What to expect for Utah's 2020 college football schedule

July 12 was a big day in the Pac-12 conference when it was formally announced that its 2020 fall athletics season would be conference-only — so how would the new-look Utes stack up on the gridiron?

Utah's 2020 college football season just got a whole lot more interesting. 

Instead of playing nonconference games this year, the Pac-12 decided that its regular season schedule for fall sports would take place against conference foes only.

“The health and safety of our student-athletes and all those connected to Pac-12 sports continues to be our number one priority,” Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement. “Our decisions have and will be guided by science and data, and based upon the trends and indicators over the past days, it has become clear that we need to provide ourselves with maximum flexibility to schedule, and to delay any movement to the next phase of return-to-play activities.”

How this affects Utah and its upcoming season is interesting, and remains to be seen if this is a more or less ideal scenario.

On one hand the Utes dropped hated-rival BYU from its season opener on Sept. 3, as well as nonconference games against Montana State and Wyoming to begin the season.

"We know it is particularly difficult to miss the rivalry matchups with BYU in these sports, and we look forward to continuing those as soon as we are able. These are truly unprecedented times, and we are working diligently to determine appropriate solutions while prioritizing the health and safety of everyone involved," said Mark Harlan, Utah's Director of Athletics. "Our conference and university leadership has provided great support and direction, informed by leading health experts and data. We will work with our colleagues at each of the non-conference institutions impacted by today's decision to reschedule those contests, and we will provide more information about our schedules and our home events when they become available."

On the other hand and according to reports, Utah is set to begin the season against reigning Pac-12 champion Oregon on either Sept. 12 or 19. While it hasn't been announced where the rematch will be played, it's expected that the game against the Ducks will take place at Rice-Eccles stadium.

If no other changes come the Utes' way, their 2020 schedule should be as follows...

Saturday, Sept. 12/19 — vs. Oregon
Saturday, Sept. 26 — @ California
Friday, Oct. 2 — vs. USC
Saturday, Oct. 10 — @ Washington State
Saturday, Oct. 17 — vs. Washington
Saturday, Oct. 24 — BYE
Thursday, Oct. 29 — @ UCLA
Saturday, Nov. 7 — vs. Arizona
Saturday, Nov. 14 — vs. Oregon State
Saturday, Nov. 21 — @ Arizona State
Saturday, Nov. 28 — @ Colorado

As to how a breakdown of that 10-game schedule would look, Tracy Pierson of Bruin Report Online, UCLA's 247sports page had this to say...

"The proposed 10-game, conference-only plan would kick off Sept. 12th, delaying the start of each program's season 1-2 weeks to adapt to coronavirus complications. The delayed start of the season to Sept. 12th would also dictate that the start of fall camp be pushed back to Aug. 14th," Pierson said. "The season would also have a couple other wrinkles. Two byes would be built in; most teams have one bye in their schedule, but another would be created. Also, each team would have three open dates on the back end, to accommodate any games that needed to be rescheduled."

There is still the possibility that Utah's schedule gets adjusted as far as to the dates when the games will be played, but the opponents should stay the same.

Adding Oregon can be looked at one of two ways for the Utes.

The positive is that right away, Utah will give itself a great measuring stick and find out where it needs to improve the rest of the season. And there's no better team to do that against than one who's vying for a spot in the college football playoffs.

The negative is that Utah has so many new pieces to integrate this season, so opening up against a top-10 team in the nation is almost a guaranteed loss (but anything can happen in the Pac-12). And playing Oregon rather than Stanford (the only other team the Utes could've played against) is no easy feat considering a matchup with the Cardinal, especially that early in the season, could be a much better outcome.

Another negative is that a loss to the Ducks could really come back and haunt the Utes later on, particularly because both USC and Arizona State — Utah's top two challengers for the Pac-12 South division title — also play the Ducks. So avoiding Oregon would've been a big a benefit.

Overall though, Utah's schedule does shape up quite nicely regardless of the Oregon game.

The Utes will host USC on a Friday night special, a game that will have major implications on who plays in the conference championship. They will also host Washington, arguably the next toughest team in the conference, thus meaning that Utah's three most difficult games will all be played in the friendly confines of Rice-Eccles.

The matchup with Arizona State late in the season could become very tricky, especially if both teams enter still in the thick of the race for the division title. And if the Utes can somehow get through that game unscathed, it's never an easy task going back on the road the next and final week of the season in a tough environment in Colorado.

Breaking in nine different starters on defense and a new quarterback and running back on offense is no easy task. But the way Utah's schedule is set up, the Utes could easily be 6-2 or 7-1 entering the final two games of the season and right in the thick of things.

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