Will games like Utah vs. Weber State start to disappear? Kyle Whittingham thinks so

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SALT LAKE CITY — University of Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham has not been shy in recent months about what he believes to be the future of major college football.

His thinking is essentially that super conferences are inevitable. What exactly that looks like, including how many super conferences and how many teams in each is anyone's guess, but in future years, Whittingham believes the sport will be unrecognizable from what it is today.

"I thought it was trending that way for about 10 years ago. That was my impression and my opinion," Whittingham said on July 31 as the Utes opened fall camp. "I think each year we take another step toward that. I think it is inevitable.

"The timetable for super conferences, who knows? Three years, five years, seven years, but I believe that is the direction things are headed."

If such a notion in fact comes to fruition down the road, much of the current Power Five will be labeled as winners, but there will be plenty of losers, too. One such example of a potential super conference loser will visit Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday.

FCS power Weber State will face the 12th-ranked Utes in a game that will pay the Wildcats $600,000 just for showing up according to the game contract, acquired by KSL.com via FOIA request, regardless of the outcome.

Games like this, an FBS vs. FCS matchup that includes a one-time payout to the FCS program, are a staple of every September in college football. For the FCS programs, those one-time payouts are often counted upon to help with an athletic department's bottom line.

If Whittingham's super conference assertion is correct, Weber State will one day need to figure out another way to help fund its athletic department.

"I think, ultimately, they'll go away," Whittingham said earlier this week during his normal Monday press conference. "I think, ultimately, when you get your super conferences, they'll only play each other, and that's going to be to the detriment of lower-level teams."

As a point of reference, there are 118 FBS vs. FCS games this season. Of the matchups that include one-time payouts to the FCS teams, they range from Hawaii paying Albany $150,000, up to Notre Dame paying Tennessee State $1 million, believed to be the highest FBS vs. FCS payout this season.

"I just think that's where it's heading, and the super conferences will be their own deal, and everyone else will do what they want to do," Whittingham said. "I believe that's where it's heading."

Weber State does not play FBS teams every year, but it does play them. Beyond Saturday, Weber State will play Washington in 2024, Arizona in 2025, and Utah again in 2029, a game that will pay the Wildcats $672,000.

Through 2030, the Utes have five FCS games scheduled, all of them against in-state teams, Weber State (Saturday, 2029), Southern Utah (2024), and Utah Tech (2028, 2030). Those five games will cost Utah approximately $3.05 million.

The four games beyond Saturday all have buyout clauses if Utah were to try and terminate a contract, something Utes athletic director Mark Harlan has said in general terms a number of times that he does not want to do.

There is not believed to be anything imminent in terms of Utah buying out a contract, but as the latest round of conference realignment showed, anything and everything is on the table at times of upheaval, which is exactly what Whittingham's super conference vision would be.