The Red Rocks have announced their opponents for the next season, and it features plenty of familiar foes to help the team hopefully build toward a National Championship. Outside of the regular Pac-12 teams, they will also take on the following:
Penn State
BYU
Mardi Gras Invitational (LSU, Missouri and Stanford)
Michigan
Georgia
I’d like to see the team take on the likes of Oklahoma and Florida more, in the regular season. Utah’s had a rough time with those two at Nationals for a while, and maybe it’d be better to see them a bit more often. Utah has to take on defending National Champs UCLA just once in the regular season.
Also, per the official release form UtahUtes.com, here is an interesting change coming to the post season format:
After 25 years of a Super Six team final, the NCAA Championships is moving to a four-team final in 2019, which necessitated a change in the regional format (the 2019 NCAA Regional sites are at Michigan, Georgia, LSU and Oregon State). The regional meet will expand from a single meet to four meets in three days with a first round “play-in” featuring two teams on Thursday, Apr. 4, a second round with two four-team semifinals on Friday, Apr. 5 and a four-team final on Saturday, Apr. 6. The top 16 seeds will automatically qualify into the second round.
The top two finishers from each region will advance to the NCAA Championships in Ft. Worth, Texas, on Apr. 19-20.
It’ll be interesting to see how Utah adjusts to this change, as they’ve been good enough to get into the Super Six, but they’ve been sitting around 5th for a while. The question will be can they get into that “Final Four” of gymnastics programs for the title.
Here’s the full release with some more info on the schedule you can take a look at:
SALT LAKE CITY—The opponents and weekends are set for the 2019 Utah gymnastics season and Ute fans can look forward to some top-flight competition. In addition to their Pac-12 slate, the Utes will face three SEC and two Big Ten powers with showdowns against LSU, Georgia, Missouri, Michigan and Penn State. In-state rival BYU completes the non-conference schedule.
“The best way to prepare for the postseason is to go against nationally-competitive teams week-in and week-out, which is what this schedule is all about,” said Utah co-head coach Tom Farden. “That’s also why we scheduled a podium meet (The Mardi Gras Invitational in St. Charles, Mo.). Getting on podium before the NCAA Championships is critical in our preparation.”
The Mardi Gras Invitational on Feb. 15 is a quad meet featuring Utah, LSU, Missouri and Stanford. Utah (2015) and LSU (2016-17) are both recent runners-up at the NCAA Championships, while Stanford has qualified into nationals 16 times and Missouri in 2010.
Utah will open the season the weekend of Jan. 4-5 at home against the Penn State Nittany Lions, who are making their first appearance in the Huntsman Center since 2010. Utah’s other non-conference home meet is against Michigan the weekend of Mar. 1-2 in the annual “Senior Night” meet. Utah has non-conference road meets at BYU on Jan. 11 and Georgia on Mar. 15, in addition to the neutral-site Mardi Gras Invitational on Feb. 15.
The opponents, venues and weekends have been determined for Utah’s Pac-12 schedule as well, with the league office planning to announce the exact dates in September. It is Utah’s turn to host the most anticipated dual meet on the Pac-12 schedule with defending NCAA champion UCLA visiting Salt Lake City on the weekend of Feb. 22-24. Utah, which upset UCLA last year in Pauley Pavilion, placed fifth at the 2018 NCAA Championships. Other Pac-12 home dates include Arizona (Feb. 1-3) and California (Feb. 8-10).
After 25 years of a Super Six team final, the NCAA Championships is moving to a four-team final in 2019, which necessitated a change in the regional format (the 2019 NCAA Regional sites are at Michigan, Georgia, LSU and Oregon State). The regional meet will expand from a single meet to four meets in three days with a first round “play-in” featuring two teams on Thursday, Apr. 4, a second round with two four-team semifinals on Friday, Apr. 5 and a four-team final on Saturday, Apr. 6. The top 16 seeds will automatically qualify into the second round.
The top two finishers from each region will advance to the NCAA Championships in Ft. Worth, Texas, on Apr. 19-20.