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With the 2021 season on the horizon, BeaversEdge.com is introducing all 12 of Oregon State's opponents over the course of summer.

Today, we dive into the seventh game of the season, a home matchup against the Utah Utes following a bye week...

Date: Saturday, October 23rd

Time: TBD

Location: Reser Stadium - Corvallis, Ore.

TV: TBD

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Oregon State 2020 Record: 2-5 (2-5 Pac-12)

Utah 2020 Record: 3-2 (3-2 Pac-12)

In the pandemic-shortened, conference-only 2020 campaign, Utah was only able to play in five contests, finishing with a 3-2 overall record.

After having the first two games of the season against Arizona & UCLA postponed, the Utes made their season debut against USC, falling 33-17. The Utes dropped their next contest to Washington 24-21 the following week, before rallying and closing the season on a three-game win streak.

With the Arizona State game postponed, the Utes defeated Oregon State (30-24), Colorado (38-21), & Washington State (45-28) to close the season on a high note.

Finishing the season with a ton of momentum figures to benefit the Utes greatly heading into this next season. Like most schools, they brought back a fair amount of guys, and when you combine that with how solid of a program they have, I expect the Utes to be at the top of the Pac-12 South again...

Best Win: vs Colorado on Dec. 12 (38-21)

Worst Loss: @ Washington on Nov. 28 (24-21)

Heading into the 2021 campaign, I'd expect the Utes to be fighting to be near the top of the Pac-12 South once again this season.

If there's been a constant in the history of the Pac-12, it's that Kyle Whittingham will almost always have his Utes playing really good football.

Case in point this last season... even in a year where there's a ton of uncertainty across the board, Whittingham still managed to steer his group to a winning record. Given how the season started for them, that's a testament to his coaching prowess.

In terms of what the Utes will look like this season, I'd say it's more of the same as what we've seen from them the past few seasons. Utah will pride itself on the defensive side of the ball, making life as physical and difficult as possible on that side of the ball while not taking too many risks on offense.

That recipe should be good enough to have Utah in the upper echelon of the south and I expect them to end up with somewhere around eight wins...

Key Players: QB Charlie Brewer - QB Cameron Rising - OL Nick Ford - WR Britain Covey - LB Devin Lloyd - DB Clark Phillips III

Season Projection: 8-4

Perhaps this is the year where the narrative is different, but it seems every season the matchup against Utah is just that, a bad matchup for the Beavs.

The Utes typically boast a strong defense that features great play from the defensive line to the secondary and it's given OSU issues in the past. Utah hangs its hat on being a very physical defense each and every season and this year is no different.

The Beavers did play Utah a lot closer last season, nearly escaping Salt Lake City with a win without their starting running back and quarterback, but came up just short in a six-point loss.

Could the Beavers get over the Utah hump and spring an upset win over Kyle Whittingham and Co.? Sure. But I see this as one of the Beavers' toughest games of the season matchup-wise and I see them coming up just a little bit short.

Utah 27, Oregon State 21

Week 6 vs Washington State

Week 5 vs Washington

Week 4 vs USC

Week 3 vs Idaho

Week 2 vs Hawaii

Week 1 vs Purdue

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