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SALT LAKE CITY — August 27 is slowly creeping closer. A month and a half is all that separates the state of Utah and college football. Camps will be starting in less than a month and now is the time to start looking at the schedule for each local team.
This week the experts at KSL.com will look at three specific games. The games that will make or break their season. They are commonly referred to as "swing games." They can be at any time or any opponent.
Exactly what swing games will be brought up through the week as it is up to the writer. They could look at swing games as the biggest game of the year. It could be a trap game. Maybe it is just a last chance to show their school belongs in a bowl. However they decide and define it, this week is the first look at the schedule as the dog days of summer roll on.
Swing games of the past:
An easy way to look at these swing games is to look at some of the past swing games. Here are a few for each school over the past few seasons. The swing games aren't big games in the sense that something happened. They are big because anything could happen.
Looking bad is a little rough because hindsight is 20/20, but here is a look back at the swing games in the past two years.
BYU
Last season BYU had Boise State on the "Smurf turf" and that could have been the game to push them into a ten-win season or fighting for a bowl berth. The Utah game was the week before and that is always huge. The Cougars only had five days to prepare for Boise.
A win could have given the offense confidence and they could have either regained or kept their momentum early on in the season. Another big one last year would have been the Notre Dame game. The Fighting Irish weren't always highly ranked, but a trip to South Bend will test any team. This could have been a statement game that they could have won, nearly did.
In 2011 there was two big ones. They ended up losing both, but visiting the Texas Longhorns and hosting TCU gave the Cougars had a chance to make a statement. Landmark games and games that could go either way. Season defining wins and losses.
UtahUtah's run of swing games has been a little different since moving to the Pac-12. There have been important games to win and important games just to see how they fare with the big boys. Their first Pac-12 game, Sept. 10, 2011, was visiting USC. USC had just about every accolade they could handle and it was Utah's chance to show they could hang.
The other big game in 2011 was their first home Pac-12 game against Washington. The first game back after the BYU game and the chance to show off the MUSS to a Pac-12 team. A third swing game that year could be the Pitt game on the road. Essentially one non-Pac-12 school in the heap of their schedule.
In 2012 the tune had changed a bit for the Utes. Their first swing game was probably Utah State. The Aggies were coming up and BYU was the week after. Could they focus on the task at hand?
Hosting USC was a second and their final swing game was Colorado on the road. The Colorado game was mostly because their loss in 2011, but they had to show they could beat the lowly Pac-12 schools.
Utah State
The Aggies have been spending time the last two years building their name. In 2011 they had their biggest chance visiting the defending National Champion Auburn Tigers. It was week one and the Aggies were going to make a statement. It probably wasn't about winning ultimately, but about showing they could fight.
After that game the only other game was probably BYU in Provo. A true swing game that year would have been Fresno Stat as that would be the game that probably would have decided the WAC championship.
2012 was a bit different. Sights were set on the WAC championship and leaving their mark. Sweeping the state of Utah — SUU, Utah and BYU — would have been sweet, but really it was winning the championship and taking momentum into the Mountain West.
The reigning WAC champions Louisiana Tech has a high-flying offense and would be hosting their game. Without Fresno St. and Boise State in the WAC it was essentially a fight between the two for the title. The other big game was visiting Wisconsin. Most of the other games didn't seem that important in the grand scheme.
Again, these aren't perfect. It might have been a little different coming into the season, but as well as it can be remembered this is the type of game to look at.
What are these teams going to be looking at this year? Check back everyday this week starting Tuesday with BYU.
