Utah’s perfect 5-0 start has the Utes looking sharp and rising to No. 11 in the AP Top 25. That unbeaten record appears dominant on paper. Yet the strength of the teams they beat tells a much different story. Urban Meyer has noticed the gap and raised a pointed question about playoff readiness.
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“And this is where I get pissed. I get so pissed off about this that… and I love Utah. I’m a Utah guy. At some point, you better start looking at schedules, boys. I mean, you cannot say that,” Urban Meyer said on The Triple Option show.
Utah’s early success has pushed the team into the College Football Playoff conversation alongside other rising Big 12 teams like Texas Tech and BYU. The main issue now is clear. Should the committee just reward an unbeaten record, or should it examine the quality of the opponents behind those wins? Meyer believes the selection process should pay much closer attention to schedule strength.
“If the college football committee, and I love Utah, they haven’t played a soul. So I just, when I hear that, I’m like, get ready for awful games for the next decade if we do this,” the former head coach added.
Meyer coached the Utes in 2003 and 2004. During that time, he helped build the program into a stronger force, including a Mountain West title and a Fiesta Bowl appearance. He visited Utah’s fall camp in August 2026 and spoke to the team under head coach Morgan Scalley. His criticism is about playoff standards, not the program itself.
Utah’s opening results raise questions about the level of competition. On September 3, the Utes beat Idaho 66-14. Idaho is an FCS team, so the win was lopsided against a lower-division opponent. On September 12, they defeated Arkansas 43-10. Arkansas was not viewed as a leading national contender at the time.
On September 19, Utah shut out Utah State 33-0. Dominant scores like these show the team can win big, but they do not automatically prove readiness for high-level playoff games. Meyer’s point is that easy early wins leave some doubt.
The conference schedule offered a different kind of test. Utah won 31-17 at Iowa State on September 26. Iowa State sat as a mid-tier Big 12 team. On October 10, the Utes beat Kansas 41-24. Kansas was around 2-3 at the time. These results kept Utah unbeaten, yet Meyer’s argument looks at the overall quality of the schedule, not just the fact that the team keeps winning.
Utah still has road games at Colorado and home dates against Houston and BYU. Those matchups will give us all a clear idea about where the Utes actually stand. However, there are reasons Utah’s early schedule looks the way it does.
The Big 12 builds the conference rotation, and this year’s slate skipped both Texas Tech and Arizona State. Schools also like starting with home games. Those games bring in ticket money, cut down on travel, and give players a chance to settle in. For a first-year head coach like Morgan Scalley, an easier opening can help the team build some confidence.
Utah is not the only undefeated team drawing scrutiny. Texas Tech beat Abilene Christian, an FCS program, early and later edged Houston. BYU rolled Utah Tech 63-7 and then won 17-10 at TCU. Records can look the same on paper while the opponents behind those records do not. Meyer has made the same point about Indiana this season. He does not see this as only a Utah issue.
Since last year, the committee has used updated schedule tools and a record strength metric. The idea is to give more credit for beating good teams and less for beating weak ones. Some people want the committee to explain its biggest ranking moves more clearly and to lean harder on the schedule numbers it already has.