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Year 2 in the Big 12 doesn’t get much easier for the Utah Utes.
After a 5-7 campaign in an injury-riddled inaugural year in the new conference, Utah is trying to get back to its winning way — but the Utes won’t have a whole lot of “gimmes” in 2025.
When you take a look at any strength of schedule rating, from Phil Steele to ESPN, Utah’s schedule ranks among the upper half of college football’s most difficult schedules.
In his annual preview, Steele — who touts Utah as a Big 12 contender this season — ranked the Utes’ schedule as the 38th-toughest in the nation, and the seventh-toughest in the Big 12.
ESPN slots Utah’s schedule as the 58th-toughest in the nation and the sixth-hardest in the Big 12, and College Football News has the Utes’ schedule as the 27th-hardest in the country.
In 2022 and 2023, the Utes opened against Florida. After playing Southern Utah to open the 2024 season, Utah will travel west to Los Angeles for another Power Four game to open the 2025 slate.
The Utes kick off the year in the Rose Bowl against UCLA, and though the Bruins aren’t picked to win the Big Ten this season, adding former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava — one of the nation’s top transfers — makes this game one of the more intriguing contests to open up Week 1.
Both teams will be featuring new offensive coordinators and new quarterbacks, and though it will make for an interesting showdown, it’s a tough game to open up the season.
The closest thing to a guaranteed win on the schedule comes the next week against Cal Poly, and after that, the Utes make the drive to Laramie to play at Wyoming for the first time since 2010.
Utah should be the better team — Wyoming comes…
Source link : https://www.deseret.com/sports/2025/06/19/utah-utes-big-12-strength-of-schedule/
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Publish date : 2025-06-19 23:08:00
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