Utah News

Utah (3-0, 0-0) vs. Texas Tech (3-0, 0-0)

• Kickoff: Saturday, 10 a.m. MDT

• Venue: Rice-Eccles Stadium (Salt Lake City)

• Series: Texas Tech leads, 2-0. This will be the first game between the two teams in Salt Lake City. The Red Raiders won two games over Utah in back-to-back years in 1972 and 1973 in Lubbock, Texas, in their only previous meetings.

• Weather: Partly cloudy with temperatures in the high 60s at kickoff, rising to mid-70s by end of game.

The trends

For Utah: The Utes have outscored their opposition by an average of 45.7 points to 8.3 on their way to a 3-0 start and a top-20 ranking.

Two of those games have come on the road. Over Utah’s next six games, the team will play at home four times and leave the state of Utah just once.

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For Texas Tech: The Red Raiders have outscored their opposition by an average of 58 points (which leads the nation) to 11.7 on their way to a 3-0 start and a top-20 ranking, one spot behind Utah in the Associated Press Top 25.

Each of Texas Tech’s first three games have been played at their home stadium, Jones AT&T Stadium. During the next month, the Red Raiders will play three of the next four games away from home, including games at Utah, Houston and Arizona State, with a home game against Kansas mixed in.

What to watch for

Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff” will be in Salt Lake City for the game, and for good reason — this matchup has the potential to be the Big 12 game of the year.

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This will be one of the premier quarterback matchups in a league full of high-end signal callers, with Utah’s offense being led by Devon Dampier and Texas Tech’s by Behren Morton.

Dampier is more of a dual-threat and is in his first season with the Utes — through three games, he’s accounted for 826 yards (628 passing, 198 rushing) and eight total touchdowns, with no turnovers.

Morton, meanwhile, is more of a traditional drop-back passer, as he’s thrown for 923 yards, 11 touchdowns and one interception.

While there are going to be plenty of elements about Saturday’s game that will be intriguing to see how the two teams match up, the top storylines start with the quarterbacks.

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Key player

John Henry Daley, Utah DE: Going into the matchup, both Utah and Texas Tech are tied for 16th nationally in sacks per game, averaging 3.0 per contest.

Daley leads the Utes’ pass rushing attack — he is one of only three players nationally who has five sacks thus far in 2025, and his 38 sack yards lost leads the country. Last week in the win over Wyoming, his 15-yard sack on Kaden Anderson knocked the Cowboys out of field goal range early in the game.

While Morton is one of the college game’s more electric passers — he is tied for the national lead in TD passes — the numbers show he’s impacted by pressure.

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According to his Pro Football Focus grades, Morton’s passing grade drops from 90.0 with a clean pocket to 53.3 when he’s under pressure.

Another part of the Texas Tech offensive equation will be whether the Red Raiders can successfully run the ball. Texas Tech, despite losing running back Tahj Brooks to the NFL and USC transfer Quinten Joyner to injury, has averaged 219 rushing yards per game so far.

The Utes, meanwhile, are giving up 90 yards on average on the ground, and Daley leads Utah with 6.5 tackles for loss.

Quotable

“I think this is a big test, the measuring stick for the Big 12 — two teams that have played well early meeting up for a top-25 matchup, ‘Big Noon Kickoff.’ These are the kind of things you wanted. They have a great defense, but we have a great offense.” — Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton

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“It’s a nationally televised opportunity, and to have our program showcased on the ‘Big Noon Kickoff’ game is a big plus. We’ve had big games here before, so it’s nothing new to us, but anytime you have a chance to get in front of a national audience and have people get a chance to see our stadium and our MUSS and band and just the crowd and the hostile environment is a positive for us.” — Utah coach Kyle Whittingham

Next up

• Utah: at West Virginia

• Texas Tech: at Houston

Utah schedule

• Sept. 6 — vs. Cal Poly, W 63-9

• Sept. 13 — at Wyoming, W 31-6

• Sept. 20 — vs. Texas Tech

• Sept. 27 — at West Virginia

• Oct. 11 — vs. Arizona State

• Oct. 18 — at BYU

• Oct. 25 — vs. Colorado

• Nov. 1 — vs. Cincinnati

• Nov. 15 — at Baylor

• Nov. 22 — vs. Kansas State

• Nov. 28 — at Kansas

SPRINGVILLE, Utah (ABC4 Sports) – Next week the Ryder Cup will pit the USA against Europe. This week, the annual Friendship Cup golf tournament was contested. It’s a Ryder Cup like event that matches golfers from Scotland against a team from Utah.

The Scots and the Americans started the Friendship cup nearly a decade ago. The teams play matches in Scotland, then resume the match at Sand Hollow. But this year, before the Scots headed south, they played a friendly round at Hobble Creek golf course in Springville. And there’s nothing like that in Scotland.

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“It looks fantastic,” said Ian Gillanders. “Just first thing in the morning, the hills all around us, the trees. It’s just beautiful.”

“Absolutely beautiful,” said Stuart Wilson: “It’s a stunning morning here at Hobble Creek. I had a look at the website. It looks fantastic out there. And I know they’ve told us we’re in for a real treat, so we’re excited to get going and meet some of the members and play some golf. Really looking forward to our trip this week.

“Really looking forward to our trip this week,” said Allister Batchen. “First trip to play Hobble Creek. I have played Sand Hollow.”

“The first time to some of the mountain courses, it’s a real treat,” said Wilson. “This was certainly the first time they’ve played in America and certainly in Utah and going down to the desert. Of course, this is a totally different prospect. So I’m sure she’ll get a nice, pleasant surprise when they get there and enjoy the whole week.”

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When the competition moved south to Sand Hollow, the Scottish team came away with the victory. But this event is not about winning and losing.

