We have no clue at this point who's gonna be ranked and who isn't--look at Arizona State this year. Baylor too. And also BYU.
Getting Stanford as an OOC P4 opponent is right in the sweet spot. Relevant and beatable. I'll take it. We get the Utes at home and an entertaining lineup of B12 teams to go along with.
No idea how one projects the road schedule as "brutal" right now beyond the fact that its safer to assume no easy road games for BYU. Looking at recent history (last few years), every single one of those teams could be anywhere from excellent to mediocre to not great.
Maybe we luck out and get Arizona in November, where Tucson is way nicer than anywhere else. Another intriguing road trip if that plays out.
No clue as to strength of opponents. Slightly disappointed that there isn't road trip in Kansas, so no BBQ road trip this year, but beyond that, the schedule looks good.