2013 Record: 5-7

2014 Las Vegas Season Win Total: 4.5

2014 Season Win Total Picks NCAA Football: 'Over'

Odds courtesy of 5Dimes.

How much do you think Utah misses the Mountain West? The Utes have floundered in the Pac-12, seeing their league win percentage stay below .500 in each of their three seasons since joining the conference. Kyle Whittingham is entering his 10^th season. But if he can't find a way to snap a two-year bowl drought then the seat could warm up in a hurry.

Unfortunately for Whittingham, this isn't one of his best teams. Utah has just 12 returning starters this season. And a lot hinges on the development of three-year starter Travis Wilson at quarterback. Erratic was a kind way to describe Wilson last year. Utah also only has six defensive starters from the No. 60 total defense and No. 72 scoring defense last year. The strength of the defense should be in the back seven this year. And if they can find some bulk up front they should be vastly improved on this side of the ball.

Utah should take its first two games with little issue. But then the problems start. Three of the next four games are on the road, including trips to Michigan, UCLA and Oregon State. They have to play USC and Oregon at home, sandwiched around an obvious letdown/look ahead road trip to Arizona State. After that three-game knuckle sandwich the Utes travel to Stanford.

Utah could be much better than last year's rebuilding 5-7 group. But with this schedule the progress might not be apparent in the win-loss record. However, I do think that Utah is going to pull an upset on one of the top teams in the Pac-12. (Hell, they get four cracks at it.) And I think that they will find two more league wins to pair with their early season cupcakes. I would play the Utes to go 'over' 4.5 wins this year and they will threaten bowl eligibility.

2014 Utah Utes Schedule

DATE OPPONENT TIME (ET) Location Result

Thu, Aug 28th, 2014 Idaho State 07:30 PM Rice-Eccles Stadium

Sat, Sep 6th, 2014 Fresno State 03:00 PM Rice-Eccles Stadium

Sat, Sep 20th, 2014 at Michigan TBA Michigan Stadium

Sat, Sep 27th, 2014 Washington St TBA Rice-Eccles Stadium

Sat, Oct 4th, 2014 at UCLA TBA Rose Bowl

Thu, Oct 16th, 2014 at Oregon State 10:00 PM Reser Stadium

Sat, Oct 25th, 2014 USC TBA Rice-Eccles Stadium

Sat, Nov 1st, 2014 at Arizona State TBA Sun Devil Stadium/Frank Kush F

Sat, Nov 8th, 2014 Oregon TBA Rice-Eccles Stadium

Sat, Nov 15th, 2014 at Stanford TBA Stanford Stadium

Sat, Nov 22nd, 2014 Arizona TBA Rice-Eccles Stadium

Sat, Nov 29th, 2014 at Colorado TBA Folsom Field

All Times EST

Robert Ferringo was the top football handicapper in the country last year, earning nearly $8,000 in total football profit in 2013-14 and posting one of the best seasons in America. He hit 62.1 percent for the entire NFL season (95-58) and was amazing down the stretch, closing with 11 of 14 winning NFL weeks and 12 of 15 overall winning football weeks. Robert has posted 3 of 4 winning football seasons, 6 of 7 winning NFL seasons, 30 of 44 winning football months, and 6 of 7 winning NFL preseasons. Also, Robert's proprietary KING College Football Betting System posted another winning season (now 2-for-2) and is 83-58 over the last two years (58.9 percent).

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