Great news for Utah fans

Utah is among the three Big 12 contenders with the ‘easiest’ schedules in CFB.

Many factors coincide with a team’s success on the football field.

Whether it be health, recruiting, development, transfers, or emerging stars that take the sport by storm. However, sometimes there is a factor that really isn’t in anyone’s control which is a team’s strength of schedule. In college football the schedules, barring conference realignment that changes pretty much everything, are made years in advance.

Even with conference realignment, most teams knew who they were playing for their non-conference games. When those games are scheduled years in advance, two motives outweigh any others; pay a program to come get beat up or play a program that is hopefully good at that time to strengthen your resume. In some cases those things work out, while in others we see major upsets are blowouts.

When it comes to Utah’s 2024 schedule, which has changed dramatically since their move to the Big 12, while some Utes fans may not like the conference change, they must at least appreciate the fact that Utah’s schedule will be less challenging. This is not to say that Utah would not continue to beat up on USC or defeat Oregon and Washington, but moving to a playoff where resume is less important could mean everything. With the 12-team playoff, winning a conference title gets you into the dance, and Utah has a good chance of winning the Big 12 in 2024 based on returning players, additions, and strength of schedule (or lack thereof).