Utah had a great defense last year; their 2-time Rose Bowl game participant QB is returning and everyone assumes he'll be able to do in the Big 12 what he did the Pac 12. They just don't actually know what that was. He's a serviceable passer, completing 64% of his passes at 8 yards per attempt and 12 yards per completion; TD:INT ratio is 3.3. He's a timely but not elite runner; he converts 3rd/4th downs and scores in the Red Zone. He "only" averages 37 rushing yards per game. None of these stats pop off the page at you. It puts you in the top 40 of QBs. If you are expecting Cam to come back and be magically better in any of these; it's unlikely. His stats didn't really change much from 2021 to 2022.

If he plays the same way he did in 2021 and 2022, it doesn't make them by far the best team in the Big 12; it makes them a good Big 12 team; but this notion that Cam Rising alone makes them unstoppable is weird. He's a top 40 QB; not a top 5 or 10 QB (which it seems most prognostications are based on). 2024 Big 12 will be as good or better than 2021/2022 Pac 12 (but not 2023 Pac 12, where Utah faltered).

Zona returns a lot of guys, even with their coach leaving. They kept a lot of the key pieces from that offensive juggernaut of last season.

Colorado continues to bring in a lot of talent. They were so far behind before, so there's still a lot of catching up to do; but the dudes they have on campus are way better than the dudes they've had most of the last decade.