Utah

CU Buffs opponent preview: Behind healthy Cameron Rising, Utah favored to win Big 12 title

Published

1 year ago

July 4, 2024

CU Buffs opponent preview: Behind healthy Cameron Rising, Utah favored to win Big 12 title

A second consecutive trip to the Rose Bowl, on Jan. 2, 2023, could not have ended any worse for the Utah football team.

The 35-21 defeat against Penn State was disappointing, but losing quarterback Cameron Rising to a severe knee injury in the third quarter was devastating. Rising tore the ACL, MCL, MPFL and meniscus in his knee and wound up missing the entire 2023 season, which led to a subpar year for the Utes.

Now back in action, Rising and the Utes are bringing high expectations into this season.

This summer, BuffZone will preview each of Colorado’s opponents for the 2024 season and in this installment we look at Utah, which will visit Boulder on Nov. 16.

“Cam did not miss one minute of spring ball in any way, shape, or form,” head coach Kyle Whittingham told reporters after the Utes’ spring game in April. “He was back to his old self.”

That’s great news for Utah and not-so-great news for the Big 12.

Like CU, Utah is making the jump from the Pac-12 to the Big 12 and the Utes already have lofty goals. This week, the Big 12 announced the preseason media poll, with Utah projected as the winner. The Utes are likely to be a top-20 team in the preseason polls.

The Pac-12 champs in 2021 and 2022, Utah still went 8-5 last year (5-4 Pac-12), even without Rising. The Utes also played the 2023 season without star tight end Brant Kuithe. Running back Micah Bernard missed the last 11 games of the regular season with an injury.

It was no surprise that Utah’s offense dipped to 23.2 points per game last year, down from 38.6 in 2022.

Rising, Kuithe and Bernard are all back, though, and the Utes reloaded on the line and at receiver. Most notably, former Arizona star receiver Dorian Singer is in Salt Lake City after a down season at USC.

It all starts with Rising, though. He was the spark to Utah’s back-to-back Pac-12 title teams and he’s the unquestioned leader as the Utes join the Big 12.

Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham looks on from the sideline before the Las Vegas Bowl NCAA college football game against Northwestern, Saturday, Dec. 23, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

“Feeling strong,” Rising said after the spring game. “(I have) been accruing a lot of reps and it’s good to be out there with the guys making plays and watching them go.

“We’ve been throwing the ball as much as we can, just trying to get out there and get that chemistry.”

While Rising should help the offense take a leap forward, the defense looks to be as good as usual. A big reason why Utah still won eight games last year is that the defense held opponents to only 19.3 points per game (tied for 18th nationally).

Utah lost some key players from last year’s defense, most notably leading pass rusher Jonah Elliss, who was a third-round pick of the Denver Broncos in April. Safeties Cole Bishop (Buffalo Bills) and Sione Vaki (Detroit Lions) were also drafted.

Eight players who started at least five games are back for the Utes, however, six of them from the front seven.

Utah will need to find a replacement for Elliss (12 sacks), but ends Van Fillinger and Connor O’Toole have experience and could lead that charge. There will be changes at safety, too, but Tao Johnson, last year’s starting nickel, had a good spring after moving to the back of the defense.

Whittingham turned Utah into one of the best teams in the Pac-12, with four conference title game appearances from 2018-23 and there’s no reason to believe the Utes won’t be one of the better teams in the Big 12 this season.

Utah Utes

Head coach: Kyle Whittingham, 20th season (162-79)

2023 season: 8-5, 5-4 Pac-12; lost to Northwestern in Las Vegas Bowl

Series with CU: Utah leads 34-32-3

The Game

Who: Utah Utes at Colorado Buffaloes

When: Saturday, Nov. 16, time TBA

Where: Folsom Field in Boulder

Utah Utes linebacker Karene Reid (21) chases down Florida Gators quarterback Graham Mertz (15) during an NCAA football game on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)

5 Guys to Watch

RB Micah Bernard: A sixth-year senior, he’s played offense and defense in his career. Although he’s never been the full-time starter, he has rushed for 1,208 yards and seven touchdowns in his career, averaging 5.4 yards per carry. He also has 69 receptions for 620 yards and three scores.

