Here are the Top 25 college football teams Utah schools will face this season

The preseason Associated Press Top 25 college football poll was released earlier this week , meaning we have a bit better of an idea just how good some of the teams squads from Utah will face this fall, even as the rankings will fluctuate from week to week and may look very different by the time the season is over.

Here is a look at all of the ranked teams schools from the Beehive State will face in 2024 (total number of ranked teams a school will face will be in parenthesis).

Utah Utes (2)

Ranked No. 12 in the poll themselves, the Utes are widely considered to have a pretty easy schedule this season relative to how good they’re expected to be, although if the Top 25 poll is any indication, the last half of September could be challenging.

That’s because Utah will play the only two ranked teams on its schedule in back-to-back weeks. First, the Utes will travel to face the 17th-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys on Sept. 21, and they’ll return home to face the 21st-ranked Arizona Wildcats the following week.

Those two games are considered to be Utah’s toughest this season by a pretty wide margin and may go a long way in determining the team’s chances at a College Football Playoff berth.

BYU Cougars (5)

On paper, the Cougars may have a very difficult time getting back to a bowl game because of the difficulty of their schedule. They’ll have a manageable nonconference schedule the first three weeks of the season, but then five of their next seven contests are against ranked opponents, although only the rivalry game against Utah is on the road.

BYU will face No. 18 Kansas State on Sept. 21, No. 21 Arizona on Oct. 12, No. 17 Oklahoma State on Oct. 18, No. 12 Utah on Nov. 9 and No. 22 Kansas on Nov. 16.

It’s not easy to see a path to a bowl game for the Cougars given their schedule. They’ll likely need to go at least 2-1 in nonconference play (at home against Southern Illinois and on the road against SMU and Wyoming), pick up two victories against the above five teams and at Baylor and at UCF, and then win their last two games of the season against expected Big 12 bottom-feeders (at Arizona State, versus Houston).

Utah State Aggies (2)

It certainly won’t be easy for the Aggies to rack up wins in nonconference play as they try to get six to become bowl eligible again. Following the season opener at home against Robert Morris, Utah State will play its two currently ranked opponents in back-to-back weeks.

First, the Aggies will travel to Los Angeles to face the 23rd-ranked USC Trojans on Sept. 7, and then they’ll fly back to the Beehive State to play the Utes in Salt Lake City on Sept. 14.

If Utah State is 1-2 at that point it’ll have one more nonconference game against Temple all the way in Philadelphia and then need either four or five wins in conference play to go bowling.

Southern Utah T-Birds (1)

Games featuring FCS squads such as SUU against FBS teams are chances for the FCS school to get needed money to use in the program.

SUU will travel a few hours north for the season opener on Aug. 29 to face No. 12 Utah. Though not ranked, SUU will face another FBS team the following week when it travels to Texas to play UTEP.

The T-Birds will then open up FCS play the following week as they aim to build on a 2023 season in which they went 6-5.

Note: Neither Weber State nor Utah Tech have games against teams ranked in the preseason AP Top 25, although Weber State will open the season against the Washington Huskies Aug. 31 on the road. The Huskies were the national runner-up last season before losing head coach Kalen DeBoer to Alabama.

Utah Tech, meanwhile, will face UNLV of the FBS ranks in the second game of the season on Sept. 7 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.