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Five years after the Washington Huskies won the first Pac-12 football game ever played at Rice-Eccles Stadium, they're back in town for an important meeting with the Utah Utes.

How big is Saturday's game? That's a trick question, to be answered only by subsequent events.

The goofy twists of a contest that attracted ESPN"s "College GameDay" program to the Utah campus are that the Utes could lose and play in the Rose Bowl and the Huskies could lose and make the College Football Playoff field.

Even so, this is a checkpoint game for teams with much to prove, facing their best opponents of the year. This is everything "GameDay" could want: Utah quarterback Troy Williams facing his former teammates, Ute running back Joe Williams becoming a phenomenal story after retiring from football for a month and rushing for 511 yards in the last two games and Washington quarterback Jake Browning trying to validate his Heisman Trophy candidacy.

As for the X's-and-O's component, the matchup of Washington's offensive line vs. Utah's pass rush will be fascinating. Pro Football Focus cited Browning's passing performance when pressured as the Huskies' biggest weakness. Utah will test him with a defense that forced four turnovers last November in Seattle during a 34-23 win.

The No. 4 Huskies and No. 17 Utes will converge in the biggest game in Utah's Pac-12 era, judging by combined rankings. "It's such a big stage," said Ute safety Chase Hansen. "At the same time, you can't let the bright lights get the best of you. You've got to prepare for the team, rather than the moment, if that makes sense."

What's weird is that bigger moments are ahead for Utah this season, regardless of what happens Saturday. With a win, Utah (7-1) would remain in College Football Playoff consideration. Even with a loss, the Utes could win the Pac-12 South title by beating Arizona State, Oregon and Colorado. And they could fall again to the Huskies in the conference championship game and still earn a Rose Bowl bid — as long as Washington creates a vacancy by qualifying for the CFP (the first standings will be announced Tuesday).

Washington (7-0) could split those potential two games with Utah and still make the CFP, if there's sufficient chaos.

As the Utes learned in 2013, when they upset No. 5 Stanford but failed to become bowl-eligible, the follow-up is what matters. Saturday's game will be fun, in any case, while revealing a lot about both teams.

Four of Utah's wins have come by seven points or fewer. Five of Washington's victims are two-win teams.

The Huskies are loaded with the most All-Pac-12 players in this matchup, while Utah delivers the best story lines. Second-chance points is a basketball statistic, but consider that 36 of the Utes' points in last week's 52-45 win at UCLA came from bounce-back players — including four touchdown runs by Joe Williams, who returned to football two weeks ago because of the Utes' flurry of injuries to running backs.

Cory Butler-Byrd, suspended for the first two games of the season due to legal issues, returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. Troy Williams, who transferred from Washington to Utah via a junior college, ran for another score. He'll become a huge story Saturday, one way or another.

Michael K. Young was Utah's president in 2010, when the school was invited to join the Pac-12. When that first Pac-12 football game was played at Rice-Eccles Stadium, Young was in attendance as Washington's president.

He's now at Texas A&M, but it could be said that Troy Williams' arrival on campus completed the trade for Young. A quarterback for a president? In this era of college sports, that's not unreasonable. As of the close of business Saturday, the Utes may even claim to have won the deal.

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