TE Brant Kuithe: A seventh-year senior, he’s one of the best tight ends in the country when healthy, but he’s missed Utah’s last 23 games due to injuries. He was second-team All-Pac-12 three years in a row (2019-21) and has 148 career catches for 1,882 yards and 16 touchdowns.

LB Karene Reid: One of the top returning linebackers in the conference, Reid was second-team All-Pac-12 last year. He finished second on the team with 67 tackles, while also adding two tackles for loss, one interception and four pass breakups. He was first-team All-Pac-12 in 2022.

QB Cameron Rising: The 25-year-old, seventh-year senior is back after missing last year with an injury. A starter in 24 straight games from 2021-22, he threw for a total of 5,527 yards and 46 touchdowns (with only 13 interceptions) and rushed for 964 yards and 12 touchdowns in those two seasons.

DL Junior Tafuna: A preseason All-Big 12 selection, he had 17 tackles, three tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks last year. He was second-team All-Pac-12 three times and was the Pac-12 defensive freshman of the year in 2021.

Good to know

• Between Dorian Singer (USC) and Damien Alford (Syracuse), Utah added a load of experience at receiver. That duo has a combined 175 catches for 2,597 yards in college. Singer had just 289 yards last year at USC, but was an 1,100-yard receiver at Arizona in 2022. Alford caught 33 passes for 610 yards last year at Syracuse.

• Star linebacker Levani Damuni is expected to miss all or most of the season with a leg injury. He led the Utes with 87 tackles last season.

• In addition to Bernard, Utah returns last year’s second-leading rusher, Jaylon Glover, who had 562 yards and two touchdowns on 137 attempts. The Utes also added Idaho transfer Anthony Woods, who rushed for 1,155 yards and 16 TDs last year and earned first-team All-Big Sky honors.

• On Monday, Utah announced that defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley will be Whittingham’s successor when Whittingham, 65, decides to retire. Scalley, who was born in Salt Lake City and played for the Utes from 2001-04, has been on the staff since 2006. He’s going into his ninth season as coordinator.

• Punter Jack Bouwmeester was first-team All-Pac-12 as a sophomore last year. He averaged 45.5 yards per punt and landed 20 of his 55 kicks inside the opponents’ 2-yard line.

• Kicker Cole Becker, who played at CU from 2021-22, was 15-for-18 on field goals last year with the Utes, including a long of 51 yards. He missed the first three field goal attempts of his career, but has gone 40-of-48 (83.3%) since then, as well as 73-of-74 on extra points.

Portal movement

Utah lost 25 players to the transfer portal, but most of them were backups. The top two quarterbacks from last year – Bryson Barnes (Utah State) and Nate Johnson (Vanderbilt) – both left, but with Rising back that shouldn’t matter. The Utes did lose some starters, though, including leading rusher Ja’Quinden Jackson (Arkansas). Starting center Kolinu’u Faaiu (Texas A&M), starting cornerback JaTravis Broughton (TCU), as well as part-time starting receiver Mikey Matthews (California) also left. Of the 12 players coming in, receivers Dorian Singer (USC) and Damien Alford (Syracuse) and cornerback Kenan Johnson (Georgia Tech) are headliners. Receiver Taeshaun Lyons (Washington), tight end Carsen Ryan (UCLA) and running back Anthony Woods (Idaho) should also make some noise. Defensively, edge Paul Fitzgerald (Utah State), cornerback Cameron Calhoun (Michigan) and safety Alaka’i Gilman (Stanford) could all be impactful. Former Washington quarterback Sam Huard (Cal Poly) could be a nice addition, as well.

