Utah Has Won Their Last Six Road Openers

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The University of Utah football team has had completely different records in each decade since 1980 when it comes to their first road game of the season.

But, in the last six road openers, Utah has been victorious.

That hasn’t been the case through the years, from 1980-89, the Utes went 1-9 in their first road games of the season.

Utah significantly improved in the 90’s with a 7-3 record, but they dipped from 2000-09 with a 4-6 mark and are currently 7-2 in road openers from 2010-2018.

They begin the 2019 season on the road against the BYU Cougars. Since 1980, Utah is 6-7 in their road games to open the season.

Down to two. #ZackMossed | @PresMoss2 pic.twitter.com/Z1Kn6gs9iI

— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) August 27, 2019

Here is the history of road openers for the Utes:

1980’s

Utah’s only win in the 80’s in their road opener was in 1985 when they beat Hawaii 29-27. Running back Eddie Johnson rushed for 96 yards and a touchdown in the win, while Erroll Tucker return a kickoff 100-yards for a touchdown.

The Utes struggled the rest of the decade with a 55-9 loss at Nebraska in 1980 in their second game of the season.

In 1981 and 1982, Utah faced Arizona State in the road opener with the Sun Devils beating the Utes 52-10 in 1981 and 23-10 in 1982.

Their first season opener on the road in the 80’s was at New Mexico in 1983, where the Lobos picked up a 17-7 victory.

Back in 1984, Utah lost to Washington State 42-40 and 64-6 at Ohio State in 1986. They finished the decade with a 52-34 loss on the road against San Diego State in 1987, a 35-24 loss at Illinois in 1988 and suffered a 52-22 loss in their 1989 season opener on the road to Fresno State.

1990’s

In 1990, Utah shutout the Utah State Aggies in Logan to open the season with a 19-0 win. Then they went to Corvallis in 1990 and knocked off Oregon State the following season.

Nebraska beat the Utes again, this time in the 1992 season opener with a final score of 49-22. They lost the season opener in 1993 in Tempe to Arizona State 38-0 before beating in-state rival Utah State in the 1994 season opener 32-17.

The Utes won their second straight road opener in 1995 with a 36-9 victory over New Mexico. But, Utah State defeated them in 1996 by three points to start the season and Utah played their first three games of that season on the road. They lost to the Aggies, but beat Stanford and SMU.

In 1997, Utah’s second game of the season was on the road against Louisville, where the Utes beat the Cardinals 27-21. The Utes finished the 90’s with wins over Utah State and Washington State in their road openers in 1998 and 1999.

During that decade, Utah opened their regular season on the road seven times and won four of those games.

2000’s

The first two road openers were against Pac-10 schools to start the 2000’s with losses to California and Oregon.

Utah beat Utah State 23-3 to open the 2002 season before losing at Texas A&M in their second game of the 2003 season by two points.

In 2004, the Utes knocked off Arizona 23-6, but lost to TCU in the road opener in 2005. They started the 2006 season at UCLA, losing to the Bruins 31-10.

They opened both the 2007 and 2008 seasons on the road with a loss to Oregon State and a win over Michigan respectively.

The Utes capped the 2000’s with a 24-14 win at San Jose State in their second game of the 2009 season.

Utah started their regular season on the road in the 2000’s four times and they split those games with two wins and two losses.

2010’s

Utah played their first road game of the 2010 season at New Mexico in the final year of the Mountain West Conference era. They beat the Lobos 56-14.

Their first Pac-12 game in 2011 was their road opener against the USC Trojans with the Utes falling 23-14. In 2012, Utah suffered a loss in Logan to Utah State 27-20 before playing their first road game of 2013 at BYU, Utah’s fourth game of the season, the Utes won the rivalry game 20-13. That victory started the six game winning streak in road openers that stands today.

Utah’s third game of the 2014 campaign was their road opener at Michigan with the Utes knocking off the Wolverines 26-10. They went on to beat Fresno State in 2015, San Jose State in 2016, BYU in 2017 and Northern Illinois last season in road openers.

The Utes didn’t open up the regular season on the road at all during the 2010’s with the game on Thursday being the first one of this decade.

Utah and BYU will kickoff their seasons on Thursday at LaVell Edwards Stadium at 8:15 p.m. The game can be seen on ESPN or heard on KSL Newsradio.