Kansas now has a clear picture of its first Big 12 road trip of the season.
The Jayhawks will visit Utah on Saturday, Oct. 10, with kickoff set for 9:15 p.m. CT at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. ESPN will carry the game nationally, marking Kansas’ first appearance on the network this season.
That trip comes a week after Kansas hosts Middle Tennessee on Oct. 3 for Family Weekend. That home game is scheduled for an 11 a.m. CT kickoff, so the Jayhawks will go from an early start one week to a late-night road environment the next.
The Utah game will be Kansas’ third night game of the year. The Jayhawks already played under the lights against Long Island and Missouri, but this one brings a different feel: a conference road game in one of the Big 12’s most recognizable venues.
Utah enters at 4-0 and sits No. 13 in the national rankings. The Utes opened Big 12 play with a 31-17 win over Iowa State on Sept. 26 before heading into their bye week. Kansas is 1-2 and still has Middle Tennessee ahead before making the trip west.
The series history tilts slightly toward Utah, which leads 3-2. The Utes have won the last three meetings, including a 31-21 win over Kansas in Lawrence last season. This will be the sixth matchup between the teams and Kansas’ first visit to Salt Lake City since 1996.
Utah has also announced a whiteout for the game, with fans encouraged to wear white for the conference matchup.
With the start time locked in, Kansas can now map out Week 6. First comes Middle Tennessee, then a ranked Utah team and the Jayhawks’ first Big 12 road test of the season.
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Kansas case, though, is still built on a few moving parts. Parrishs view points to a blend of returning pieces and incoming talent as the foundation, but the picture is not fully settled yet with eligibility questions still hanging over some players. For a program that expects to be talked about in the national title picture every year, even a preseason ranking can feel like a small referendum, and this one suggests the Jayhawks have already reentered the kind of debate their fans love to win. [Read more 🡒]