Ute Insiders

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As Utah begins the Morgan Scalley era, optimism is high in the football facility.

There are many unknowns as the Utes embark on the 2026 season. How will the rebuilt offensive line and defensive line fare? Can Kevin McGiven’s offense reach the highs of Jason Beck’s? As head coach, how will Scalley manage the whole team (not just the defense), make critical in-game decisions like whether to go for it on fourth down, and handle the bumps in the road that inevitably pop up during a college football season? How will Colton Swan do as defensive coordinator?

In spite of all of the unknowns, Utah is still considered in contention for a spot in the Big 12 championship game, though solidly behind Texas Tech and BYU in the eyes of the oddsmakers, thanks to returning quarterback Devon Dampier, running back Wayshawn Parker, a wide receiver room that could be the best Utah has had in a while and returning starters in the secondary and at linebacker.

How does the 2026 schedule stack up for the Utes?

Phil Steele tabs the Utes’ schedule as the 62nd toughest in the country, while ESPN’s FPI has it as No. 63.

The Utes avoid Texas Tech, Kansas State and Arizona State on this year’s schedule and get preseason top-25 teams BYU and Houston at home, but tough road games against Arizona and TCU await. A nonconference matchup against Arkansas will be an early test.

Below is my attempt to rank Utah’s 2026 schedule in order of difficulty. As we all know, that’s a fool’s errand. College football, especially the Big 12, rarely goes according to how the pundits think it will in the preseason — the unpredictability is part of what makes sports so fun to watch.

In last year’s version of this article, I was too high on Arizona State, which was coming off of a Big 12 championship, and Baylor, ranking those games as the two toughest on Utah’s slate.

Sun Devil quarterback Sam Leavitt, now at LSU, was injured for the Utah game, and the Utes demolished Arizona State and backup quarterback Jeff Sims 42-10.

Baylor’s Sawyer Robertson threw for 430 yards and three touchdowns against the Utes, but the Bears’ defense was porous, allowing 55 points and 380 rushing yards in a dominating 55-28 Utah win.

At least I had Utah’s two losses, Texas Tech and BYU, and a crazy comeback win — Kansas State — in the top five.

The point is, take the below list with a grain of salt.

The rankings aren’t a list of the best teams Utah will play; rather, it is a ranking of which games could be most difficult for the Utes to win. That means, based on where the game sits in the schedule and whether it’s at home or on the road, a game against a team projected to finish with a worse record could be ranked higher than a game against a team projected to finish with a better record.

Here we go.

Until the Utes can snap the Cougars’ three-game win streak, the rivalry game will always be near or at the top of the list of Utah’s toughest games.

Kalani Sitake has had the Cougars rolling over the past two seasons with a pair of 11-plus win seasons and one trip to the Big 12 championship game. Since the two rivals have been in the same conference, BYU has won both games — a wild 22-21 comeback win at Rice-Eccles Stadium helped by a holding penalty and sealed with a Will Ferrin field goal, and a 24-21 win over the Utes in Provo last year that featured Bear Bachmeier sealing the victory.

Just like last season, the Nov. 7 meeting between the two schools could play a huge part in deciding who goes to the Big 12 championship.

The Cougars are one of the favorites to win the Big 12 this season, alongside Texas Tech, thanks to the return of Bachmeier, running back LJ Martin and a strong returning offensive line. One of the few question marks on offense is at wide receiver, where BYU will need to replace Chase Roberts, Cody Hagen and Parker Kingston.

On defense, the Cougars bring back plenty of returning starters, including preseason All-Big 12 selections Cade Uluave at linebacker and Evan Johnson at cornerback. The big question is whether the Cougars can continue their defensive excellence with the loss of defensive coordinator Jay Hill, who went with Kyle Whittingham to Michigan.

Scalley has played in the rivalry game, going 3-1 against the Cougars, and has been on the coaching staff for it for two decades. Now in his first rivalry game as a head coach, how will Scalley manage the week leading up to the game and prepare his players for the heated contest?

While the game could be massively important for the Utes’ season, Utah also needs a win in the rivalry game to take back some in-state recruiting momentum.

While the schedule shakes out fairly well for Utah this season, one area where the schedule-makers did the Utes no favors was scheduling a road game against Arizona right after the BYU game.

No matter the result of the rivalry game, it just seems to take a little bit more out of each team than a normal game, though Utah didn’t show it last season with a 53-7 drubbing of Colorado, a contrast to the 49-24 beatdown suffered at the hands of the Buffaloes after the rivalry game in 2024.

Going on the road after playing what should be a very good BYU team to face an Arizona team that could contend for the conference is a tough draw.

In fact, that three-game stretch (vs. BYU, at Arizona, at TCU) could determine if Utah is going to Arlington in December — pending, of course, a good September and October for the Utes.

