Miami lost Saturday, which means there are two unbeaten teams left in college football: Utah and UCLA, both 9-0. The new AP poll has Utah No. 2 and UCLA No. 4.
Same record. Not the same résumé.
Utah has beaten two ranked teams in the last three weeks: 21-13 over Houston (7-2, No. 14 in the AP poll) and 28-20 over BYU (7-2, No. 12) on Saturday. Utah’s nine opponents are a combined 41-41.
UCLA‘s best win is 17-15 at Oregon, and Oregon is 6-3. Add Wisconsin (6-3) and Minnesota (5-4) and that’s the list of winning teams. The Bruins’ nine opponents are a combined 36-45, and six of them have losing records.
I’m not saying UCLA is a fraud. You don’t go 9-0 by accident, and winning in Eugene is hard. But this is the same rule we use for everybody: who have you beaten?
Utah has an answer. UCLA has one game it can point to, and it won that one by two points.
My verdict: Utah is more for real. Next up, UCLA hosts Illinois and Utah goes to Arizona (7-2, No. 22). If the Bruins want the argument, November is when they get to make it.
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Jeremy Durham is a sports columnist for TriStar Daily and the founder of Five and a Fade.
