A signature second in Utah soccer’s historical past got here on Jan. 2, 2009, when the Utes beat blue blood program Alabama 31-17 within the Sugar Bowl.
If the hype surrounding the Utah program this season involves fruition, the Utes might once more be introduced with the possibility for one more momentous second within the faculty’s historical past.
Following Utah’s first Pac-12 championship and first Rose Bowl look a yr in the past, and with a robust contingent of key gamers returning, the Utes are thought-about by many as a Faculty Soccer Playoff contender heading into the 2022 season.
CBS Sports activities’ Dennis Dodd — in previewing 22 “compelling storylines” for the upcoming season, which is three weeks away — went so far as designating the Utes as a playoff group.
“Kyle Whittingham has reached the height of his profession coming into 12 months 18. The Utes have the (physicality) to match up with anybody and the flexibility to go undefeated. They open the 2022 season ranked No. 4 within the CBS Sports activities 131,” Dodd wrote.
In projecting this yr’s New 12 months’s Six bowl matchups, Dodd has Utah dealing with Alabama within the Peach Bowl semifinal, with Ohio State and defending nationwide champion Georgia within the Fiesta Bowl semifinal.
Dodd then predicts Alabama beating Ohio State for the 2022 nationwide title.
For Utah, the drive to a possible CFP berth — which might be the primary of this system’s form — all of it begins with the season opener, a Sept. 3 matchup in SEC nation at Florida.
That’s one recreation that Dodd highlighted from an action-packed opening weekend of school soccer.
“If the Utes are playoff contenders this might be a signature win in Florida coach Billy Napier’s first recreation. Napier himself additionally has the possibility to make fairly a press release given the home-field benefit of The Swamp,” Dodd wrote.
