Oregon @ Utah Sept. 12th

[Onlyu]

Hearing this is the starting point this year. Many hurdles ahead but if we can navigate everything successfully we open with a big name!

[Tony (admin)]

Wow. That’s a big upgrade for the opener. We will have to be much more crisp than we typically are in the first game.

[Central Coast Ute]

At least they’ll be breaking in a new QB and most of their O line. Although the guys on the line they have stepping in, will be VERY good.

[PhiladelphiaUte]

We’ll be breaking in a new QB as well.  RB too.  And LB.  And Defensive Secondary.

Gonna be a TOUGH one!  Probably the toughest game of the year for us.  Good thing we’ll be healthy.

[Tony (admin)]

…and everyone LOL. 

[ironman1315]

Gonna get the rematch!

[UteBacker]

Those youngsters better grow up FAST!  If you want to be the best you have the beat the best…or something like that.

[MDUte]

Wow, that would be amazing. Hopefully the season is able to happen. Conference only makes for the best schedule, eliminating the cupcake games in favor of exciting matchups week in and week out.

[MDUte]

OnlyU, have you heard anything about the number of games they are shooting for? I’ve heard talk of buffering the schedule with flex weeks?

[Onlyu]

9 maybe 10…but at least 6 to determine division champs. 6 games minimum to determine divisional champs so they can have a Champ game.

[MDUte]

Sounds great, thanks!

[Ute2]

Man…. if we have a 6 game schedule to decide the division and our only crossover is Oregon then…….. ouch…….  that’s a tough one.

[KiYi-Ute]

Oof. Young defense is going to have to step up quickly. This could get ugly.

Glad to have a big name opener though unlike that other team that we sometimes have to play.

[EagleMountainUte]

Vaccine produced by Moderna made stocks jump. Maybe this will allow things to be opened up. 

[dystopiamembrane]

Would you please elaborate?

[Dwight89]

Oh man we are gonna get our butts kicked….again. 🙁 Love the matchup but that’s a tough opener. 

[Central Coast Ute]

Yep. BYU is a win, Oregon is a probable loss.

[UteBacker]

USC, Washington & Oregon at home… sweet!  I hope we get to actually GO to the games.

[Central Coast Ute]

Not a bad slate of home games. Need to get that in a normal year soon!

[MDUte]

Agreed. But great experience for our young guys…nothing to lose. It would be fun to see our offense come out swinging, playing up tempo. 

[Dwight89]

Yeah we will see. Luckily we both will be breaking in a new quarterback. But they’re defense is legit. 

[Charlie]

5 minimum in the division?

[Yergensen]

I read somewhere that one of the the conference only strategies was to play divisional games first to at least try to get a divisional season in and champ in case things go sideways.  Playing Oregon first suggests this may not be the case.  Any insights?

[Tony (admin)]

Hmm.  That’s actually a good idea. 

[Gary Sapp]

Yeah would much preferred to add Stanford instead of the Ducks, but it is what it is. Wait and see if the season really happens.

[Tednab]

Ug still see THIBODEAUX ; dude was a monster that game. At least we’ll play em early; might play to our favor

[PhiladelphiaUte]

Wait a minute…  That solves Utah’s need for 5 Home games, but that means that Oregon will be playing 4 Home and 6 Away.  That can’t be right.  And if we’d replaced Oregon with Stanford (yes please), then the Cardinal would be saddled with the 4H-6A format.

It seems that no matter what, between Utah, Stan, and Ore, somebody will be getting screwed on the travel.

[Matthew Thomas Castleton]

The only way to play 5 home games and 5 away games would be to completely revamp the schedule for EVERY SINGLE SCHOOL. It’s actually IMPOSSIBLE to only add one team to each opponent’s schedule because the annual schedule rotation the Pac-12 uses prevents it. I know because I painstakingly worked all of this out earlier. The only way to add additional conference games to each team’s schedule would be to add TWO games, which would actually be a full round-robin schedule. The pairings for each team would be as follows:

Utah: vs. Stanford and @ Oregon
Colorado: vs. California and @ Oregon State
Arizona: vs. Washington State and @ California
ASU: vs. Washington and @ Stanford
UCLA: vs. Oregon and @ Washington
USC: vs. Oregon State and @ Washington State
California: vs. Arizona and @ Colorado
Stanford: vs. ASU and @ Utah
Oregon: vs. Utah and @ UCLA
Oregon State: vs. Colorado and @ USC
Washington: vs. UCLA and @ ASU
Washington State: vs. USC and @ Arizona

That would give half of the schools 6 conference home games while the other half would only get 5. Maybe the Pac-12 could make its conference-only schedule less strict and allow each school to play ONE non-conference game, which would allow the schools with only 5 conference home games to schedule an additional home game against a non-conf opponent (like BYU or Montana State in Utah’s case), thus balancing their schedules to 6 home and 6 away games. That would be far more feasible, as the league would only need to worry about the outside logistics of non-league play (and Covid control) for ONE WEEK. Seems reasonable to me, but I’m just a simple man with simple desires.

[Central Coast Ute]

Here’s the thing about Stanford. Utah has a better chance at playing home games than they do. Nobody knows if any college football will be played in California this year. Don’t be surprised if Gavin doesn’t allow it. I can’t speak for Oregon or what the political situation is up there. If it’s similar to California, they may just be scheduling the game in Salt Lake because it’s more likely to happen in September there than it is in Eugene. Just a thought and complete speculation on my part.

[Matthew Thomas Castleton]

Politics has nothing to do with it. The Pac-12 itself controls the scheduling, not the governors of the states the schools happen to reside in. That’s the whole reason why they’re going conference-only.

[Central Coast Ute]

Politics has to do with almost everything. Especially when it comes to publicly funded institutions. The governor could say no sporting events in our state this year. They could even go so far as to say no sporting events for our public schools anywhere at all this year and it really doesn’t matter what the conference says because they don’t control the school. The PAC 12 went conference only in order to control the testing.

[dystopiamembrane]

A big name?!?? Some school from a hippie town in the Pacific Northwest? This is Sack Lake City, baby.

[Author]

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