This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Everybody be cool. Ease on into this thing. Fly casual, up to the ionosphere. Act like you've been way up there, way out there before. Even though, no, no you haven't.

Not like this. Nobody around here has.

What the 2015 Utes are doing now makes what the 1984 Cougars did look like college football's version of Candy Land or Chutes and Ladders or Uncle Wiggly or Red Rover Red Rover or Slap the Balloon, child's play. Halfway through — and that's important to acknowledge, it remains an incomplete job — the comparison between the seasons isn't close, not when measured by the quality of competition.

On second thought, everyone needs to stop and ponder and appreciate what's happening, what they're seeing. Everybody should just push straight through the cool-chic veneer and the uh-huh-that's-right-we're-bad BS, and say it all plain, the way it really is.

The Utes are doing something extraordinary, something completely new and unexpected, sailing into fresh waters, and they're hauling an entire school and program along with them, playing what might be the best college football in the country. It's gotten to the point where even when the Utes try to beat themselves — with limited rushing yards and all kinds of special teams mistakes, they win, anyway. They beat teams they haven't beaten in four decades.

They're six-and-freaking-oh, three-and-freaking-oh in conference.

BYU had its championship season 31 years ago, a terrific accomplishment. The Utes had some sweet runs back in 2004 and 2008, going undefeated and all. But that was in the old WAC and in the Mountain West, back when those teams faced a few good opponents, they rose to the sporadic occasion, and then kicked around and chewed up the rest of the schedule like a Plott Hound on a piece of prime rib.

In those days, no matter the outcomes of games, no matter how the Cougars and Utes looked, there were always questions about the week-to-weak level of competition, always the condescending yawns and the collective kind of yeah, buts. The worse they hammered teams, the more that lopsidedness worked against them, casting dark shades of doubt on the opponents played and the success achieved. And maybe, given honest reflection and the steep ascent the Utes have scaled since joining the Pac-12 — just two seasons ago, they won a total of two league games — that skepticism was justified.

But there are few questions anymore. There are few yawns, few shades of doubt, few yeah, buts. What hovers now is acclaim for legitimate wins, wins that stand out as badges of honor and mileposts of legitimacy, all of which demonstrate the rather remarkable progress the Utes have made.

There's still ground to make up, hence the line out of Vegas for Saturday's game at unranked USC that put the highly ranked Utes as three-point dogs, a disadvantage Kyle Whittingham will use as motivational advantage for his team.

To be sure, Utah football was undeniably blessed with good fortune and great opportunity when the Pac-10 swung open the door, expanding to 12 schools in 2011, and the Utes tripped and stumbled at first, discovering what it was like to run with the big dogs, game after game. They hiccupped en route. It took a few years for recruiting to catch up. Now, it appears as though the threshold has been crossed, from something less to something more.

So, there's a whole lot of work yet to do. The climb is not done. As Whittingham said it as he walked off the field the other night, having beaten Arizona State to go up two games in the loss column in the South Division and already looking ahead, "It's next man up."

As noted, next man up is USC at the Coliseum. Down the road is Washington at Husky Stadium and Arizona in Tucson and UCLA at home. There are not a bunch of great teams left, just good teams that are devouring one another.

Utah might lose one or two of those games. But nothing the Utes have done to date reveals that they aren't talented enough to win all of them. Already, they have conquered Michigan, Oregon, Cal and ASU. You can throw Utah State in there, as well.

This is a team that's puckering up to destiny, and destiny, thus far, is batting its eyes, giggling and leaning in.

It's a team ranked third in the country in the AP Poll. No team in Utah — though BYU was close — has ever been so highly ranked so early. Those yawns and yeah, buts are mostly gone. And they'll stay gone — if Utah keeps winning. Even if they don't, R-E-S-P-E-C-T has already been earned.

It's up to the Utes to close that deal — "We're halfway through," Whittingham said — and make it real, make it theirs. They're capable, it's a matter now of whether they're focused enough, and if they stay healthy.

Anybody who doubts that fact either hasn't been watching or doesn't want to see what's in plain sight. Who knows whether it actually will happen. That's up to the Utes themselves.

I've doubted Utah's program in the past. When Ron McBride was coaching the Utes, I didn't think they could go much higher. I was wrong. When Urban Meyer took over, they went higher. When Whittingham took over, they went higher, again. When they entered the Pac-12, they took some punches. But they got back up, and now, they're jabbing and hooking and knocking teams out. Somebody deserves credit for that — and Whittingham's just the first in line.

One last thing: Got a message the other day, mixed in with many others, from somebody telling me what a fine columnist I used to be — before I started complimenting these Utes. Now, I suck.

Snap out of it, man. Utah is a football program that isn't a sleeping giant. It's already awakened, growing into its turf shoes.

There may yet be ebbs and flows — some seasons will be less than others, some performances well worth criticizing — but, as my friends and former colleagues in the media in L.A. tell me on what lately has become a regular basis, the schools down there hate playing Utah because the Utes are tough and physical, well-coached and committed. Which is to say, they've found a home in the Pac-12. And for the time being, at least, a home at the top of the Pac-12.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson. —

Top dogs

The best college football finishes in state history:

Year Team Record

1979 BYU 11-1

1980 BYU 12-1

1983 BYU 11-1

1984 BYU 13-0

1996 BYU 14-1

2004 Utah 12-0

2008 Utah 13-0