Month: September 2025

LARAMIE, Wyo. (ABC4 Sports) – It was an extremely slow start for the Utah offense Saturay night at Wyoming. But the Utes got it in gear in the second half to run away with a dominating 31-6 win over Wyoming to improve to 3-0 for the third straight year.

Devon Dampier led four consecutive touchdown drives in the second half, and No. 20 Utah beat Wyoming in the rivals’ first meeting since 2010.

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Dampier completed eight straight passes on Utah’s third-quarter scoring drives, finishing 27 of 41 for 230 yards and two TDs while adding 86 yards rushing. The Utes (3-0) scored on every second-half possession and finished with 311 yards on the ground.

Utes prepare for first trip to Wyoming in 15 years

“I wanted to see what our offense is built of. For us to not have a touchdown and then be able to come out after halftime and go 100 percent is awesome to see,” Dampier said.

NaQuari Rogers ran for a 1-yard TD to cap a 10-play, 83-yard drive to begin the second half.

On the next possession, Dampier engineered a 19-play, 80-yard march. On the final play, he dropped the ball after his dropback, picked it up and then threw a 8-yard scoring strike to Larry Simmons with 0:23 left in the third quarter.

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After an interception by Jackson Bennee, Dampier connected with JJ Buchanan for a 14-yard TD to make it 24-0 with 8:35 remaining.

Terron Kellman rushed for a 15-yard TD on fourth-and-1 with 4:23 to play for Wyoming’s only score. Utah answered with Hunter Andrews’ 11-yard scoring rush.

“Devon Dampier is really good … and they won both sides of the line of scrimmage, particularly in the second half,” Wyoming coach Jay Sawvel said.

It was the 84th meeting between the schools but the first in 15 years. Wyoming (2-1) has only played Colorado State more than Utah.

Early on, the prolific Utah offense was stymied by key mistakes. Most costly was Nate Johnson’s fumble that was forced by Desman Hearns and recovered by Andrew Johnson at the Wyoming 3 with 2:02 left until halftime.

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So, what was the big halftime speech? “Finish drives!” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham told his team.

Utes trounce Cal Poly 63-9 to improve to 2-0

The Utes had six penalties for 68 yards in the first half and many wiped away big plays.

Utah’s Dillon Curtis made a 43-yard field goal in the first quarter but missed two others and had one blocked by Anees Vyas just before halftime.

“Kind of a weird game. We had very similar yardage in the first half and second half, but very different results,” Whittingham said.

Ryan Davis, who transferred from New Mexico to Utah with Dampier, had a career-high 10 receptions for 91 yards.

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On an unsettled day of wind and rain, it took a half for Dampier and the Utes to settle in. The Utes may rise in the rankings but they have plenty to work on before beginning Big 12 play against Texas Tech next week. Fortunately for the Utes, their defense was stingy, limiting Wyoming’s Kaden Anderson to 108 yards passing. John Henry Daley had two sacks, doubling his total on the year.

“We want to make sure people know that we can dominate in the trenches and also on the back end as well,” Daley said.

The Cowboys had given up just one touchdown all season and corralled Utah for a half until Dampier wore them down. Wyoming ran just 57 plays to Utah’s 86 and was outgained 541 yards to 229.

Utah next hosts No. 21 Texas Tech next Saturday at 10:00 a.m. at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

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Charlie Kirk, a native of suburban Chicago and an influential young conservative closely allied with President Donald Trump, died Wednesday after he was shot at an event in Utah.

Trump confirmed Kirk’s death on Truth Social hours after he was shot.

“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead,” Trump wrote. “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie. He was loved and admired by ALL, especially me, and now, he is no longer with us. Melania and my Sympathies go out to his beautiful wife Erika, and family. Charlie, we love you!”

Kirk, who was born in Arlington Heights and attended Wheeling High School, was 31.

Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University, the college where the event was held, show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans, “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong.”

A single shot rings out, and Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as a large volume of blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators are heard gasping and screaming before people start to run away.

Tess Crowley/AP

A person suspected in Kirk’s shooting was brought in for questioning and subsequently released, said FBI Director Kash Patel.

“Our thoughts are with Charlie, his loved ones, and everyone affected,” Patel said in a post on X.

Trump also ordered flags at the White House, public buildings and grounds, and military posts to be flown at half-staff until Sunday.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker also responded to the shooting on X, calling the attack “horrifying.”

