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Red All Over: Are the Utes truly the Pac-12 football favorites? Yes, as opponents will view them.

The only aspect of the Pac-12 South's official preseason poll that I wondered about this summer was whether Utah's football team would be a unanimous pick to repeat as the division champion.

That almost happened. The Utes received 33 of the 35 votes from a media panel, consisting of voters (including me) who cover each athletic program in the conference.

The part I overlooked was how North powers Oregon and Washington would split votes, making Utah the choice to win the conference championship game. Here’s how it worked: The Ducks and Huskies each got 17 first-place votes in the North.