Utah’s season hits inflection point, starting with Cal game

After a much-needed bye week, the meat of Utah’s schedule begins this week.

The No. 16 Utes, who sit at 4-1, still have all of their goals in front of them, but have a gauntlet of a schedule upcoming.

At 1-1 in Pac-12 play, coming off of a loss at Oregon State, Utah can’t afford to drop two more games. Even losing one more could keep them out of the Pac-12 championship game with No. 7 Washington, No. 8 Oregon and No. 10 USC — especially the Ducks and the Huskies — playing at a high level.

Utah embarks on a five-game stretch in which it plays all of the Pac-12 teams ranked in the Top 10, including games against USC and Washington on the road.

The Utes could be essentially knocked out of the Pac-12 title picture as early as Oct. 28, if they lose to the Trojans and Ducks — two games Utah will likely be underdogs in — in back-to-back weeks, or could be right in the mix for a third-straight trip to Las Vegas if they were to win both of those games.

Utah’s season has hit an inflection point.

It all starts when the Utes host Cal on Saturday (1 p.m., Pac-12 Network) in a must-win game coming off of a bye.

The Utes open as a 10-point favorite over the Golden Bears, who are 3-3 (1-2 in conference play). Cal defeated Arizona State 24-21, and despite losses to two Top 15 teams (losing 59-32 to Washington and 52-40 to Oregon State), they’ve shown a propensity to put up points.

The Bears have averaged 32 points per game in their three conference games, led by a rushing attack that ranks No. 11 in the nation, 217.3 rushing yards per game.

Sophomore running back Jaydn Ott has 556 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 96 carries, spelled by senior Isaiah Ifanse, who has 348 yards and seven touchdowns on 61 carries. It’ll be another test for the nation’s No. 3 rushing defense, which hasn’t yet allowed more than 131 rushing yards in a game.

Like Utah, quarterback has been a question mark for Cal. Three different quarterbacks — Sam Jackson V, Ben Finley and Fernando Mendoza — have started for the Bears this season, and it appears to be Mendoza who will start against the Utes.

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Mendoza was 21 of 32 for 207 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, adding 41 yards rushing in the freshman’s first collegiate start in Saturday’s loss to Oregon State. Cal coach Justin Wilcox says that he assumes that he’ll start against Utah.

“I thought he did a heck of a job. He did a great job. It was not perfect, but brought energy to the game. You could tell the tempo on offense was different. He made good decisions in the run game. He made good decisions in the RPO game. He threw the ball pretty well. He made some plays with his feet,” Wilcox said.

The Achilles’ heel of Cal this season has been its defense. The Bears rank in the bottom third of FBS teams in points allowed (30.7). Though the Bears have been generally good against the run, giving up 115.8 yards per game, they’ve allowed an average of 265.7 passing yards per game, which ranks No. 115 of 130 teams in FBS.

That brings us to the question of who will be available for injury-plagued Utah after two weeks off from a game.

Quarterback Cam Rising shared on ESPN 700 this week that he didn’t just tear his ACL last season, but also tore his meniscus, MPFL and MCL. He had all of those repaired in a January surgery.

“I‘m grinding and doing everything I possibly can and even the fact that I’m going out there and practicing and everything is I’m ahead of schedule and just I’m trying to make sure that I can be out there,” Rising said. “No one wants to be out there with those guys just grinding on the field more than me.”

Until Rising is cleared to return to game action — the decision from his surgeon, Dr. Neal ElAttrache, will come Sunday or Monday — it’ll be Nate Johnson under center.

The offensive line could be getting help on the injury front, as projected starter Johnny Maea could be close to a season debut, but the Utes were without RB1 Ja’Quinden Jackson and receiver Mycah Pittman against Oregon State, so the offense still has a ways to go to be healthy.