“The winning is absolutely about friendships and relationships,” said Mark Leavitt. “I think if you talk to any of the Scots, you talk to any Americans and everyone feels like a winner.”

The golf week wraps up with the Charity cup. Celebrities and sponsors get to play with the Scottish players, and its become a great event.

“Oh, it is so fun to play with the guys from Scotland,” said Jay Schroeder. “And it’s grown. I mean, the first year there was about ten or 12 of them that came over and now there’s 32 and the teams that are from here, it’s just it’s a great event and they’ve raised a lot of money over the years and we have a blast. That’s, that’s the best part about it. They’re just good guys and we’re building friendships and doing some good work too.”

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“When you have a chance to associate with the good people here in this country and then add to all of our friends that are coming across the pond from Scotland,” said Gifford Nielsen. “It’s a pretty special situation just to listen to their accent and to hear the way they talk and to see the way they hit golf shots. It’s just a remarkable thing. It’s just so much fun, so enjoyable to be together and once again for a great cause.”

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This Devon Dampier special skill has made him transfer star for Utah Utes football originally appeared on The Sporting News

Utah is about to face its sternest test so far of the college football season when it takes on Texas Tech this weekend.

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Good thing the Utes have superstar quarterback Devon Dampier.

Dampier transferred from New Mexico and has changed everything for Utah.

The star quarterback is powering an entire offensive revival.

“Through three games a year ago, Utah had gone without a first down on nearly a quarter of its drives,” ESPN’s David Hale writes. “This season, it has happened only three times in three games. The difference is Devon Dampier, who has looked as at ease running his brand of dual-threat football in a Power 4 backfield as he did a year ago at New Mexico.”

Dampier has done it particularly well with one special skill: When he scrambles, he’s nearly unstoppable.

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“Dampier has racked up more than 800 yards of offense and accounted for eight touchdowns, and he has yet to turn the ball over,” Hale writes. “His skill set has made him particularly effective. He has already accumulated 80 yards on scramble plays, and three of his seven TD passes have come from outside the pocket. This will be his biggest test to date, but he’ll also be, by far, the biggest challenge for Texas Tech’s defense.”

Texas Tech counters with an offense that has been scoring early and often this season, led by QB Behren Morton and a host of talented receivers.

Utah’s defense will be the toughest one the Red Raiders have played, but from a neutral perspective, it’d almost be more entertaining if the Utes don’t slow down Morton much.

That would mean Dampier would have to keep up. And if he does, it could wind up going down as an epic duel.

MORE: Meet Jett Harrison, the youngest Harrison who may just be the best

Things to watch this week in the Big 12 Conference:

Game of the week

No. 17 Texas Tech (3-0) at No. 16 Utah (3-0), Saturday, noon ET (Fox)

The first meeting in more than a half-century between Texas Tech and Utah will be a Big 12 opener and a matchup of the league’s only ranked teams that are playing this week. Behren Morton and the Red Raiders piled up a lot of points in nonconference play, as did the Utes. Tech is the nation’s highest-scoring team at 58 points a game and has outscored opponents 154-0 in the first three quarters. Morton has 923 yards passing with an FBS-high 11 touchdowns while playing only 6 1/2 quarters. Utah and new QB Devon Dampier have averaged 45.7 points a game while the Utes also ranked eighth nationally allowing only 8.3 points, including only two TDs.

Utah also went 3-0 in its nonconference games last season when a preseason favorite in its Big 12 debut before going 2-7 in league play. Texas Tech won season openers in 1972 and 1973 in the only previous meetings against Utah.

The undercard

Arizona State (2-1) at Baylor (2-1), Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET (Fox)

Baylor’s Sawyer Robertson is the only Big 12 quarterback already with more than 1,000 yards passing. His 1,070 yards are more than twice the 527 for Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt, the preseason Big 12 offensive player of the year. Robertson has thrown 10 touchdowns, and Leavitt five to go with a league-high three interceptions. Arizona State last season won the league title and made the College Football Playoff in its Big 12 debut. The only time Baylor and Arizona State played before was in a 1990 season opener won by the Bears.

Impact players

— TCU’s Jordan Dwyer, a league newcomer after three seasons at Idaho, leads the Big 12 with 112.5 yards receiving per game. He has 14 catches for 225 yards and two touchdowns for the Horned Frogs (2-0), who host former Southwest Conference rival SMU for maybe the last time on Saturday.

— LJ Martin has had consecutive 100-yard rushing games for BYU (2-0), and is the Big 12 leader with 120.5 yards per game.

— UCF running back Jaden Nixon had a 96-yard kickoff return for a game-opening touchdown and added TD runs of 87 and 66 when the Knights (2-0) won 68-7 over North Carolina A&T in their last game two weeks ago. They now host North Carolina (2-1), which lost in Bill Belichick’s debut 48-14 to TCU.

— West Virginia safety Darrian Lewis has interceptions in back-to-back games.

Inside the numbers

Kansas (2-1), which plays its Big 12 opener against West Virginia two weeks after losing to Missouri, has won its last four games after open dates. … Oklahoma State (1-1) takes a 10-game losing streak against FBS opponents into its game Friday night against instate foe Tulsa. The Cowboys’ last game was a 69-3 loss at No. 6 Oregon on Sept. 6. … Colorado (1-1) and Wyoming play for the first time in 16 years. This will be only the 27th meeting overall in a series that dates to 1900 for the schools only a 150-mile drive apart. … Five Big 12 teams have open dates, including undefeated teams No. 12 Iowa State (4-0), Arizona (3-0) and Houston (3-0). Cincinnati (2-1) and Kansas State (1-3, 0-1 Big 12) are also off this weekend.