Anyone who says that the only reason Washington beat BYU is because the gameplan sucked is... naive. The score was 35-7. It wasn't even close. Washington had superior talent, coaches, and execution. And their defense is usually elite. Yes, they lost a lot of players, but with Chris Petersen as their coach, they don't really have "rebuild" years.
I wouldn't put Petersen in the "Best" tier of CFB coaches- with guys like Saban, Swinney, and Urban. But I would put him in the next tier- just below- with guys like David Shaw, Brian Kelly, and Gary Patterson.
• USC is a total wild card. Technically, they have more *raw* talent than at least 120 teams in the FBS. But their head coach is... very inconsistent- and most likely won't be there next year. (Lynn Swann is a bad AD.) The players basically checked out last year- and I'm not sure that bringing in new coordinators is gonna change much.
• Tennessee is also kind of a wild card. They had a poor season last year, 5-7 (2-6), BUT that was actually an improvement, over the year prior, 4-8 (0-8), with a brand new head coach. Jeremy Pruitt had never been a head coach before last year- but he had been DC at Alabama and Georgia- so, who knows. With the #21 recruiting class in 2018, and the #12 class in 2019, AND plenty of offensive power coming back- they could be much better this year.
• Utah- I don't know. Last year's game was such a bizarre game- and both sides have their own explanations of either why Utah came back, OR why Utah was down by 20 in the first place.
There are so many factors. Yes- Utah seems to have a psychological advantage over BYU. BUT, last year could have given the team some confidence- they almost had 'em. To me, the fact that this game is at LES, the fact that Utah hasn't started out looking good in Game 1 since 2015, AND the fact that Utah hasn't started a season on the road since 2008- all give BYU at least a small advantage. (BYU routinely starts away from home, and comes out strong in Game 1. ) Also- Game 1- both teams start with few injuries.