SALT LAKE CITY — The University of Utah is 18 days away from playing a football game, but on paper, based on nothing but projecting and conjecture, its ceiling would appear to be the 12-team College Football Playoff.
The Utes' floor and ceiling were covered in the last mailbag, but since we have a little bit of time before a game gets played, here's a hypothetical question:
What if Utah is bad? By that, I mean, bad.
We'll start this Utes mailbag right there.
Q: "What happens when this Utah team goes 4-8 this season?" - @123asadf34
Regardless of how Utah finishes this season, attention is going to immediately turn to whether or not Kyle Whittingham is the head coach in 2026.
If the Utes go 4-8, a catastrophic scenario given the preseason optimism currently hovering around the program, the topic of Whittingham's future is going to be exasperated.
Two things to keep in mind here: Whittingham is on the books for 2026 and 2027, at a combined base salary figure of $12.4 million. That's not nothing. Additionally, the latest amendment to Whittingham's contract states that he needs to notify the school whether he intends to retire by Dec. 5 if Utah is not playing in the Big 12 championship game, or by Dec. 12 if it is.
We can spend our time here debating what would/should happen if Utah goes 4-8, but we'll skip right past that instead.
There is a case to be made that as long as Spence Eccles is around, Whittingham will be the head coach, but that thinking might be antiquated at this point.
Morgan Scalley is the head coach-in-waiting, and I'm willing to bet he believed he would be the head coach this season, not the defensive coordinator.
If Whittingham decides he wants to come back in 2026, well, maybe Scalley's eyes start wandering, and there's been too much invested in Scalley for that to be allowed to happen.
Signs, not to mention soundbites, are pointing to this being Whittingham's final season as the head coach at Utah, and it has nothing to do with what the Utes' record is.
Q: Coach Whitt says Smith Snowden and Lander Barton will play on offense. It's odd for him to provide information so publicly when it would be advantageous to keep that secret. Is this actually a way to make opposing DCs gameplan for those players on offense, or is Whitt just being more open?" - @corbin630
Yeah, interesting, mostly because Whittingham never used to give a whiff of anything tactical when speaking publicly.
Now, inside the last month, Whittingham has essentially said the offense would be higher tempo than in years past, which is not a big deal to say out loud, and now this Snowden/Barton thing, which, yes, very much deviates from how Whittingham generally chooses to discuss his team.
As for DCs now having to scheme to deal with Snowden and Barton lining up on offense, that's not a thing until they actually line up on offense.
An example from my experience: Last offseason, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was pretty clear that Arch Manning would see the field situationally, even though Quinn Ewers was the starter.
No one knew exactly what that meant, so how could a DC scheme for it? Then, Manning started showing up on third-and-3, fourth-and-1, sometimes near the goal line, sometimes in the high-red zone.
Only then were DCs forced to have to deal with the possibility of Manning trotting out there under center.
Same idea here for Snowden and Barton. It's not a thing until it's a thing.
Q: "Is sports journalism moving away from 'big media' and becoming more regional or team specific, and if so, is that having an impact on how fans interact with the sport they follow?" - @SchwarzAdam
There's a lot happening here, I'm not sure how to respond.
For "big media," access to coaches and players is typically pretty bad, and will only get worse as time goes on. That directly affects the fans and what they are able to consume.
However one feels about the media and its role in day-to-day happenings, it is the conduit between the team and the fans. If the access is bad, the content can't be as good, which means the fans are ultimately getting a worse product.
Not to get too deep in the weeds here, but at a place like Utah, where there is not an abundance of day-to-day media covering the football program, I always felt there was a pathway to more access, especially in-season. That would have taken a lot of faith and trust from the athletic department side, and the people with media credentials acting appropriately and professionally.
We'll be here all day if I keep going on this topic. Let's just move on.
Q: "Is 20 wins, a competitive team, and an NIT or equivalent berth (non NCAA) considered a success?" - @CalvinShiny
Good timing here as the men's basketball team's 13-game nonconference schedule was released on Monday afternoon.
I have news for you.
If the Utes win 20 games, they're not going to the NIT, but rather the NCAA Tournament in Year 1 under new head coach Alex Jensen.
