Kragthorpe: Utes made Pac-12 consistency their calling card, but that's gone now

When this season’s first College Football Playoff rankings are published Tuesday, two fixtures will be missing: Florida State and Utah.

The absences of the Utes and Seminoles will leave Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State as the only teams to make every list since 2014, when the CFP committee started releasing a top 25 in the second half of each season. Utah will lose that distinction, representing the program’s former consistency in the Pac-12.

Even if they never had won a Pac-12 South title, the Utes could say they joined USC and Stanford as the only teams with winning records in conference play from 2014-16. Utah is 1-4, so extending that streak would require answering four losses with four wins, including an upset of No. 12 Washington on the road.

That’s unlikely, in a season when the state’s three FBS programs all may be shut out of bowls for the first time since 2002 — while Southern Utah and Weber State should make the FCS playoffs and Snow College is in the NJCAA top 10.

The Utes produced their first winless October since ’02, when a six-game losing streak cost coach Ron McBride his job after 13 seasons. That won’t happen to Kyle Whittingham in his 13^th year, and he won’t even change offensive coordinators again. Yet is is becoming clear that a lot of us overestimated Troy Taylor’s impact on the offense and Utah’s ability to replace 16 players who were in NFL training camps this past summer.

Whittingham’s team has lost “mojo, swag, confidence, whatever,” he said Monday, also citing a lack of “passion.”

Ute safety Chase Hansen said the players’ challenge is to “kill any negativity around the program,” acknowledging that “downgrading your goals” from a Pac-12 title to mere bowl eligibility is difficult.

The Utes’ decline is poorly timed, given the ongoing study about expanding Rice-Eccles Stadium. On the field, Utah is proving to be just like everybody else in the Pac-12, other than USC and Stanford. Arizona, Arizona State and UCLA all have gone through tough times lately (after winning South titles), and it’s happening here. The question is whether Utah’s attendance will absorb such downturns. The attractiveness of Pac-12 opponents may be insurance against what happened Saturday in Provo, where BYU drew 46,451 for San Jose State, but who knows?

That’s an issue to be addressed by next spring, when the study is due. As for the immediate future, the Utes are hurt by a scheduling rotation that skips California and Oregon State, and they’re fighting for bowl eligibility. ESPN’s Football Power Index now projects 5.4 wins for Utah, which may have to beat Colorado to avoid last place in the South, after being picked No. 2 in the official media poll.

It is either reassuring or frightening that in six seasons of Pac-12 membership, the Utes never have gone into the Colorado game with bowl eligibility at stake. They’ve had either four or seven-plus wins after 11 games. Both possibilities remain in play this year. Regardless, nobody imagined having this kind of bowl conversation, as of late September.

Explain this: Last season, Oregon beat Utah 30-28 on Justin Herbert’s touchdown pass to Darren Carrington II with two seconds left. Subtracting an injured Herbert and giving Carrington to Utah, the Ducks won 41-20 in Eugene last Saturday, while Carrington caught nine passes for 130 yards.

If the Utes don’t win at least two of their remaining four games, Taylor will have wasted the gift of Carrington as a graduate transfer. The way the math works, Carrington is almost sure to break Utah’s season record for receptions, but only if a bowl game is included.

Not counting Utah’s two defensive touchdowns, Taylor’s offense has produced a high of 23 points in five Pac-12 games. Morgan Scalley’s defense is not above criticism, either. USC quarterback Sam Darnold and Oregon’s multidimensional running game shredded Utah in second halves. The defense tends to wear down, although that explanation wouldn’t cover Oregon’s opening drive of 75 yards for a score.

The Utes forever will lament their failed 2-point conversion attempt at USC. Winning that game may have propelled them to beat Arizona State and Oregon, instead of losing by a combined 41 points. If not for quarterback Tyler Huntley’s shoulder injury in a win at Arizona, Utah’s offense might have developed more consistency.

A lot of football teams have similar what-ifs, though. The Utes right now have too many questions, and not enough answers. They need some offensive solutions, starting Friday vs. UCLA.