“Political violence has no place in this country and should never become the norm,” Pritzker wrote.

U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, a Republican, described the fatal shooting as a, “heinous act of political violence,” in a statement.

“Charlie was a husband and father to two young children before anything else. He did not deserve to die because of his ideological views. Elected officials, the media, and we as Americans must hold ourselves to a higher standard and work to ease the political tensions that have embroiled our nation. My prayers remain with Charlie’s family and loved ones in light of this tragedy,” LaHood said in the statement.

Former President George W. Bush released a statement through his presidential center’s X account, saying Kirk was killed while expressing his political views.

“Violence and vitriol must be purged from the public square. Members of other political parties are not our enemies; they are our fellow citizens,” the statement read.

Classes at the university were canceled and the campus was closed until further notice, the school announced. Students who were on campus were told to shelter in place until police can escort them off campus.

Kirk founded Turning Point USA, a conservative group with chapters at many high schools and colleges across the country.

Turning Point USA posted a statement on X confirming Kirk’s death and asking for prayers for Kirk’s family.

“May he be received into the merciful arms of our loving Savior, who suffered and died for Charlie,” the statement read.

Kirk was married to Erika Frantzve Kirk, a former Miss Arizona pageant queen. The couple has two children.

Last year, he spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. At the convention, he said Trump would reverse the “fake, pathetic, mutilated version of the American dream” that he said existed under former President Joe Biden.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

A spike in political violence

The shooting comes amid a spike in political violence in the United States across all parts of the ideological spectrum. The attacks include the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband at their house in June, the firebombing of a Colorado parade to demand Hamas release hostages, and a fire set at the house of Pennsylvania’s governor, who is Jewish, in April. The most notorious of these events was the attempted assassination of Trump during a campaign rally last year.

Pritzker acknowledged recent high-profile acts of political violence and blamed Trump for stirring up violence, using his decision to pardon people who were charged or convicted for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol as an example.

“We’ve seen other political violence occur in other states, and I would just say, it’s got to stop,” Pritzker said while addressing reporters. “And I think there are people who are fomenting it in this country. I think the president’s rhetoric often foments it.”

Former Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz, a Republican who was at the event, said in an interview on Fox News Channel that he heard one shot and saw Kirk go back.

“It seemed like it was a close shot,” Chaffetz said, who seemed shaken as he spoke.

Contributing: AP, Tina Sfondeles

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s campaign to turn down the nation’s political temperature has long stood out as a rarity in a Republican Party led by President Donald Trump.

But Cox’s commanding role as the nation grapples with the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk gives his calls to end the cycle of violent division a new prominence.

It also laid bare a sharp divide within the GOP over the way forward, even as prominent Democrats and some Republicans praised Cox’s performance before a national audience Friday.

Cox said Americans faced a decision: “Is this the end of a dark chapter of our history, or the beginning?”

Among those who count Cox as a close friend is Wes Moore, Maryland’s Democratic governor. Moore said he thought Cox had shown “the importance of being authentic.”

“Spencer Cox is Spencer Cox,” Moore told CNN on Friday. “And he doesn’t change depending on who the audience is, and he doesn’t change depending on who he’s standing in front of. And that’s one of the things I love about him most.”

“He’s just a deeply good human being,” he added, “and I’m thankful that in this moment of real tension in our country, that Spencer is helping to lead us through.”

Cox implored the country to dedicate themselves to end a cycle of violent division, echoing his longstanding calls for civility in the nation’s political discourse and urging people to “disagree better.”

“I desperately call on every American – Republican, Democrat, liberal, progressive, conservative, MAGA, all of us – to please, please, please follow what Charlie taught me,” Cox said Friday, sharing a lesson he recounted from Kirk: “Always forgive your enemies – nothing annoys them so much.”

While the governor has built a strong conservative record, he has faced at times sharp criticism from Trump-aligned Republicans. The disconnect raises the question of whether there is truly an audience inside the GOP for the type of message Cox has sought to deliver.

In 2022, as Cox was about to veto a ban on transgender youth athletes playing in girls’ sports, Kirk tweeted: “Utah Governor Spencer Cox should be expelled from the Republican party.” Cox wrote in his message to legislative leaders that he had tried “to err on the side of kindness, mercy and compassion.” Still, the legislature overrode his veto.