My knee-jerk reaction to the nonconference slate is 9-4, which includes a split of Grand Canyon, and either Iowa or Ole Miss, at the Acrisure Series.
If Utah can manage not to lose something dumb against a Quadrant 3 or 4 opponent at the Huntsman Center in November, there are opportunities in December to up its resume a bit.
Trips to Cal and Washington are not gimmies, and the Utes will be a betting underdog against Mississippi State at the Delta Center.
Yes, 20 wins would be considered a great success, and you're not going to have to worry about the NIT if that comes to fruition.
Q: "Why do you think Coach Whitt says QB2 is a "dead heat" when logic, due to Isaac Wilson's game experience, would dictate he should be QB2? Is Whitt trying to get the most out of them from competition, or do you think Byrd Ficklin has a shot going into Week 1?" - @MCrouse_
Your point of Wilson having game experience is well taken, but the sophomore wasn't nearly good enough last season where we're just handing over backup duties, which means he's one snap away from meaningful action.
Maybe it really is a "dead heat," a term Whittingham has used plenty in the past when talking about a camp competition. Rising vs. Brewer in 2021 comes to mind for Whittingham's usage of "dead heat."
Maybe that term is a motivational tactic to light a fire under Wilson, Whittingham knowing that the media will use it and Wilson will see it.
Make no mistake, it's Wilson's job to lose; and yes, that has everything to do with the experience factor.
As someone with a PhD in "Kyle Speak," I'll tell you this.
The fact Whittingham on Monday told reporters that they're in the same position with QB2 as they were before the team scrimmaged on Saturday means Wilson is in control of this thing.
Unless he absolutely craters, I expect Wilson to be Devon Dampier's backup when Utah opens Aug. 30 at UCLA.
Q: "Savory or sweet for breakfast?" - @Anzures801
If we're out to breakfast, always savory, probably close to 100% of the time.
I don't know why, but I'm never going to order pancakes or french toast at a restaurant. I enjoy them both, but I just defer to eggs, whether that's an omelette, a breakfast sandwich, over easy with some toast and breakfast meat, etc.
Now, if I'm on the road, and some breakfast joint touts itself as having "the best cinnamon roll in the state," OK, yeah, we're doing that, but I don't know.
We do pancakes or waffles pretty often at home on weekends, but for some reason, I'm never doing that in a restaurant.
Q: "In all seriousness though, what will it take for Utah to actually win this conference? What's the most non-negotiable thing?" - @mandalawyerin
Two-part non-negotiable, short and sweet: Assuming Devon Dampier's play translates from the Mountain West to the Big 12, you have to keep him upright, and he has to take care of the rock.
Twelve interceptions last season for New Mexico was ugly, and a 57.9% completion wasn't much better.
Utah has dumped a lot into Dampier, partially under the assumption that a step up in weight class will not be a big deal with Jason Beck as the offensive coordinator.
On Aug. 12, we have no reason to believe that will not be the case, but boy, those two numbers need a vast improvement if the Utes are going to max out what they think they have at their disposal this fall.
Q: "Was there any food place in Utah you miss? How loud is RES compared to SEC games you went to? If you could cover any team in college football, who would it be?" - @utespsu
Who do you think you are, asking me three questions like this?
- In no particular order, I miss Park Cafe, Ruth's Diner, Roots Cafe, and the sandwiches at Grove Market. Roots, specifically, was such an underrated gem.
- I was fortunate to see some epic stuff at RES: Oregon in 2021 and USC in 2022. The Texas road slate in 2024 was not that sexy. A big-time night game at Texas A&M dwarfs Rice-Eccles. Arkansas also brought the noise for an 11 a.m. kickoff. Tough for RES to compete with stuff like that given the respective stadium sizes.
- If I could cover one team in college football, I would like to cover this upcoming Texas team with Arch Manning at the wheel, but I digress.
Q: "Will Cam Rising be ready for UCLA?" - @Swoops_boy
We will end this mailbag here, with this piece of unquestioned perfection.
Let me tell you something right now: I hope this joke never dies, and as long as I'm around, I will do my part to ensure that it has life.
If you have no idea what this means or what I'm talking about, well, let's just keep it that way. It's funnier.
IYKYK
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