Welcome to Glass Slipper! The Chicago White Sox might actually be the worst baseball team ever; please enjoy the show.

- Jacob Rhee

The date is December 8, 2024. Rece Davis and the rest of the crew are on your screen, unveiling the 12 College Football Playoff teams. The proceedings begin with the No. 1 seed, and the Utah logo slides in. All of the folks in your living room that don’t follow the sport erupt into confusion. Utah? Since when is that school good at football? You, on the other hand, have known that this was a possibility since July 20.

No program in America is more disrespected than Utah. It doesn’t matter how loudly a guy like me pounds the table for the Utes to receive some credit and recognition; studio shows ignore them, and fans disregard them. It’s okay, though. All of that is going to change over the course of the next six months. This Utah squad is headed to the playoff, and it just might be undefeated on Selection Sunday.

That is an absolute cakewalk of a schedule. The Utes do have two relatively tough back-to-backs; they play Oklahoma State and Arizona in September, then clash with BYU and Colorado in November. But outside of that, it’s smooth sailing.

Utah is led by quarterback Cam Rising, a seventh-year senior who has tallied 58 total touchdowns and just 13 interceptions in his two healthy seasons as a starter. If there’s one college football player that I trust to keep his composure in a big spot, it’s Rising. He’s literally older than Trevor Lawrence, who is heading into his fourth campaign with the Jaguars. I don’t exactly think Cam will have butterflies in his stomach for a road matchup in Stillwater.

On the other side of the ball, Utah brings back a defense that finished 19th in the nation despite a host of key injuries. The unit is run by a brilliant coordinator, Morgan Scalley. His boss is Kyle Whittingham, the best coach in America. Every single thing about the 2024 Utes - the players, the staff, the home atmosphere, and even the uniforms - is going to be absolutely elite. The people in Salt Lake City have been waiting for the perfect storm, where their beloved team has an avenue to compete for a national championship. This is the year.

Although I’ve been a proud passenger on the Utah hype train for the better part of a decade, I’m not going to guarantee that my precious Utes will finish 16-0 and reach college football’s mountaintop. I will say, however, that I would be far less surprised by that scenario than I would be if these guys miss the playoff entirely. This team is going to play on the sport’s biggest stage in January, and I can’t wait.

Pressroom

Spin It

“Disturbia” by Rihanna. A return to simpler times. Enjoy.