Utah Football: Utes draw remarkably tough 2018 schedule

Utah football might not play in the SEC West, but their 2018 schedule couldn’t get much more challenging. Will the Utes rise up or roll over?

Kyle Whittingham has turned Utah football into one of the most consistent programs in the Pac-12. Despite never truly threatening for a conference title, Utah consistently finishes in the upper half of the conference and hovers around the fringes of the top 25.

Whittingham has had two losing seasons in 14 years with the Utes and has settled in as one of the better coaches in the conference. He’ll have his work cut out for him if he’s going to keep Utah near the top of the pack in 2018. That’s because Utah has one of the toughest schedules in the country.

Ranked No. 22 by ESPN FPI and No. 10 by Phil Steele, Utah’s 2018 slate is every bit as challenging as it seems. They start Pac-12 play at home against Washington before a two-game road trip to Washington State and then Stanford. That gives way to a two-game home slate against Khalil Tate and Arizona before USC comes to town.

And that’s just the first five conference games.

If the Utes struggle ever so slightly out of the gate they could be looking at a scenario in which they must be near-perfect in the second half of the season to reach bowl eligibility. Road trips to UCLA, Arizona State and Colorado are all winnable games, but not a sure-thing for the Utes who finished No. 52 in the nation in scoring offense last season.

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That could set up an interesting finale in the Holy War against  BYU. The Cougars were dreadful last season, but rivalry games have a tendency to bring out the unexpected. If Whittingham can weather the storm and keep his team in bowl contention he should be lauded for his work. It’s going to be a challenging year for Utah, we’ll see if they can make the best of it.