Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham and his Utes face the UCLA Bruins to open the 2025 college football regular season. Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

Utah's Kyle Whittingham suggests interesting change to college football calendar

Originally posted on Utah Utes on SI | By Cole Forsman | Last updated Aug 29, 2025 9:25 AM ET

Aside from the anticipation of Week 1, scheduling has been a hot topic in college football lately — whether it's the College Football Playoff committee's stance on metrics as part of its postseason selection process, or the SEC finally moving to a nine-game conference schedule after years of pondering whether to make the change.

As long as the sport's most influential people are debating how the calendar should work, Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham has a suggestion potentially worth bringing to the table: NFL-like preseason games.

"If I was going to say, what would I absolutely prefer is probably to have a lesser opponent that you can find out who you are early on," Whittingham says after being asked whether he'd face a power conference foe or an FCS team to start the season. "But I don't know if college is going to ever go to preseason like the NFL — and that wouldn't be a bad idea, in my opinion, to have a couple preseason games that don't count on the record."

College football has never carved out time for exhibition contests like the NFL does for its preseason slate, though, given the obstacles some programs face while scheduling due to conference realignment, perhaps some programs wouldn't mind the idea of having more opportunities to face worthy competition without worrying about the penalties a loss would typically bring to their résumé.

Entering his 21st season as a head coach, Whittingham understands the line he and his squad walk when they take on a power conference team like the Bruins out of the gate.

"A team like UCLA, as opposed to an FCS, will get your players attention right away," Whittingham says. "They've been pointing toward this game since last January, essentially, so it's a little more of an attention-getter in that respect."

Saturday's matchup in Pasadena, California, will mark Utah's third season opener outside of Salt Lake City since 2008, and it'll be the fourth time since 2011 that Whittingham and company kick off a new campaign against a power conference opponent.

"There's pros and cons, and it's a level playing field," Whittingham says. "I mean, UCLA is in the same boat. So I don't know if there's a preferred way."

Kickoff between the Utes and Bruins is set for 8 p.m. local time/9 p.m. MT on Fox.