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How Utah overcame its worst defensive outing of the season to beat Baylor in decisive fashion

Published

8 hours ago

November 16, 2025

Press Room

How Utah overcame its worst defensive outing of the season to beat Baylor in decisive fashion

Kyle Whittingham most likely wouldn’t have believed it if he had been told prior to Saturday’s Big 12 bout against Baylor that Utah would go on to win by double-digits while giving up over 500 total yards, running 30 fewer plays and losing the time of possession battle by a difference of roughly 6 minutes.

Oh, and that the engine of his offense would be limited all night due to injury, requiring some in-game adjustments and faith in a true freshman quarterback to close out a must-have win on the road.

Those factors and obstacles made for one of the more unique outcomes Whittingham’s been a part of in his 24 full seasons at the helm of the Utes, who managed to overcome an abnormal defensive outing in a 55-28 victory over the Bears from McLane Stadium on Saturday.

“It’s the most unique win, I guess you could say in the the short term past,” Whittingham said after the game. “It was definitely a back and forth and defensively, we usually control things a little bit better.”

Indeed, Utah had been stout all season, allowing just 156.8 yards through the air per game going into Saturday’s matchup against the league’s top-ranked air attack.

The Utes caught some breaks early on but eventually let a few big plays slip through the cracks, leaving the door open for the Bears to hang in the first half despite a rough start from Sawyer Robertson. The nation’s leader in touchdown passes heading into Week 12 missed on eight of his first 11 throws — some of which were gimmes for someone of his talent — though he connected on a 64-yard bomb to Kole Wilson to get Baylor in field goal range, making it 21-10 in the second quarter, then hit Josh Cameron for a score in the final seconds of the first half after a perfect pass to Ashtyn Hawkins got the Bears within striking distance.

Utah’s pass rush was disruptive in key spots, though outside of a few stops in the red zone, the secondary had to try to keep up with Baylor’s plethora of talented receiving threats.

“That receiving core is outstanding, and the tight end (Michael Trigg), you’ll be seeing him play on Sunday for a long time,” Whittingham said. “But we got to do a little better job of winning more of the 50-50 balls.”

Just as Whittingham could’ve expected in the lead up to Saturday’s game that Baylor’s potent air attack would present quite the challenge for his defensive backs group, it would’ve been reasonable for him to think the Utes offense would have success on the ground much they like did through their first nine games of the season.

Even so, he probably didn’t account for three 60-plus yard scores being the difference makers.

Utah, which entered the game with 16 scoring drives of 10 plays or more on the season, didn’t need to worry about moving the chains with Wayshawn Parker and Byrd Ficklin ripping off chunk plays every time they touched the ball. Ficklin broke off a 67-yard score in the second quarter courtesy of some solid blocking up front, giving the Utes a spark while Devon Dampier took it easy due to an injury.

Parker’s turn came a few minutes later, as the sophomore back took advantage of Baylor putting just five defenders in the box with a 64-yard burst right up the middle, extending Utah’s lead to 28-10 with just over 4 minutes left in the first half.

Just like that, Utah went from 11 rushes for 43 yards in the first quarter to 19 for 179 at the halftime break. Baylor, though, racked up 362 total yards of offense, the most Utah had allowed in a first half since 2022, but had to settle for three field goal tries inside the Utes’ 25-yard line after failing to put the ball in the end zone.

Baylor finished with 563 total yards of offense — the most Utah’s allowed through its first 10 games — and ran 91 total plays to the Utes’ 59. Scooby Davis’ 65-yard interception returned for a touchdown in the first quarter probably skewed how the final stats looked, though the junior’s first touchdown of the season set the tone for the kind of night it was going to be for Utah.

Ficklin kept it rolling in the third quarter with an incredible individual effort on a 74-yard touchdown run, in which he shrugged off a tackle attempt from Bears safety Tyler Turner with a stiff arm to record the Utes’ longest rush of the season from scrimmage. That made it 35-20 in favor of the Utes after Robertson and company cut their deficit to eight on the previous drive.

