BYU and Utah had their 2026 Big 12 football schedules handed down to them this week, as did programs through the rest of the conference. And everyone immediately wanted to size them up and determine which teams have the easier or tougher rows to hoe.
That’s an irresistible fool’s errand — hard to avoid, though, because at this time of year all of us are fools, all of us want more college football — for reasons we’ll get to in a minute.
It was widely figured that Texas Tech, of all the better teams, has the smoothest path because the Red Raiders can’t play themselves, and won’t play Utah or BYU in the regular season. Either way, in Lubbock that may not have been seen as a big benefit to TTU, considering the way Tech dominated BYU and Utah last time around. The Cougars and Utes, however, might suck in and blow out a sigh of relief.
Conversely, observers who lean hard toward BYU, some of them, thought with a goofy grin that Utah has the tougher slate since the Utes have to play BYU. Is that a flex or not a flex, seeing that every fan, every team eventually wants their ascent, at least once conquered, to seem the steeper climb, the greater proof of competitive worthiness (outside of losing in Lubbock). Besides, what kind of fanatic would ever envision BYU facing Utah at Rice-Eccles as anything less than withstanding a swinging tire iron upside the head?
Utah’s schedule goes like this: First three games are at Rice-Eccles, including Idaho, Arkansas, Utah State. Next comes Iowa State on the road. Then a bye. Next Kansas at Rice-Eccles, followed by Colorado on the road, then Houston at Rice-Eccles, Cincinnati on the road, BYU at Rice-Eccles, Arizona and TCU on the road, West Virginia at Rice-Eccles.
A few things about that schedule, one favorable, one stupid, one already mentioned. Seven home games versus five roadies is a warm blanket wrapped around a team with a new coaching staff, new plans and procedures and some new players. No opposing team — not just BYU — ever thought playing in Utah’s home building is any sort of happy romp in the park. It’s more a painful kick to the onions. Big advantage, then, Utes.
The fact that the Utah-BYU game is wedged between games against the Bearcats and the Wildcats on a run-of-the-mill Saturday on Nov. 7 is just dumb. That contest, as the league’s greatest rivalry, should be highlighted by the Big 12 at the end of the regular season, when rivalry games are traditionally played. Some argue that it’s better to have the game earlier, so that whichever team loses has time to run back up the rankings. Better still is to have the game properly placed and featured in a spotlight, at a time underscoring its intensity, its importance.
Why Big 12 bigwigs don’t know and feel and recognize and understand and take advantage of and allow themselves and their league to benefit from all that is both a mystery and a mistake. The Big 12 might have its reasons, but none of them more substantial than the energy emanating from that single rivalry game being enough to give a righteous buzz to the entire conference. Yeah, that energy gets over-the-top and downright ridiculous at times — idiotic, even — but it could be and should be treated and accentuated as one of the cornerstones of Big 12 football, not as just another scheduled bump in the road.
Not playing Texas Tech might be a blessing for Utah and for the Red Raiders, were they to lose, at least from an aesthetics win-loss standpoint, having the road and record more comfortably graded. That might not matter in the SEC, where losses to supposedly quality teams are overlooked, but, unfortunately, losses of any kind do have a negative effect in the Big 12. So the playoff committee sees it, so it is the dark and dirty law of the land.
BYU’s schedule starts with Utah Tech and Arizona at LaVell’s place, then bounces to road games at Colorado State and TCU. Who booked a roadie against a Mountain West team, slammed with a bye between two league games? Next up are two home games against Iowa State and Notre Dame. Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the contest against the Irish at LES was loaded in recently, a long time coming. A huge game it will be for national perception and prestige. Thereafter comes a roadie at UCF, a home game against Arizona State, Utah at Rice-Eccles, Baylor at home, Kansas in Lawrence, and Cincinnati at home.
The Cougars also have the advantage of staying and playing in Provo seven times, against five trips out, with, as mentioned, the one just up the road in Salt Lake City. Not that that game, when it comes to raucous passion flowing against them, won’t seem as though it’s a billion miles away.
Who has the more difficult schedule?
This is where a punt is in order. Nobody really knows with exactness how good each and all of the teams in the Big 12 will be. Will Texas Tech be stellar? That’s a solid bet. Will BYU and Utah be highly competitive? Makes sense. But with NIL, the transfer portal and other significant changes all around, potential injuries as well, it’s hard to get too certain or too specific about much else. Few expected Arizona State to win the league the season before last, but there the Devils were. Others subsequently exceeded and fell short of expectations, so anyone — present company included — making absolute determinations now is shooting craps, operating on that foolish errand.
Indiana’s sudden rise to the top of college football is proof of that.