The Wildcats closed the regular season on a five-game win streak, and in the two losses before that, took both Houston and BYU down to the wire.

Arizona is already drumming up a Heisman campaign for quarterback Noah Fifita, and a lot rests on the shoulders of the fifth-year senior, who is the nation’s active career passing touchdown leader with 73 TDs. When Fifita is on, he’s hard to beat, and earned All-Big 12 first-team honors last year after throwing for 3,228 yards and 29 touchdowns.

Fifita is complemented by returning running back Kedrick Reescano, but the question is whether the offensive line can be good enough after replacing three starters.

On defense, the question mark is a rebuilt secondary through the transfer portal.

If Arizona can answer those two questions, it could be a Big 12 contender and a hard team for Utah to knock off late in the season.

Utah avoided playing the Cougars last season, but in 2026, have no such luck. Aside from the BYU game, this could be one of the marquee home games at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Houston is on the upswing as coach Willie Fritz enters his third season, finishing 2025 with a 10-3 record and a win over LSU in the Texas Bowl.

The Cougars are expected to be in the Big 12 title mix — a group of 16 conference beat writers picked Houston for a third-place finish in the conference (tied with Arizona) — led by returning quarterback Conner Weigman.

The former Texas A&M Aggie threw for 2,705 yards and 25 touchdowns and rushed for 700 yards and 11 scores. With a lot of weapons, including Amare Thomas, and Oregon transfer running back Makhi Hughes, the big question is if the three incoming transfers on the offensive line, including Miami (Ohio) transfer Drew Terrill, can gel and play well from the start.

Houston has an early test against Texas Tech, but could easily be 6-1 by the time it rolls into Salt Lake City.

As mentioned, life doesn’t get easier for the Utes after potential tough games against BYU and Arizona.

TCU has posted back-to-back 9-4 seasons, including an Alamo Bowl victory against USC in 2025, but the Horned Frogs do have a new offensive coordinator and quarterback this season. Sonny Dykes hired UConn’s Gordon Sammis, who helped the Huskies average 35.3 points per game (15th in the nation) and got Harvard quarterback Jaden Craig out of the transfer portal after Josh Hoover transferred to Indiana.

Hoover threw for 2,869 yards and 25 touchdowns on a 61.5% completion rate.

Much of the season rests on Craig making the successful leap to Power Four football, but working in TCU’s favor is the team around him, including what should be one of TCU’s best offensive lines in years and returning running back Jeremy Payne.

The Horned Frogs will need some receivers to take the next step after losing WR1 Eric McAlister (1,190 yards last year), but they do return Jordan Dwyer (730 yards, seven TDs).

Defensively, the Horned Frogs should be good, led by preseason All-Big 12 safety Jamel Johnson.

This season will be intriguing, as the Horned Frogs try and crack into Big 12 contention, but the season is already off to an auspicious start as projected starting safety Jacob Fields was kicked off the team after allegedly assaulting a teammate.

While Arkansas, selected last in the 16-team SEC in the conference’s preseason media poll, could finish with a worse record than some of the teams below it on this list, the timing of this game pushes it up the rankings.

Utah gets to ease into the season a bit with the opener against Idaho, but in Week 2, an SEC opponent comes to Rice-Eccles Stadium for just the second time ever.

Utah will be favored in the game, but it will be an early test, especially for the new-look offensive and defensive lines.

Arkansas is in the midst of a program rebuild under new head coach Ryan Silverfield, who got 42 transfers from the portal, but the strength of this team is supposed to be the offensive line and rushing attack. Quarterback KJ Jackson and running back Sutton Smith will be the first measuring stick for Utah’s defensive line.

Last year, Utah blew out West Virginia 48-14 on the road, but this time around, the game could be a lot different.

The Utes are at home on Thanksgiving weekend for the first time since 2023, but still draw the Black Friday game, which means the Utes will be on a short week after a pair of road games against Arizona and TCU.

Depending on how the season shakes out, this could be an absolutely massive game for the Utes.

West Virginia is projected to continue its upward trajectory after beating expectations in Year 1 of the Rich Rodriguez era, Part 2.

Oklahoma transfer Michael Hawkins Jr. is expected to be the Mountaineers’ starting quarterback and has some decent weapons in DJ Epps (512 yards, five TDs at Troy) and Prince Strachan (previously at Boise State, suffered season-ending injury early last year at USC). The Mountaineers also have the nation’s leading rusher in All-Big 12 preseason selection Cam Cook, who dazzled at Jackson State, rushing for 1,659 yards and 16 touchdowns, and should have an improved offensive line.

Can the defense be better than last season (409.2 yards per game and 30.8 points per game)? The Mountaineers will have a brand new defense, but it would be hard to be worse.

The Mountaineers could surprise some people in the Big 12 this season.

