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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah closed out its regular season with a 9-3 record after defeating Colorado on Saturday. Although a win, the Utes dropped in the College Football Playoff rankings ahead of the conference championship weekend.
Utah dropped to No. 24 in the College Football Playoff rankings, which is one spot lower than its previous ranking at No. 23. Utah is one of eight teams — Alabama, Ohio State, Florida State, Baylor, TCU, Michigan State and Clemson — and the only one from the Pac-12 that has been ranked in every College Football Playoff ranking since its inception in 2014.
Utah finished its season last year with a No. 22 ranking and was one of six teams from the Pac-12 ranked in the Top 25. Utah is one of four teams ranked from the Pac-12 this week, with Stanford leading the conference at No. 7. Behind the Cardinal is Oregon at No. 16, USC at No. 20, and Utah.
Stanford remains with an outside, albeit slim, shot at the playoffs and would need teams like Clemson and Alabama to lose in their respective conference championship games to have a real possibility at claiming one of the coveted four spots.
Although less relevant to the bowl selection process, the Associated Press voters ranked Utah No. 21 and the Amway USA Today Coaches Poll ranked Utah No. 20 in the latest polls released Sunday.
The playoff committee kept the top four teams in its rankings, with Clemson at No. 1, Alabama at No. 2, Oklahoma at No. 3 and Iowa at No. 4. The latest rankings come less than a week before the final rankings of the season and ahead of the bowl selection process.
