predicted by the media to win the Pac-12 Championship.

Utah received 4 first place votes in the Pac-12 Preseason Media Poll.#GoUtes https://t.co/uR2ID1tKoZ

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) October 7, 2020

Pac-12 Preseason Media Poll (First Place Votes)

North Division

1. Oregon (35)
2. California (3)
3. Washington
4. Stanford
5. Oregon State
6. Washington State

South Division

1. USC (32)
2. Arizona State (2)
3. Utah (4)
4. UCLA
5. Colorado
6. Arizona

BREAKING: @Utah_Football picked to finish third in the Pac-12 south preseason media poll.#GoUtes #Pac12FB pic.twitter.com/EVrP0FO1JR

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) October 7, 2020

Utah’s Pac-12 Preseason Media Poll History

The Utes will enter their 10th season in the Pac-12. They have been picked to finish third twice now. The other time was in 2016 when they went 9-4 and ended in third place in the division.

Here is Utah’s Pac-12 Preseason Media Poll history:

• 2014: Picked to finish 5th in the south – Finished 9-4, 5th in the division
• 2015: Picked to finish 5th in the south – Finished 10-3, tied for first in division (lost tiebreaker to USC)
• 2016: Picked to finish 3rd in the south – Finished 9-4, 3rd in the division
• 2017: Picked to finish 2nd in the south – Finished 7-6, 5th in division
• 2018: Picked to finish 2nd in the south – Finished 9-5, 1st in division
• 2019: Picked to win Pac-12 Conference – Finished 11-3, 1st in division

*2011, 2012 and 2013 seasons did not show the preseason media polls.

Utah will open the 2020 season on Saturday, November 7 against Arizona at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for KSLSports.com and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports. You can download and listen to the podcast, here.