A high-profile season-opener against an SEC program, and a rematch of this season’s Pac-12 championship game on the road highlight the University of Utah’s 2022 football schedule, which was released on Thursday morning.
Non-conference games at Florida, and vs. Southern Utah and San Diego State were already on the books, but the schedule is now complete after the Pac-12 announced its conference schedule, starting with the Utes going to Tempe on Sept. 24 to take on Arizona State.
Utah’s trip to Gainesville will mark the first time the Utes have played a regular-season game against an SEC team since a 27-21 loss at Tennessee on Sept. 15, 1984. The Utes are 1-6 all-time against the SEC, the one win coming in the 2009 Sugar Bowl, 31-17, to cap an unbeaten 13-0 season.
The matchup against the Gators is an example of athletic director Mark Harlan’s desire to beef up the non-conference schedule. Florida will visit Rice-Eccles Stadium in 2023, while the Utes have home-and-home agreements in the coming years with Baylor (2023, 2024), Houston (2026, 2027), Arkansas (2026, 2029), Wisconsin (2028, 2033) and LSU (2031, 2032).
The Sept. 3 opener will mark the first since Utah has not started a non-COVID season on a Thursday night since 2008 when it won at Michigan to open the 13-0 campaign.
The big highlight on the conference schedule will be a Nov. 19 trip to Eugene to take on Oregon. The Utes beat the Ducks twice this season, including 38-10 on Dec. 3 in the Pac-12 championship games, sending them to their first Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day against Ohio State (2 p.m., ESPN).
Kickoff times and broadcast designations will be announced at a later date.
2022 UTAH FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Sept. 3, at Florida
Sept. 10, vs. Southern Utah
Sept. 17, vs. San Diego State
Sept. 24, at Arizona State
Oct. 1, vs. Oregon State
Oct. 8, at UCLA
Oct. 15, vs. USC
Oct. 29, at Washington State
Nov. 5, vs. Arizona
Nov. 12, vs. Stanford
Nov. 19, at Oregon
Nov. 26, at Colorado
