Utah Football 2024 Schedule Preview & Record Projection

here is the 2024 schedule for Utah we're going to break it all down for you and give you a a projected record for Utah as we continue this series we'll start with this schedule and the non-conference games that they'll play Southern Utah Baylor and at Utah State and you might say well Baylor is in the Big 12 and Utah is now in the Big 12 but that is actually not a conference game so this game was scheduled before Utah moved to the Big 12 and so they're leaving it on the schedule as a non-conference game so that game will not count towards the Big 12 standings that happened u in the ACC I think it was I can't remember now Wake Forest in Georgia Tech or I can't remember the teams now that happened in the ACC as well or maybe it was North Carolina and Georgia Tech um where they played a game that was not a conference game so it it has happened before it's kind of weird but they will play Baylor in a non-conference game their home schedule is Southern Utah Baylor Arizona TCU BYU and Iowa States so they actually only have four home games in the Big 12 in their conference game games Arizona TCU BYU and Iowa state that means they play five Road games in the Big 12 and those Road games will be um at Oklahoma State at Arizona State at Houston at Colorado and at UCF and then they'll also play of course Utah State on the road so let's break it down week by week they start with Southern Utah that'll be a Thursday night game there in week one then they play Baylor on September 7th at home then it'll be a road game at Utah State on the 14th back-to-back Road games as they then then go to play Oklahoma state in their first actual Big 12 Conference game again the Baylor game is not a conference game so Oklahoma state will be their first Big 12 opponent that it counts towards the standings they play Arizona on the 28th and then they get a byee after that then they play the other Arizona Arizona State on the road of course they played them in the Pack 12 uh so some familiar territory there they play TCU on the 19th that'll be a home game then they play at TCU on October 26th um at Houston I should say and then they get their other bye after Houston they play BYU at home on November 9th then they go on the road to play Colorado on the 16th back home for Iowa State on the 23rd and then a road game at UCF on the 29th which is I think the Friday of that final weekend the Friday after Thanksgiving so you look at this schedule and uh you know is there a game you you look at on the schedule and say Utah can't win I mean there's really not it's it's that's that's the thing with the big 12 it's going to be so wide open if a team can kind of um emerge as as the top team you know if they're better than everyone else in that conference they have a real chance to go undefeated but it's it's not going to be easy just because I don't think you're going to see a team emerge like that and you're going to have the teams beat up on each other uh you look at the back-to-back Road games Utah State and Oklahoma State that's their only back-to-back Road games that's split up pretty well with the home and away they don't have any real tough stretches either um I mean really just Oklahoma State Arizona that's going to be their their toughest back to back right there uh that that's going to be tough to come out of those two games without a loss I think it's going to be really tough but let's see what the projected record is here for Utah projections from last year had this team projected to go n and three I actually predicted them also to go 9 and three and so did Aton but Vegas had the over under at 8 and a half so how many people went with the over and lost there probably a lot cuz they finished just eight and four um but yeah they were about where I think most people expected them to be you had some that maybe had them a little bit higher but with a really tough schedule it was hard to see them doing much better than 9 and three uh schedule again it's easier this year in a new conference and just the way it all sets up so let's get to the projection and this is the scale that we use if it's a 50/50 game it'll stay in the white if it's under 20 or over 80 those are games where I think to it's almost a guaranteed win 20 to 29 71 to 80 games where I think the spread will be double digits uh games where a team will be a pretty decent favorite but not a guaranteed win and the 30 to 39 61 to 70 games where I think you'll have a clear favorite but not favored by a ton favor by about a touchdown 6 s eight points and again we have a tier system that we actually use to to do this um formula so let's start with the easy wins you've got Southern Utah and Utah State I know that game's on the road at Utah State but Utah should just be a much much better team you know the southern Utah game's closer closer to 100% whereas the Utah State game might be closer to 80% but I think they both wind up in the green green and those are games that Utah should win it would be a pretty big surprise if Utah were to lose either one of those now let's go to games no games in the blue actually we go straight to the purple with Baylor Arizona State TCU Houston and BYU so Baylor at home I think Utah's probably be favored by eight or nine points in that game Arizona state would be in the blue but it's on it's on the road that makes that one a little bit tougher TCU at home Houston another game that would be in the blue if it was at home uh but it's on the road and then BYU that one would actually be in the blue if it wasn't a rivalry we I do kind of take into account if it's if it's really close I will uh kind of go conservative on these rivalry rivalry games so you've got uh five games where they should be favored not by a ton but maybe by about a touchdown and then you've got Oklahoma State Arizona at Colorado how good will they be it's just hard to say right now I'm going to keep that as a 50/50 game although I think Utah will be a better team Iowa state is a team that uh could be pretty good this year we'll see and then you know they surprised last year and then you've got UCF on the road I think you is going to be a better team there but that one's on the road so the the way the home and road games work it does definitely play into the formula uh in the projection here for Utah but what do you notice no games where they're going to be a clear Underdog in fact if I was if I was trying to guess the spreads right now I think there might be one game where they're going to be an underdog and that's Oklahoma State because it's on the road maybe they're a three or four point Underdog in that game but I think every other game they're going to be favored and I think that makes Utah the favorites in the Big 12 but they have a lot of games here that that they can lose not that they're going to be underdogs but games that they can lose because uh again very competitive conference so when you average all this out you get a projection for Utah of 8-4 so 8 and four is a projection how could you get to8 and four well if they split all the 50/50 games that would be you know they'd have two and a half technically two and a half losses there and then again when you got these games in the purple the odds would say that you're going to lose you know if you've got six of those or we've got five here but let's say if you had six the odds would say you're probably going to lose a couple of them so you know maybe they lose like I know you can't lose a half a game but let's say they lose one and a half games in the purple two and a half games in the white that's how you could get to four losses that's how you can get to eight and four again when we're doing this formula so eight and four is the projection for Utah could they do better absolutely could they do worse you know I don't really see them doing worse I think 8 and four honestly is probably about the worst case scenario let's let's just quickly kind of talk best case worst case scenario worst case scenario they lose to Oklahoma State maybe lose to Arizona or Arizona State TCU winds up being a lot better they lose there uh they slip up and lose on the road either to Houston or Colorado and and then maybe lose to Iowa State so yeah I I guess seven and five is possible that would probably be my worst case scenario but best case scenario this team goes 12 and0 and again I think that's a real possibility uh again Oklahoma State's the only game where they're maybe going to be an underdog so if you just went by that if you just went by who's going to be favorite in all these games you'd probably get 11- one for Utah not saying they're going to do that but they absolutely can and Utah could absolutely be in the college football playoff because the Big 12 Champion is going to be there the ACC Champion is going to be there as a top four seed so that could be interesting uh but Utah it's it's really about winning the Big 12 in their first year that's what they want to do but a projected record of eight and four do you think they'll do better or worse let me know your thoughts on this team down in the comments below