Utah will play a Thursday night game in Pullman next fall.

The Pac-12 announced Monday it had moved three games from their normal home on Saturdays to a weeknight. Two Washington games were impacted, as was Utah’s Oct. 29 trip to battle Washington State on the road.

That game is now scheduled for Oct. 27.

Utah has won three straight against the Cougars overall, but it hasn’t played in Pullman since the 2018 season, and it hasn’t won it Pullman since the 2011 season (just two games).

The Utes will be coming out of their bye week ahead of the matchup with Washington State, so it shouldn’t affect the team’s recovery schedule nearly as much as it would if they were given a short turnaround after another game week.

It’ll also give the Utes an extra two days of prep/recovery before facing Arizona the following week, on Nov. 5.

From a football standpoint, it seems like one of the better scenarios to drop in a weeknight game on the schedule, even if the prospects of playing on a non-traditional day against a team with a proclivity for weirdness might carry a bit of spookiness with it.

When the Pac-12 announced the 2022 league schedule last December, the announcement noted that several games could be moved from Saturday to Friday, in consultation with the Pac-12’s television partners.

In addition to the Utah-Wazzu game being moved, the Pac-12 also moved Washington-UCLA and Washington-Oregon State both from a Saturday to a Friday.

Kickoff times for the first three weeks of the season and most non-Saturday games are expected to be announced during the summer. Here’s the new Utah schedule:

  • at Florida (Sept. 3)
  • vs. Southern Utah (Sept. 10)
  • vs. San Diego State (Sept. 17)
  • at Arizona State (Sept. 24)
  • vs. Oregon State (Oct. 1)
  • at UCLA (Oct. 8)
  • vs. USC (Oct. 15)
  • BYE
  • at Washington State (Thursday, Oct. 27)
  • vs. Arizona (Nov. 5)
  • vs. Stanford (Nov. 12)
  • at Oregon (Nov. 19)
  • at Colorado (Nov. 26)