Utah lost at home to lowly Washington State earlier this season and Arizona needed 36 fourth-quarter points to defeat California, a team that went 1-11 last year, on a Hail Mary pass.
So you might ask: When did the Utah and Arizona coaches get fired?
Actually, Kyle Whittingham and Rich Rodriguez are coach-of-the-year candidates.
They have lifted their programs from basement to contenders and flipped the balance of power in the Pac-12 Conference from north to south.
No one saw it coming.
Arizona has a record of 5-1, is ranked No. 15, and has defeated Oregon in Eugene. Utah is 5-1, is ranked No. 19, and has defeated Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Mississippi State has been hailed as this season’s gloom-to-zoom team, going from unranked to No. 1. But part of its rise was based on the faulty premise that a win over Texas A&M — a team now humming the Tom Petty tune “Free Falling” — meant something.
Mississippi State also has the advantage of membership in the gold-standard Southeastern Conference West Division, where the magnitude of each victory is measured on a Richter Scale.
The Bulldogs also had an excellent returning quarterback in Dak Prescott and were expected to be good: Mississippi State received 22 points in the preseason Associated Press media poll — good for No. 36 overall.
While Louisiana Lafayette and Utah State also earned points in the preseason AP poll, we only knew Arizona and Utah started somewhere outside the top 50.
Yet, now past the halfway mark in the season and creeping toward Halloween, Utah and Arizona head our list of did-not-see-that-coming. The Utes and Wildcats are one slipup from being undefeated top-10 misfits.
Utah blew a 21-0 lead at home to Washington State and lost by a point; Arizona missed a last-minute field goal that would have defeated USC.
Arizona started the season in a four-man quarterback battle that spit out Anu Solomon, a relatively unknown freshman. Solomon ranks third nationally in total offense, averaging 382.7 yards a game.
Utah still doesn’t who to start at quarterback as it prepares to play USC in Salt Lake City on Saturday. Whittingham keeps vacillating between Travis Wilson and Kendal Thompson. Wilson started in a win over UCLA but was relieved by Thompson, who started in the win over Oregon State but was relieved by Wilson.
“We wish it wasn’t a two-quarterback system,” Whittingham said this week. “We don’t call it that. We’re waiting for someone to separate themselves and really take ownership of the position.”
Wilson is expected to start against USC, but who will finish?
Utah thrives despite consecutive road wins in which it amassed 162 yards passing. The Utes rely on a stout defense, led by end Nate Orchard, and the emergence of tailback Devontae Booker, a junior college transfer who has rushed for 563 yards in his last three games.
After a rough transition to the Pac-12 three seasons ago, Utah looks again like the rugged program that in 2008 took out Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.
Here’s a date no one had circled but could decide the Pac-12 South: Nov. 22, Arizona at Utah.
Other October surprises, in no particular order:
• The Minnesota Gophers (6-1, 3-0) are alone in first place in the Big Ten West Division, ahead of Wisconsin and Nebraska. It is nice to read stories about Minnesota that don’t involve the sideline seizures that have plagued Coach Jerry Kill the past few years. Minnesota’s only loss was at Texas Christian, but the Gophers face a tough closing stretch: Ohio State, Nebraska and Wisconsin.
• Notre Dame. Remember late in the summer when the school suspended five players indefinitely in what appeared could be a crippling academic scandal? The only thing crippling Irish fans this week is that pass-interference call against Notre Dame in its heartbreak loss to Florida State.
• TCU started the year unranked and would be unscathed if not for blowing a huge lead late at Baylor. The Horned Frogs were also victimized by a horrible pass-interference call that led to Baylor’s game-winning field goal.
Biggest disappointments:
• The Southeastern Conference (gasp!). It is a testament to the power of the SEC West that the league is still No.1 despite having four of this season’s biggest flops.
We’re packaging Texas A&M and South Carolina because those schools opened the season against each other in what we thought was an emphatic victory by one SEC powerhouse over another. Turns out, both teams stink. Texas A&M routed South Carolina, 52-28, with quarterback Kenny Hill making everyone say, “Johnny Who?” Now in College Station they’re crying, “Johnny Come Home.”
• Florida and Missouri. This rag-tag duo is dragging down the SEC East. The Gators were 4-8 last season and it’s questionable whether Coach Will Muschamp survives this season. Missouri, the defending SEC East champion, has subjected its home fans to an odorous Indiana loss and a 34-0 shutout by Georgia.
But, hey, Missouri did clobber Florida, 42-13.
• UCLA and USC, with a heaping side of Stanford.
We thought the Los Angeles teams were ready to make a great leap forward. UCLA has backslid since starting No. 7 and has only looked like a championship team at Arizona State. USC would be fine if not for two fatal mistakes: thinking the Boston College game was over after jumping to a 17-6 lead, and not being able to defend a Hail Mary pass against Arizona State.
We thought defending Pac-12 champion Stanford would be down this year, but not mediocre.
Stanford is mediocre.
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