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Palo Alto, Calif. • Can it be possible that after two losses in three weeks, Utah can still win the Pac-12 South Division?
Thanks to Arizona States's stunning loss late Saturday night in Corvallis, Ore., yes. It can be.
Possible, but not likely.
More important at the moment, though, is that in mid-November, it's a conversation that can be had.
The Utes' first three seasons in the Pac-12 have opened their eyes to the difficulties of Power 5 football. At no point did they have a winning Pac-12 record before this season, and while they narrowly missed out on the South title with a final-week loss to Colorado in 2011, the possibility only existed because 7-2 USC was ineligible.
This season has shown the silver lining of that week-in, week-out grind: A loss or two does not doom you.
Utah sits at No. 20 in the AP Poll, the same spot it occupied two weeks ago, before it lost 51-27 to No. 3 Oregon.
The cachet of the Pac-12 is such that even in beating one of the conference's six unranked teams, in Stanford, Utah impressed voters.
It wasn't always enough in the Mountain West for Utah to win.
In a season with more high drama than head coach Kyle Whittingham could recall Saturday night, six of Utah's conference games have been decided by a score or less.
Sure, through a fan's lens, Washington State and Arizona State were hard-luck losses, but UCLA, Oregon State, USC and Stanford fans could say the same of Utah's victories against them.
The goal in the Pac-12 is simpler. Win, as much as you can.
So here's that South Division title scenario:
Utah must win at home next Saturday against Arizona and the following Saturday in Boulder against Colorado.
UCLA must beat USC in Pasadena on Saturday, and lose at home to Stanford the next Saturday, when Arizona must beat visiting Arizona State.
In a five-way tie with UCLA, USC, Arizona and Arizona State, Utah goes to Santa Clara based on its record against the other three, 3-1, and then its head-to-head win against UCLA, also 3-1.
Should Arizona State also lose to Washington State, Utah goes through in a four-way tie because of a 3-0 record against the other three. Essentially, that game has no bearing on Utah because, either way, Arizona State needs to lose to Arizona.
All five components of Utah's South title scenario are easy to imagine happening, but any time you multiply five fractions by each other, the resulting number is generally small.
It is unlikely to happen.
Sticking to things that are certain, or at least very likely:
Utah will finish with a winning record.
Whittingham will not be fired for poor performance.
Utah will enter the next season with more momentum than it has had since joining the Pac-12.
Twitter: @matthew_piper —
Arizona at Utah
P Saturday, 1:30 p.m.
TV • ESPN