When Cam Rising left the Rose Bowl on Jan. 2 with an injury, it impacted Utah’s chances at a victory.

It’s also somewhat impacted the outlook for Utah’s 2023 season.

Entering Kyle Whittingham’s 19th season as head coach in Salt Lake City, the Utes are once again carrying lofty goals. But, Rising’s health could be the key to achieving those goals.

This summer, BuffZone will preview each of Colorado’s opponents for the 2023 season and in this final installment, we look at Utah, which went 10-4 last year and will host the Buffaloes on Nov. 25.

The two-time defending Pac-12 champions are loaded with talent and it starts with Rising, who is returning for his sixth and final season of college football. He tore his ACL in the Utes’ 35-21 loss to Penn State in the Rose Bowl, however, and has spent the offseason rehabilitating.

“There’s a lot of optimism (for Utah), but there’s this cloud that’s hanging over this program and that is the starting quarterback,” said Josh Furlong, who covers Utah for KSL.com. “I think that’s kind of tempering expectations right now, just the fact that Cam Rising got injured in the Rose Bowl and may or may not be available (at the start of the season).”

In April, Whittingham said Rising, a two-year starter, is on track to be ready for the season opener Aug. 31 against Florida. That would be good news for the Utes, because the tools are there to win a third consecutive Pac-12 title.

“This is one of those scenarios where, on paper, Utah is better from last year,” Furlong said. “Running back, they’re as deep as they ever have been. … They’ve added a bunch of talent (at receiver), much better than probably they’ve had ever. The question is, can you maximize it so that (tight end Brant Kuithe) isn’t always the one that’s keyed on? … If everything goes the way that it’s supposed to, this could be a very good offensive line for Utah, probably the best that we’ve seen in at least five-plus years.”

A better offense could be scary for Utah opponents. The Utes scored 38.6 points per game a year ago with Rising leading the way. Utah likes redshirt freshman backup quarterback Brandon Rose, but Rising is the unquestioned leader.

Defensively, the Utes were good, as usual, last year and that isn’t expected to change. For years, they’ve had one of the stingiest defenses in the Pac-12 and they return most of last year’s lineup.

Utah did lose cornerback Clark Phillips to the NFL, but picked up Mississippi transfer Miles Battle and he had a good spring. They also added Stanford leading tackler Levani Damuni at linebacker.

“You’ve got an experienced unit that now has a better understanding of Kyle Whittingham’s and Morgan Scalley’s defense and their ability to be able to work,” Furlong said. “Last year, they still led the Pac-12, but it wasn’t the defense that people are traditionally used to seeing under Kyle Whittingham. There was a lot of blown tackles or blown assignments, missed tackles.

“I expect it to be probably closer to what we’re used to seeing a Utah defense looks like. It’s hard to doubt a Kyle Whittingham-led defense, just based on his trajectory and progress that he’s made over those years.”

USC is likely to be the favorite in the Pac-12. Washington, Oregon and even Oregon State will be in the hunt. But, Utah has been the most consistent team in the conference the last several years. The Utes have played in the Pac-12 title game four times in the last five years (missing only in the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign), and could get there again.

“I definitely think they have the capabilities (to get there),” Furlong said. “I think Utah’s at least going to be in that mix (for the title). Barring injuries or whatever may be the case, I think they’ll at least be in contention for the Pac-12 championship game deep into the season.”