Steve Bannon, the Kirk and Trump ally, alluded to that veto on his “War Room” podcast Friday and called Cox “a governor who’s also known, I think, to be particularly obnoxious.”

“We don’t need a governor to step up and give us basically a political pep talk and a rally and ‘let’s just all come together,’” Bannon said.

Underscoring the divisions among conservatives, Utah Sen. John Curtis, a Republican, sounded similar notes to his state’s governor Friday on CNN.

“Somehow, as a society, we need to figure out how to turn down the dial,” Curtis said. “Every one of us, every morning, should wake up, look in the mirror, and see what we are doing in our own personal relationships.”

An outlier often at odds with Trump

Cox on Friday did not directly address Trump’s earlier suggestion of blaming the “radical left” for Kirk’s murder. Yet his words stood in stark contrast to the president’s.

Despite leading one of the nation’s reddest states, Cox has not followed most of the party in aligning himself closely with Trump.

Cox supported Marco Rubio in 2016 before switching his endorsement to Ted Cruz in the final stretch of the Republican presidential primary. At the time, he said he could not support Trump, saying: “He does not represent neither goodness nor kindness.”

A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Cox frequently spoke out against Trump’s behavior and rhetoric. He built a political brand that extended beyond party labels.

In the final stretch of his 2020 campaign for governor, Cox cut an ad with his Democratic opponent in which the two vowed to respect the outcome of the presidential election, and said they wanted Utah to serve as an example for the nation.

“Although we sit on different sides of the aisle, we are both committed to American civility and a peaceful transition of power,” Cox said in the ad.

He didn’t endorse Trump last year until after the assassination attempt on the then-former president’s life in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“Because of that miracle,” Cox said, “you have the opportunity to do something that no other person on earth can do right now: unify and save our country.”

Cox has spent years urging Americans to embrace a more civil approach to politics and disagreement.

As chairman of the National Governors Association, he launched the “Disagree Better” initiative aimed at encouraging civility. He’s filmed videos with Democratic governors to encourage Americans to disagree with each other without vitriol. One alongside Colorado Gov. Jared Polis featured Cox saying the two were “here to help save your family dinners.” Another, with Moore, featured the two discussing their love for basketball and joking about their own baldness.

“Politics is important, but it shouldn’t define us or destroy our relationships,” Cox says in the video.

Cox and Moore were together last week for a National Press Club lunch, where they discussed the inevitability of crises that governors face. Moore’s came last March, when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed. Cox’s came days after that conversation.

Moore said he reached out to Cox as soon as he heard about Kirk’s assassination, and the two have spoken every day since.

“I prayed for him,” Moore said. “And then I just told him, I said, ‘Listen, the only thing I ask is, just make sure you’re taking care of yourself, because your people are going to need you right now.’”

‘Log off, turn off, touch grass’

Cox on Friday also renewed his call for all Americans, particularly the nation’s youth, to disengage from social media and forge a connection with whom they agree and disagree.

“You are inheriting a country where politics feels like rage. It feels like rage is the only option,” Cox said. “Your generation has an opportunity to build a culture that is very different than what we are suffering through right now, not by pretending differences don’t matter but by embracing our differences and having those hard conversations.”

Cox described social media as “a cancer,” and urged those watching to “log off, turn off, touch grass, hug a family member, go out and do good in your community.”

That comment won the Utah governor plaudits from one of the Senate’s more liberal and online Democratic voices. Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz posted on X: “I know this guy is a Republican and all but I swear you could win all the electoral votes with this message in 28.”

Curtis, the Republican senator, said Cox’s urging of Americans to sign off social media was “one of the wisest things I think he said today.”

Cox also drew praise from conservative media outlets for his highlighting of Utah’s reaction to Kirk’s death. “There was no rioting. There was no looting. There were no cars set on fire. There was no violence. There were vigils and prayers and people coming together to share the humanity,” he said.

Moore, often mentioned as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender himself, said if Cox — who won a hard-fought 2020 gubernatorial primary — wants to run for the White House, he shouldn’t be underestimated.

“Anyone who thinks that his message could not resonate in the Republican Party, I think you’re underestimating the hunger the country has for unified leadership — for a person who brings us together rather than tearing us apart,” Moore said. “And I think you’re also underestimating Spencer Cox.”

LOGAN, Utah – Hundreds of Utah State University students still reeling from the assassination of Charlie Kirk came together at a tearful vigil hosted by the campus’ Turning Point USA chapter on Friday night.

