Utah will open the 2023 campaign sitting at No. 14 in the AP Top 25.

The preseason media poll was released on Monday, and it features five schools in total from the Pac-12. USC is the highest ranked of the bunch, sitting at No. 6. Washington (No. 10), Oregon (No. 15), and Oregon State (No. 18) round out the contingent from the West Coast.

It is the fifth consecutive appearance inside a preseason AP Top 25 poll for the Utes. They had two such preseason rankings in program history prior to the current streak.

While the Utes saw key draft departures on both sides of the football, plenty returns in 2023 for another run at a Pac-12 title. In what will be the Utes’ swan song in the Pac-12, they’ll go for an unprecedented three-peat.

Quarterback Cameron Rising, tailback Ja’Quinden Jackson, tight end Brant Kuithe, and a truly loaded defense make such a feat seem plausible at the outset of the year. And though Rising’s status is still up in the air as the Aug. 31 opener against Florida looms, a preseason top-15 ranking highlights just how much respect is owed to the program coach Kyle Whittingham has built.

The rest of the preseason AP Top 25 can be found below, with first-place votes in parentheses:

  1. Georgia (60)
  2. Michigan (2)
  3. Ohio State (1)
  4. Alabama
  5. LSU
  6. USC
  7. Penn State
  8. Florida State
  9. Clemson
  10. Washington
  11. Texas
  12. Tennessee
  13. Notre Dame
  14. Utah
  15. Oregon
  16. Kansas State
  17. TCU
  18. Oregon State
  19. Wisconsin
  20. Oklahoma
  21. North Carolina
  22. Ole Miss
  23. Texas A&M
  24. Tulane
  25. Iowa

Receiving votes: Texas Tech 101, South Carolina 73, UCLA 66, UTSA 64, Arkansas 22, Boise St. 17, Pittsburgh 16, Kentucky 14, Louisville 10, Troy 10, Kansas 10, Auburn 7, Minnesota 6, Toledo 4, Duke 4, Mississippi St. 4, Florida 4, Illinois 3, Baylor 3, Coastal Carolina 3, South Alabama 1, NC State 1, James Madison 1, Liberty 1