That is what Phil Steele believes in his preseason rankings. Phil Steele must know something everyone else does not know, because while it is easily conceivable to have BYU ranked 17th this preseason, they just came off of an 11-2 season and have the nations longest winning streak at 10 games. As for Utah this seems quite the optimistic look out for 2008. The Utes do have returning talent with QB Brian Johnson, WR/HB Brent Casteel, and RB Matt Asiata all fully recovered from injuries. Toss in that Utah's young defense which played well for the final half of the year, and Darrell Mack who was to redshirt last year ended up running for over 1,000 yards.
Phil Steele is hard to ignore, because he has a vast knowledge of college football, but even the most enthused Utah fan would have a hard time putting them that high in the preseason rankings.
Utah should be able to challenge for a top 25 spot if they can get wins over Michigan and Oregon State in the preseason.