Heading into last season’s game against Utah, Cincinnati was ranked No. 17 and the contest was so big it attracted “College GameDay.”

Utah delivered a big-time 45-14 win over Brendan Sorsby and the Bearcats, starting a five-game slide for Cincinnati.

Sorsby transferred to Texas Tech and was eventually ruled ineligible by the NCAA after an investigation found that he had bet on Indiana’s games while he was part of the team.

The Bearcats look to be in a rebuilding year this season and will be led by quarterback JC French IV, who spent the last three years at Georgia Southern.

The season will ride on how French does in the step up to Power Four football, but Cincinnati does bring back one of the top offensive lines in the Big 12 and the defense could be better than last season.

Overall, though, it may be a battle for Cincinnati to be bowl eligible in 2026.

After a pair of 5-7 seasons, Kansas is hungry to at least be bowl eligible in 2026. The Jayhawks don’t have Jalon Daniels, though, and quarterback is a question mark.

Cole Ballard and Isaiah Marshall have been locked in a battle during fall camp and the Jayhawks have to replace last year’s leading rusher, Daniel Hishaw Jr., but they did bring in Kansas State’s Dylan Edwards and should have a better offensive line than last season.

Without a surefire thing at quarterback, though, can Kansas be better than last year?

Deion Sanders looked like he had Colorado turned around after going 9-4 in 2024 with Heisman winner Travis Hunter, but after Hunter and quarterback Shedeur Sanders went to the NFL, it’s been a mess in Boulder.

Sanders has favored a transfer portal-heavy approach, and in 2025, it was a disaster as Colorado went 3-9 with one of the worst offenses and defenses in the country.

Prognosticators don’t have the Buffaloes accomplishing much, but they should be better than last year after another portal overhaul of 43 incoming players. Sanders landed a top-30 transfer portal class that includes Texas receiver DeAndre Moore Jr., Tennessee safety Boo Carter, and Texas linebacker Liona Lefau.

At quarterback, sophomore Julian Lewis, a five-star freshman who threw for 589 yards and four touchdowns with no picks on a 55.3% completion rate in his first season, battles former Utah quarterback Isaac Wilson for the starting job.

Colorado has a new offensive coordinator — Brennan Marion and his “Go-Go” offense from Sacramento State.

On defense, it’s a complete rebuild with a new defensive coordinator in Virginia Tech’s Chris Marve.

All told, Colorado brought in some interesting pieces, but will only go as far as its quarterback and bevy of new transfers take them. After last season, there are doubters.

Colorado has a bye ahead of the Utah game.

One year ago, opening the Big 12 slate in Ames, Iowa, would have been up there with one of the toughest games on Utah’s schedule, but after Matt Campbell left for Penn State, the Cyclones are staring at a tough rebuilding process.

Campbell took the Cyclones to highs they’ve never been as a program in an 11-3 2024 campaign that was capped off by a Pop-Tarts Bowl victory, but after Sitake turned down the Penn State job, Campbell was the next target.

Twenty-three players made the switch from Iowa State to Penn State, including quarterback Rocco Becht and tight end Ben Brahme, and in total, there was a transfer exodus.

The Cyclones hired Jimmy Rogers, who went 6-6 in his lone season at Washington State, as their coach, but Rogers did win the FCS national championship over North Dakota State for a perfect 15-0 season in 2023.

Unless Iowa State shocks the world behind Arkansas State transfer quarterback Jaylen Raynor, the Cyclones are looking at a multiyear rebuilding process.

Utah State heads into Year 2 of the Bronco Mendenhall era after going 6-7 with a trip to the Idaho Potato Bowl, where the Aggies lost 34-21 to now-Pac-12 league-mate Washington State.

The Aggies will be led by former BYU quarterback McCae Hillstead and should have a fun offense, but have a lot to prove on the defensive side of the ball after allowing 28.7 points and a whopping 440.1 yards per game last year.

Can Utah State make it a close game, like they did through three quarters in 2024, or knock off the Utes, like they did in 2012? Though this game is near the bottom of the rankings, that doesn’t mean it’s anywhere close to a guaranteed win. Mendenhall will have his players ready to play, and there is an argument that this game could be tougher than the next week at Idaho State.

Crazier things have happened in college football, but there’s a reason why Utah scheduled this game. The Utes will pay Idaho $600,000, and in return, the Vandals will head south for a near-certain loss.

Though Utah will keep it vanilla, it will be the first chance for Ute fans to see Kevin McGiven’s new offense and new pieces like receivers Braden Pegan and Kyri Shoels.

The game will be an important first step for the new-look offense and defensive lines to continue to build chemistry with each other and show what they can do in an actual game.

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Morgan Scalley has made Utah football alumni a priority, and his former teammate, Bo Nagahi, is leading the initiative to reconnect with former Ute players. Inside Utah’s mission to build a meaningful alumni program.

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