A Look at the Utes 2011 Schedule

Utah's schedule next season will be a whole lot tougher than this year.

Week 1: Montana State
Week 2: at USC
Week 3: at BYU
Week 4: Bye
Week 5: Washington
Week 6: Arizona State
Week 7: at Pittsburgh
Week 8: at California
Week 9: Oregon State
Week 10: at Arizona
Week 11: UCLA
Week 12: at Washington State
Week 13: Colorado

They certainly have a nice 3-game stretch at the end of the season, if they have anything left in the tank.  Typically, looking at a Ute schedule you can pick out at least 6 wins, guaranteed, no matter what.  Next year, I'm giving them Montana State, Washington, and Colorado with near certainty.  The list of "probably should win" games is longer: Arizona State, Oregon State, UCLA, and at Washington State (Washington State may be losing this season, but they are playing just about everybody tough, plus Utah has to play them after what looks to be a difficult stretch).  The other 5 games go in the "could certainly win" category.

I guess that means they could go 12-0.  My initial thoughts were around 7-5, but I'll hold off on making any bold predictions until we get a little bit closer to next season (i.e. after this season...).  All of the road games will definitely be a challenge.  I would be fairly surprised if they were able to put together anything better than a 3-3 record on the road as 5 of their 6 road opponents are perennial bowl teams.  The home schedule is much more manageable: they should be able to put together at least a 4-2 record in those games, if not better than that.  Oregon State is the only consistently good team of the 6 teams they get at home.  It will all depend on what they have left in the tank by week 8, 9, and 10.  Like I said earlier, comparatively speaking, this schedule is an absolute gauntlet.