“We just want to have our community come together in this really dark time,” Kaitlyn Griffiths, president of the school’s chapter, told Fox News Digital at the emotional and faithful tribute to the late conservative activist. “Especially something that happened so close to home for us. And we want to be able to gather and celebrate this man’s life.” 

The somber vigil comes two days after Kirk, the 31-year-old co-founder of the conservative student program Turning Point USA, was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University, the first stop on TPUSA’s The American Comeback Tour.

CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION: TIMELINE OF UTAH CAMPUS SHOOTING DETAILS ATTACK, MANHUNT FOR SUSPECT

Hundreds of Utah State University students gather for an emotional tribute following the assassination of Charlie Kirk in Logan, Utah on Friday, September 12, 2025.  (Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)

A heavy police presence was seen throughout the university as hundreds of mourners filled the campus to pay tribute to Kirk, with the vigil including prayers from the student body and a moving film featuring key moments in his career. 

“I’m a Christian,” Griffiths said. “I believe that Jesus Christ died for us, and Charlie Kirk believed in the same things. The thing that he always said he wanted to be remembered [for] was his courage and his faith, so we’re trying to focus our event tonight on celebrating his faith, and the man that he was, and how strongly and harshly he worked for the things that he cared for.” 

USU student Travis Ferraro echoed the same sentiments surrounding his Christian faith while attending the candlelight vigil, hosted on the campus’ quad. 

CHARLIE KIRK ANSWERED ‘HOW DO YOU WANT TO BE REMEMBERED’ LESS THAN 3 MONTHS BEFORE KILLING

Students gather for an emotional tribute to Charlie Kirk at Utah State University in Logan, Utah on Friday, September 12, 2025. (Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)

“I felt called by God to pray over everybody, and pray for their families and for everyone surrounding him,” Ferraro told Fox News Digital. “And also just to give a devotional, just about how to treat each other with kindness.” 

On Friday, authorities announced the arrest of 22-year-old Tyler Robinson in connection with Kirk’s murder. Robinson was taken into custody after a family member notified a friend that he admitted to the killing, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said in a news conference. 

However, Kirk remained at the forefront of mourners’ minds as students came together to celebrate his life and legacy while the sun set on USU’s campus.

VIGILS HELD ACROSS US AFTER ASSASSINATION OF CHARLIE KIRK: ‘WE MUST HEAL’

Libby Rasmussen, a student at Utah State University, attends a candlelight vigil for Charlie Kirk on the school’s campus in Logan, Utah on Friday, September 12, 2025. (Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)

“I am here because Charlie Kirk made a really big impact on my life,” Libby Rasmussen said. “I started watching him probably about 3 or 4 years ago when I was a senior in high school, and he’s just really shaped who I am, what I believe in [and] my values. I don’t think there’s anyone else on this earth like him.” 

Rasmussen went on to describe how Kirk impacted both her political and religious views. 

“Just him going around and preaching that the Bible is the way, and that you just have to believe in God and be faithful,” Rasmussen told Fox News Digital. “His faith was [unwavering], and that is what I really just want to carry along throughout the rest of my life as well.” 

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Hundreds of Utah State University students gather for an emotional tribute following the assassination of Charlie Kirk in Logan, Utah on Friday, September 12, 2025. Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital (Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)

Kirk is survived by his wife, Erika Lane Frantzve, and two young children. 

“I definitely believe in God,” Manny Chapa said. “I believe in Christ, and [Kirk] just stands behind that. And one of the last things he was able to preach, before his passing, was God. He was able to preach God while he was up on that stage. And it’s just beautiful to see a man like that.”

Fox News Digital’s Kyle Schmidbauer contributed to this report. 

The chairman of the board of supervisors in Johnson County, Iowa, said the county will defy an order from state Gov. Kim Reynolds to fly flags at half-staff in memory of Kirk.

The chairman, Jon Green, said in a post on Facebook last night that Kirk did not encourage inclusivity.

“I condemn Kirk’s killing, regardless of who pulled the trigger or why,” Green stated. “But I will not grant Johnson County honors to a man who made it his life’s mission to denigrate so many of the constituents I have sworn an oath to protect, and who did so much to harm not only the marginalized, but also to degrade the fabric of our body politic.”

Green said he made the decision under his own authority.

“Any blowback belongs to me alone, and I accept that,” he said in an interview with NBC News today.