Positives, Negatives For Utah Football Playing Oregon In 2020
Jul 26, 2020, 2:51 PM
Wide receiver Solomon Enis #21 of the Utah Utes warms up prior to the start of the Pac-12 Championship Game against the Oregon Ducks at Levi's Stadium on December 06, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – According to reports, the Utah football team will add the defending Pac-12 champion Oregon Ducks to their conference-only football schedule in 2020.
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UteZone and It’s Utah’s World podcast host Steve Bartle first reported the Utes facing the Ducks including in the season opener. Stadium’s Brett McMurphy reported the additional conference game for each Pac-12 school.
The Pac-12 announced early in July that they will release the schedule details by no later than July 31.
SOURCES: Utah adding Pac-12 foe to early part of their schedule https://t.co/PX5cqfS5m8 via @247sports
— Steve Bartle (@SBartle247) July 15, 2020
Sources told @Stadium, Pac-12’s proposed 10th league game matchups:
Arizona vs. Cal
Arizona State vs. Stanford
Colorado vs. Oregon State
Oregon vs. Utah
UCLA vs. Washington
USC vs. Washington StatePac-12 wants to add 1 game to original league schedule, @wilnerhotline reported
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) July 24, 2020
Positives
The positive things about Utah playing Oregon especially if it is in the season opener as stated in the reports, Utah will have a chance to get a signature win right out of the gates and doing it in Salt Lake City.
It gives fans, coaches and staff a chance to see what these players are made of and how they tackle the task of beating the Pac-12 favorite.
Last season, Oregon had a very good offense with a good defense but this year with the departure of Justin Herbert while returning starters on defense and bringing in top recruits for that side of the ball, it will be a good matchup because for Utah, the roles will be reversed as well.
The Utes will have a very young defense after losing 9 starters from last season but will have a veteran group returning on offense.
Negatives
If the game is played at Rice-Eccles Stadium in the fall, it is very likely that it will be played without fans or a limited amount in attendance. It won’t have the same feel as a jampacked stadium that fans have grown accustom to. It’s still a game at home but it would be a better home field advantage with a packed Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Another negative for Utah playing Oregon is playing the Pac-12 favorite in the opener (if it is indeed the opener). Normally the non-conference schedule prepares teams for a rigorous conference schedule, in most cases. Playing Oregon in the opener is forcing the coaches to speed up the process to prepare these players for a season where they didn’t have spring ball.
Had this situation happened last season with so many pieces returning and a loaded defense back, it would be a completely different story. Although, we did see these two teams square off in the 2019 Pac-12 Championship game which did not bode well for the Utes.
Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports. You can download and listen to the podcast, here.
