SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 Sports) - The Pac-12 Conference office released the 2013 football schedule today and Utah will play five of its first six games in Salt Lake City before spending four of the next six weeks on the road. The Utes will play mostly on Saturdays, with two Thursday night exceptions against Utah State and UCLA.
The Utes won’t leave the state for the first seven weeks of the season, hosting Utah State (Aug. 29), Weber State (Sept. 7) and Oregon State (Sept. 14), before making a short road trip to Provo for a Sept. 21 game against BYU. Following the first of two bye weeks on the schedule, Utah will host UCLA (Oct. 3) and Stanford in Homecoming (Oct. 12).
Stanford, along with Oregon, is new to Utah’s conference schedule, with the duo replacing Northern Division teams Cal and Washington.
The road-heavy second half of the season starts at Arizona (Oct. 19), followed by games at USC (Oct. 26), Oregon (Nov. 16) and Washington State (Nov. 23). The only two home games down the stretch run are against Arizona State (Nov. 9) and Colorado (Nov. 30).
“Having seven home games on the schedule is ideal for our program and something we haven't had the luxury of for quite awhile,” said Utah Coach Kyle Whittingham. “As is the case every year, there are positives and negatives to the schedule and we don't concern ourselves with overanalyzing it. Adding Stanford and Oregon to our rotation, two of the premier teams in the conference the past few years, should make this an attractive schedule for our fans.”
The Pac-12 Football Championship game is set for Saturday, Dec. 7 on the home field of the team with the best overall conference record and will be televised by either ESPN or ABC.
2013 Utah Football Schedule
Aug. 29 (Thu.) Utah State Salt Lake City
Sept. 7 Weber State Salt Lake City
Sept. 14 Oregon State* Salt Lake City
Sept. 21 at Brigham Young Provo, Utah
Sept. 28 open
Oct. 3 (Thu.) UCLA* Salt Lake City
Oct. 12 Stanford* Salt Lake City
Oct. 19 at Arizona* Tucson, Ariz.
Oct. 26 at USC* Los Angeles
Nov. 2 open
Nov. 9 Arizona State* Salt Lake City
Nov. 16 at Oregon* Eugene, Ore.
Nov. 23 at Washington State* Pullman, Wash.
Nov. 30 Colorado* Salt Lake City
