Utah Utes football: Utes are on the fast track toward Top 5 in polls

SALT LAKE CITY — Thanks to an easy early-season schedule, the Utah football team could soon find itself with its highest midseason ranking ever, setting the stage for a possible run at the national championship game.

Are you kidding?

OK, we're getting way ahead of ourselves here. But the way the Utes have been climbing the polls in the short three weeks of the season and looking ahead to their schedule and the schedules of the teams ahead of them, Utah could make a serious run toward the Top 5 by the end of October.

And then, who knows?

The Utes have already skyrocketed from unranked in the AP poll to No. 13, which is much faster than they moved in 2004 and 2008 when they ended up undefeated and ranked No. 2 and No. 4, respectively. Of course it gets more difficult to move up the higher you're ranked, but with a relatively soft schedule coming up, the Utes could go flying past a few teams in the coming weeks.

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham acknowledges "it's been a pretty good ascension" for his team and believes along with Utah's rising reputation, it also has a lot to do with several upsets among the teams ranked ahead of Utah the first couple of weeks of the season.

At this point, the Utes don't even need any big upsets to keep climbing in the polls over the next two weeks, assuming they get by San Jose State at home and win their bye week. That's because several teams ahead of Utah have tough games against ranked teams in the next couple of weeks.

The Utes could jump two spots this week if No. 10 Arkansas loses to Alabama and No. 12 South Carolina loses at No. 17 Auburn. That could move them up to No. 11.

The following week, possible losers in the Top 10 include No. 9 Florida, which goes to Alabama, No. 5 Oregon, which plays host to red-hot Stanford and either No. 7 Texas or No. 8 Oklahoma, which play each other their annual grudge game in Dallas. Also, Wisconsin, which could be in the Top 10 by then, will have a tough test at No. 25 Michigan State that day.

So, it's possible the Utes could jump three or four more spots to 7 or 8 by the first week of October, although they also have to worry about teams leapfrogging them from the back such as Stanford if it beats Oregon or Auburn if it beats South Carolina.

After that, Utah will have a pair of road games at Iowa State and Wyoming in which they'll be favored before coming home to face Colorado State, which is off to an 0-3 start.