I have Utah as a slight dog to both Oregon and Washington, but since they have to go through each other, it's easy to understand why a lot of pundits picked Utah to go to the championship and win the championship. They have an easier division and they dodge Oregon and Stanford this year.
To your first point though, preseason rankings are stupid. I don't even think they should have a poll until at least week 4-6. But it gives us stupid stuff to argue over.