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BYU offensive linemen prepare to run a play during the 26-17 Cougar win over the Utes at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. (Courtesy Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo)

Jaren Wilkey/BYU

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BYU's Atunasia Mahe (62) celebrates a big defensive play against Utah at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. (BYU Courtesy Photo)

University Photographer

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Utah quarterback Cameron Rising (7) runs for a touchdown during the first half in the Rose Bowl NCAA college football game against Ohio State Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022, in Pasadena, Calif.

AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill

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BYU players celebrate with fans after the 26-17 Cougar win over the Utes at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. (BYU Photo)

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BYU offensive linemen prepare to run a play during the 26-17 Cougar win over the Utes at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. (Courtesy Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo)

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It’s an exciting time to be a college football fan in Utah.

All three major programs are coming off double-digit win seasons and BYU and the University of Utah are getting plenty of preseason attention.

And why shouldn’t fans of both school be excited (and Utah State as well, although the Aggies are more under the radar)?

With last year’s successes and the number of key returners, optimism should be running high.

But there is also the need for a healthy dose of reality, including some facts that the most rabid fans wearing blue or red might not want to acknowledge.

Of the 18 wins BYU and Utah had over FBS programs (nine each), 14 of them came against teams in the Pac-12 conference — which was pretty bad in 2021.

How bad was it?

This is how that league faired in non-conference games last season:

• 3-16 against Power 5/independent opponents (wins over Ohio State, LSU and Vanderbilt)
• 6-7 against Group of 5 opponents
• Two losses to FCS opponents
• 0-5 in bowl games

Those aren’t numbers any league would be proud of and give a clear indication that the conference as a whole struggled. They are the reason that conference rankings at the end of 2021 had the league as low as seventh or eighth in the nation.

That means that although Utah should be proud of being the official Pac-12 champs (9-1 record) and BYU should be proud of being the fan-proclaimed Pac-12 champs (5-0, win over Utah), being the best in a down season doesn’t mean as much.

Utah State had fewer opportunities but was also 2-0 against the Pac-12 and had the best winning percentage in the state last year (11-3, 78.6%). Although the Aggies lost to BYU head-to-head, they defeated Oregon State (who beat Utah).

ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit talked in a conference call on Tuesday about how it’s impossible to ignore that it wasn’t a good year for the Pac-12.

“I’m a Pac-12 fan and I love it when the Pac-12 is good,” Herbstreit said. “They’ve just been an afterthought in recent years. I’m hoping with their new commissioner and new hires that they get this thing going in a different direction.”

But does that mean he thinks the since Cougars and the Utes got most of their wins against Pac-12 teams that they might be overrated heading into 2022?

Not necessarily.

“This can be a very experienced talented (BYU) team,” Herbstreit said. “They have, what, 18 or 19 starters back. They should be a force.”

He’s also on the Utah bandwagon and has a lot of respect for the job Kyle Whittingham does in Salt Lake City.

“Kyle (Whittingham) should hire me as his PR guy,” Herbstreit said. “I love him, love their program. I love (quarterback) Cam Rising. I am all about Utah.”

He indicated that the reason the Utes are getting so much more attention than BYU is because Utah played Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.

Although the Buckeyes were without at least 27% of their scholarship athletes (including four of their stars who opted out) and the Utes squandered a 14-point halftime lead while surrendering 683 yards of total offense to Ohio State (220 more yards than Utah had), the fact that the game was close made observers think highly of the Utes.

“I think their game against Ohio State, even though they lost it, there was such a big audience that saw that game so I really feel that they gained a lot of respect,” Herbstreit said. “I know from people I talked to who maybe aren’t PAC 12 fans or are familiar with that conference, a lot of Ohio State people walked away from that thinking, ‘Utah can play.'”

But Herbstreit said the reality for both the Cougars and the Utes is that they have to make the most of their opportunities on the field in 2022.

“BYU has some games on their schedule that will make it have a different feel this year,” Herbstreit said. “You’ve got Baylor, anytime you go to Oregon on the road it’s going to help you out, Notre Dame is a high-profile game and Arkansas. There are some games there that I think if they’re able to win, I think it can create a little bit more of a buzz than what was done last year.”

But he said as an independent, the Cougars can’t stumble.

“When you are BYU and you are playing the teams you played last year or the year before, you win a lot of games but then you are in the Independence Bowl,” Herbstreit said. “I’m sure BYU fans don’t want to be there. They want to be considered for the New Year’s Six and their schedule can help them. But the margin of error when you are BYU with that schedule is very small. When they get those high profile games, they’ve got to hit a home run. That’s just the reality of the situation.”

For one more year (until the Cougars join the Big 12 in 2023), Utah’s road is easier. The Utes showed in 2021 that they could lose three regular season games, struggle on the road, win no out-of-conference games against FBS opponents and still get to the Rose Bowl.

But to take another step forward, Utah also has to win big games and that starts at Florida on Saturday.

“I’m excited to see them play Florida this year, to see them travel to the SEC,” Herbstreit said. “We don’t always see the Pac-12 going to the SEC in September. Of all these games — I’m calling Ohio State-Notre Dame but I’m intrigued about that game. It should be a great game and a great opportunity for them.”

But while he things Rising is a good quarterback and the Utes are talented, he said one of the biggest keys will be whether Utah can replace the dynamic leadership of linebacker Devin Lloyd, who is now with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“He was such an extension of Kyle Whittingham out on that field,” Herbstreit said. “He was such a leader. You don’t replace those kind of guys with just the next talented player. You are taking the heart and soul out of a defense when you take a player like Devin Lloyd out of Utah.”

The bottom line for both the Cougars and the Utes to have the type of season they want to have, according to Herbstreit, is that they need to come up big when the spotlight shines the brightest.

“You schedule those games and you win those games,” Herbstreit said. “That’s how America starts to say, ‘hey, look at Utah (or BYU).'”

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