The defending Mountain West Conference champions now know what lies ahead for them next year.
The Utah football team announced its entire 2009 schedule Thursday as it gets its season underway against a very familiar face.
Former defensive coordinator Gary Andersen, who is now the head coach of the Utah State Aggies, will see his squad roll into Rice-Eccles Stadium on Sept. 3 for the season opener.
Of Utah’s four scheduled non-conference 2009 games, two trips are westbound, as the Utes head to the Bay Area on Sept. 12 to take on the San Jose State Spartans of the Western Athletic Conference.
Following their trip to northern California, the Utes head to Eugene, Ore., to take on newly minted head coach Chip Kelly and the potent, offensive Oregon Ducks.
National college football analysts have marked the Sept. 19 matchup between Utah and Oregon as one of the best non-conference head-to-heads this upcoming season and as the best shot the electric Ducks offense could have at Utah’s nation-high winning streak of 13 games.
The Utes will welcome the Louisville Cardinals on Sept. 26. It’s the second game of the home-away pact the two teams started during the 2007 season.
Although many argued that last year was the MWC’s strongest season to date, the non-conference matchups that many MWC teams have booked speak volumes of the potential national impact. BYU opens up its season against the high-powered Oklahoma Sooners, who are getting Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford back for his junior year. The Sooners are coming off a loss in the Bowl Championship Series to Urban Meyer and the Florida Gators. The Cougars will face off against Oklahoma on Sept. 5 at the new $1.3 billion stadium being built by the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas.
It will be the first-ever college football game played at the new Cowboys stadium.
BYU will stay in the South the very next weekend as the Cougars head to the Big Easy and take on the Tulane Green Waves at the Superdome8212;it will be the second MWC team to play in The Dome, the first being the 2009 Sugar Bowl Champion Utes.
Other notable non-conference MWC games this season include New Mexico heading to the Lone Star State twice as it will take on the Texas A&M Aggies and the Texas Tech Red Raiders. The TCU Horned Frogs will make the trips east as well, as they visit Charlottesville, Va., to face up against the Virginia Cavaliers on Sept. 12. The Frogs will then head to South Carolina to take on the Clemson Tigers on Sept. 26.
Perhaps the most interesting non-conference game involving an MWC team revolves around Laramie, Wyo.
The prestigious Texas Longhorns have accepted an invitation to head north and take on the Cowboys at War Memorial Stadium on Sept. 12.
Utah starts a slew of MWC games Oct. 10 in Fort Collins, Colo., taking on the Colorado State Rams.
After heading to Las Vegas to take on UNLV on Oct. 17, the Utes have a rare three-week homestand against Air Force, Wyoming and New Mexico.
Utah’s game against the Cowboys will be held on Halloween.
The last three weeks of the season will see the Utes travel to Fort Worth, Texas, to take on TCU and head 30 minutes south to take on rival BYU on Nov. 28.
As of now, 10 of Utah’s 12 scheduled games are set to play out on national television.
Kick-off times and TV arrangements have yet to be made for Utah’s non-conference road games against San José State University and Oregon, but will be announced by the host schools when the intangibles are sorted through.
