By Cody Soto
Sports Writer

Baylor football has signed a home-and-home series to play Pac-12 opponent Utah in the 2023 and 2024 seasons according to a release from Baylor Athletics Wednesday afternoon.

The Bears and Utes will meet on Sept. 16, 2023, in McLane Stadium, followed by a matchup on Sept. 14, 2024, at Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. This is the first meeting between the two teams.

“We are excited to begin a football series with Utah,” Director of Athletics Ian McCaw said. “The Utes have enjoyed considerable success on the national level including five 10-win seasons since 2003.”

Last year, Utah finished with a 9-4 record and recorded wins over UCLA, USC and Stanford in the regular season. The Utes captured the 2015 Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl title after running past Colorado State 45-10 on Dec. 20, 2014.

Baylor is 22-20 against Pac-12 opponents with the most recent series against Washington State in 2006 and 2008. The Bears knocked off UCLA 49-26 in the 2012 Holiday Bowl, and that is the last time Baylor has faced a Pac 12 conference foe.

Since then, the team has played teams in non-conference action from the American Athletic Conference, Southern Conference, Mid-American Conference, the Sun Belt Conference and the Southland Conference. An addition to non-conference scheduling could be beneficial for the team in the long run.

The two-time reigning Big 12 champions open the 2015 season against in-state opponent SMU on Sept. 4 in Dallas.