The Utes continued to lean on their offensive line to get the job done in the trenches for the remainder of the second half. Between Ficklin and Dampier, Utah attempted just five passes after halftime, yet the Utes never relinquished control when it seemed like the Bears were ready to make a late push.

Led by Ficklin’s 166 rush yards, Utah tallied 380 yards on the ground while averaging 8.8 per carry. Parker crossed the 100-yard threshold for the third consecutive game, finishing with 129 on 15 attempts. As a team, the Utes went for over 200 rush yards for the fifth consecutive game, their longest such streak since 2018.

“That offensive line is a huge reason why we’re able to do that week in and week out,” Whittingham said. “Credit the way they played.”

Despite its inconsistencies all night, Utah’s secondary helped deliver the final nail in the coffin early in the fourth quarter with a second interception off Robertson, who got drilled on a nickel blitz by Jackson Bennee as his pass was picked off by Trey Reynolds, setting the Utes up on the Bears’ 9-yard line following a 31-yard return from the 6-foot-1 junior.

Utah scored moments later after Dampier swung a short pass out to Parker for his second touchdown of the night, making it 49-20 with just over 11 minutes left in regulation.

And so, in a game where Robertson throws for 430 yards and Baylor has two 100-yard receivers, plus a running back who had almost 100 yards on the ground, Utah’s knack for explosive plays wound up outweighing its defensive lapses and subsequently, keep the Utes’ College Football Playoff hopes alive with a decisive victory.

Even if it wasn’t the script Whittingham had drawn up in his head going in.

“There was a lot of back and forth there for a while, but we just kept, kept at it, and answered the bell every time,” Whittingham said. “A lot a lot of things in that game that both sides did well, but we did enough to get the win.”

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Country music star dead at 59 after mysterious illness and Utah arrest

Published

1 day ago

November 15, 2025

Press Room

Country music star dead at 59 after mysterious illness and Utah arrest

Country music star Todd Snider, known for his alt-country hits like “Alright Guy” and “Just Like Old Times,” has died following a battle with a mysterious illness. He was 59.

Snider passed away on Friday, according to an Instagram post shared by the singer’s record label, Aimless, Inc. Headquarters.

“Where do we find the words for the one who always had the right words, who knew how to distill everything down to its essence with words and song while delivering the most devastating, hilarious, and impactful turn of phrases?” the statement read.

“Always creating rhyme and meter that immediately felt like an old friend or a favorite blanket. Someone who could almost always find the humor in this crazy ride on Planet Earth.”

“He relayed so much tenderness and sensitivity through his songs, and showed many of us how to look at the world through a different lens,” the Saturday statement continued.

“He got up every morning and started writing, always working towards finding his place among the songwriting giants that sat on his record shelves, those same giants who let him into their lives and took him under their wings, who he studied relentlessly.”

Snider’s family previously revealed in a Friday statement that the singer was diagnosed with pneumonia during his stay at a hospital in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

After his condition worsened due to complications, the “Trouble” hitmaker was transferred to another facility.

At the time, the family requested that Snider’s fans “say a prayer, light a candle, roll one up, send strength, or just keep him close in your heart” during the tough time.

“You’ve carried him through so much over the years, and he needs that from all of us now more than ever,” the message continued.

His death comes shortly after his tour in support of his most recent album, “High, Lonesome and Then Some,” which released in October, was canceled earlier this month.

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The tour was axed after he was allegedly the victim of a violent assault in the Salt Lake City area, according to a Nov. 3 statement from his management team.

However, Snider was later arrested by Salt Lake City police after he caused a disturbance at the Holy Cross Hospital where he was being treated.

The singer was reportedly yelling and cursing at the hospital staff after they discharged him before he was apparently ready, per the Salt Lake Tribune.

He was charged with disorderly conduct, criminal trespassing and threatening violence.

Born and raised in Oregon, Snider’s musical influences were based on artists like Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark and John Prine.

He got his start in the music industry as a young artist signed to Jimmy Buffet’s record label, Margaritaville, which released his first two albums 1994’s “Songs for the Daily Planet” and 1996’s “Step Right Up.”

