ESPN dismisses Utah Utes as National Championship contenders despite big win over BYU: 'They won't win'
One of the signature wins of the 2026 college football season was the BYU Cougars taking down the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in Provo. For BYU, it gave them a massive resume boost, while making it clear that the Big 12 Conference was relevant at a national level.
BYU immediately became a clear College Football Playoff contender, and staked their claim as a top-5 or top-10 team. The Cougars though, suffered a letdown against a very mediocre UCF team in Florida, taking a bit of the shine off their matchup against the Utah Utes on November 7.
The quality of the "Holy War" though? Anyone watching saw that those were clearly two of the best teams in the country. Yes, Utah won 28-20, but it was a back-and-forth battle in an intense rivalry game. And again, handed a big win to a Big 12 Conference team.
Utah's comeback catapulted them to No. 2 in the latest AP Top 25 Poll, behind only the Georgia Bulldogs. They're 9-0 in a Power 4 conference, with wins over a quality top-15 Houston Cougars team and the BYU win. They're odds-on favorites to reach the playoff, and now favorites to win the Big 12 Conference and likely secure a first-round bye. By any objective measure, they're legitimate contenders to win a National Championship.
But ESPN is not objective.
Senior analyst Heather Didich, one of the more prominent SEC boosters on a network known for them, threw cold water on Utah's hopes in a recent episode of ESPN's "Get Up" show.
"They are there by default because some other teams above them lost. They have a great quarterback in Devon Dampier. This selection committee has a lot of respect for Utah. They're a good football team. Are they a great football team? I don't think we know the answer to that. I hesitate to say yes because they struggled to beat Colorado," she said.
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Didich continued, saying that the win over BYU was aided by Bear Bachmeier's mistake-filled game and that she doubts whether they can win a title.
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"This was the first real big win for them, in my mind, and, by the way, BYU and Bear Bachmeier helped them out with four interceptions and a boatload of penalties. So, I still have some questions about Utah in terms of how they stack up against a team like Georgia. But, sitting there at number two, that's where I expect them to be. They can compete for the national title. I don't know if they're good enough to win it," she added.
Paul Finebaum was even more definitive.
"They are not good enough to win it, Greeny," he said. "Let me just get that out of the way. I didn't mean to jump in, but I'll clear that up for America. They will not win the national championship."
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The comparisons to Georgia are interesting, because, as fans will remember, the Bulldogs lost, at home, to Auburn. Auburn is now 5-4, with a home loss to Florida, at Tennessee, a 38-17 blowout loss to LSU at home, a 30-point loss to Ole Miss, and a close home win over a bad Arkansas team.
Yes, UGA has played a tougher schedule, but Utah's played their schedule without losing. And dismissing their season because of a close game against Colorado while dismissing Georgia's, or any number of other team's slip-ups, is only done because of obvious bias.
We can also look at ESPN's SP+ to see why. An objective, efficiency-driven and opponent-adjusted ranking system based on success rate on offense, defense, and special teams, it's a better measurement of which teams are legitimate contenders and which aren't.
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While Utah is No. 9 in this week's update, SEC darling Alabama is ... No. 8. If Alabama is a championship contender, so's Utah. In fact, while Texas is No. 6, their "rating" at 23.5 implies they'd be just two-point favorites on a neutral field over Utah, with their 21.5 rating. Two points is marginally different from a toss-up. And toss-up games can, obviously, go either way.
Will the Utes win a title? Who knows! It's a long road through the playoff, and injuries or a bounce here or there can change a game and a season. But one thing is beyond question; that ESPN would not be dismissing their chances if they wore a different patch. They'd be knocking down doors to get them to No. 1.