He went on to write songs for several major artists including Jerry Jeff Walker, Billy Joe Shaver and Tom Jones. He also co-wrote a song with Loretta Lynn that appeared on her 2016 album, “Full Circle.”

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Predictions: BYU, Utah defenses gear up to face league’s top QBs

Published

2 days ago

November 15, 2025

Press Room

Predictions: BYU, Utah defenses gear up to face league’s top QBs

Paging Jay Hill. Calling Hill.

TCU QB Josh Hoover is coming to town and needs your immediate attention.

Attention, Morgan Scalley. Summoning Scalley.

Baylor QB Sawyer Robertson is trotting onto the field and needs your instant focus.

There will be big-time throwing artists in the crosshairs of BYU and Utah defenders on Saturday when No. 13 Utah travels to Baylor and No. 12 BYU hosts the Horned Frogs in LaVell Edwards Stadium.

Leave these guys unchallenged and they can deliver big-time plays, standing in the pocket like statues in target acquisition, and they’re lethal.

Chase them, harass them, bring them down to the turf, or disrupt their comfort, and their artistry is impacted.

Robertson is No. 1.

In Waco, Robertson is the Big 12’s leading passer with 230 completions in 366 attempts, seven interceptions, 62.8% completion rate for 2,780 yards and 26 touchdown passes. His efficiency rating is 146 and he averages 308 yards passing per game.

Coming to Provo, Hoover, who diced BYU apart two years ago as a freshman, is the league’s No. 2-ranked passer. He has completed 219 of 335 passes with eight interceptions, a 65.4% completion for 2,690 yards, 23 touchdowns, an average of 298 yards per game and a 150 pass efficiency rating.

Hoover has almost twice as many TD passes as BYU’s Bear Bachmeier (12), and Robertson’s 26 touchdown passes are 11 more than Utah’s Devon Dampier (15).

Both have shown a penchant for struggling when pressured.

Hoover’s strongest performance of the 2025 season came on Sept. 20 against SMU, where he completed 22 of 40 passes (55% completion) for a season-high 379 yards and five touchdowns with just one interception. He also contributed 27 rushing yards on eight carries. This explosive outing powered TCU to a 35-24 victory and showcased his arm strength with multiple deep balls, earning him a 162.4 pass rating for the game.

Hoover’s most challenging game was on Sept. 26 at Arizona State, completing 20 of 32 passes (62.5% completion) for 242 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions. His rushing line was particularly rough at minus-38 yards on nine carries, which included multiple sacks. The lack of scoring production and turnovers contributed to a tight 27-24 loss, marking his lowest pass rating (113.5) of the season to date.

He also threw two interceptions that led to Kansas State scores in a four-sack loss on the road.

Robertson’s standout performance this 2025 season came on Sept. 6 against SMU, where he threw for a career-high 440 yards on 34 of 50 passing (68% completion) with four touchdowns and no interceptions. He also added 20 rushing yards on six carries. This game helped Baylor secure a thrilling 48-45 double-overtime victory, marking one of his two 400-plus yard outings and contributing to his FBS-leading passing yards total.

Robertson’s toughest outing was on Oct. 18 at TCU, when he completed 25 of 52 passes (48.1% completion) for 318 yards, two touchdowns and a season-high three interceptions. He managed just minus-12 rushing yards on four carries. The turnovers were pivotal in Baylor’s narrow six-point loss.

Both the Utes and Cougars are in dire need of wins this weekend. Utah is in survival mode — a third league loss would shut the door on a myriad of Big 12 and College Football Playoff opportunities.

The Cougars already used up their mulligan with a loss at Texas Tech last week, but still control their own destiny to Arlington and possibly a CFP bid.

These are the games Hill and Scalley are built for.

These are the kind of quarterbacks they like to scheme for, then wait and see if there is chaos and carnage.

This will be a fun Saturday, finding out if Hill and Scalley can create the QB havoc they so deftly love to design.