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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.


This week’s predictions

  • Indiana 42, Wisconsin 24
  • Texas A&M 31, South Carolina 14
  • Notre Dame 28, Pittsburgh 21
  • Cincinnati 31, Arizona 28
  • Kansas State 27, Oklahoma State 17
  • Arizona State 24, West Virginia 21
  • Alabama 28, Oklahoma 24
  • Texas Tech 42, UCF 13
  • Miami 33, North Carolina 31
  • Georgia Tech 35, Boston College 21
  • USC 27, Iowa 21
  • Virginia 31, Duke 17
  • Penn State 24, Michigan State 14
  • Ole Miss 38, Florida 31
  • Ohio State 42, UCLA 14
  • Georgia 28, Texas 24
  • Utah 38, Baylor 21
  • UNLV 28, Utah State 24
  • BYU 28, TCU 24

Last week: 11-5; overall 136-42 (.764)



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22-year-old arrested in Utah in connection to Las Vegas double-homicide

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22-year-old arrested in Utah in connection to Las Vegas double-homicide


LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Officials have identified a 22-year-old man as the suspect in a Las Vegas homicide case that killed two people in a Southern Highlands neighborhood.

Detectives say 22-year-old Ziaire Ham was the suspect in the case. According to officials, Ham was located on Tuesday, March 3, by the Ogden City Police Department and the Utah Highway Patrol.

Ham was taken into custody and booked into the Weber County Jail. Las Vegas authorities said he will be charged with open murder with the use of a deadly weapon and will be extradited back to the valley.

MORE ON FOX5: LVMPD corrections officer arrested on multiple felony charges

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The shooting occurred Monday night at the 11000 block of Victoria Medici Street, near Starr Ave and Dean Martin Drive.

According to police, officers were conducting a vehicle stop in the area when they heard gunfire. After searching nearby neighborhoods they found a car with bullet impacts with a woman and a toddler inside suffering from gunshot wounds.

The pair were transported to hospital where they later died. The Clark County Coroner’s Office identified them as Danaijha Robinson, 20, and 1-year-old Nhalani Hiner.



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Utah nonprofit creates events, experiences for disadvantaged children

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Utah nonprofit creates events, experiences for disadvantaged children


A simple moment watching a child laugh changed everything for Ivan Gonzalez.

Eight years ago, Gonzalez was working at the Ronald McDonald House when he had an idea to throw a birthday carnival for the kids staying there.

“Let’s do a carnival, birthday carnival for the kids,” he said.

MORE | Pay It Forward

What happened during that event stuck with him.

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“There I was watching this kid play whack-a-mole, just having a blast, laughing,” Gonzalez said. “And then I see his mom kind of with happy tears because he’s enjoying himself.”

That moment led to something bigger.

Gonzalez realized the experience shouldn’t stop with just one event or just one group of kids.

“I said, wait, we can do this not just for kids in the hospital,” he said with excitement.

So he started a nonprofit called Best Seat in the House, which creates events and experiences for children who often face difficult circumstances.

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“We provide events and experiences for disadvantaged kids,” Gonzalez said.

The organization serves children battling cancer and other medical conditions, refugee children, kids living in poverty, those in foster care and children with special needs.

“These kids grow up too fast,” Gonzalez said.

For Gonzalez, the mission is deeply personal.

“I grew up very poor,” he said.

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He remembers the people who stepped in for his family when they needed it most.

“The local church, we weren’t even a part of it,” he described. “My parents couldn’t afford Christmas gifts and I still remember the gifts they gave me. They didn’t even know me.”

Today, he hopes to create that same feeling for other children through his nonprofit.

“Kids live in poverty and they don’t know where the next meal is coming from, let alone going to a play or to a game,” Gonzalez said.

But for Gonzalez, the reward isn’t the events themselves, it’s the joy they create.

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“You can give me a billion dollars, all the money in the world,” he says as tears roll down his face. “I won’t trade these opportunitieskids just enjoying life.”

Because of his work giving back, KUTV and Mountain America Credit Union surprised Gonzalez with a Pay it Forward gift to help him continue creating those moments for kids across Utah.

For more information on supporting Best Seat in the House, click here.

_____



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‘Don’t release him ever. Please.’ Family of slain Utah teen calls for justice at parole hearing

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‘Don’t release him ever. Please.’ Family of slain Utah teen calls for justice at parole hearing


SALT LAKE CITY — Francisco Daniel Aguilar says he’s sorry for shooting and killing his girlfriend, 16-year-old Jacqueline “Jacky” Nunez-Millan, a Piute High School sophomore, in 2023.

But just as he did when he was sentenced, he didn’t have much of an explanation on Tuesday as to why he shot her not once, but twice.

“It just kinda happened. I was mad. And I stepped out (of my truck) and started shooting,” he said. “When I saw her fall, I just kind of panicked, I just went and shot her again.”

But Jacky’s friends and family members say even before she was killed, Aguilar already had a history of violence, and they now want justice to be served.

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“You don’t accidentally take a gun, you don’t accidentally grab a knife … you don’t accidentally shoot someone, those are all choices,” a tearful Rosa Nunez, Jacky’s sister, said at Tuesday’s hearing. “Keep him where he needs to be.

“Don’t release him ever. Please.”

On Jan. 7, 2023, Aguilar, who was 17 at the time, got into a fight with his girlfriend, Jacky, shot her twice and left her body near a dirt road outside of Circleville, Piute County. He was convicted as an adult of aggravated murder and sentenced to a term of 25 years to up to life in prison.

Because of Aguilar’s age at the time of the offense, board member Greg Johnson explained Tuesday that the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole is required to hold a hearing much earlier than the 25-year mark, mainly to check on Aguilar and “see how things are going.” Aguilar, now 20, is currently being held in a juvenile secure care facility and will be transferred to the Utah State Prison when he turns 25 or earlier if he has discipline violations and is kicked out of the youth facility.

According to Aguilar’s sentencing guidelines, he will likely remain in custody until at least the year 2051.

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During Tuesday’s hearing, Aguilar told the board that he was feeling “stressed out” during his senior year of high school. He said he and Jacky would often have little arguments. But their bigger fight happened when he failed to get her a “promise ring” around Christmastime, he said.

On the night of the killing, the two were arguing about the promise ring and other items, Aguilar recalled. At one point, he grabbed a knife and then a gun because, he said, he wanted to “irritate” and “scare” Jacky. According to evidence presented in the preliminary hearing, Aguilar and his girlfriend had been “trying to make each other angry” when Aguilar took ammunition and a 9mm gun from his father’s room and then drove to the Black Hill area in his truck with Jacky.

Jacky’s friend, McKall Taylor, went looking for her that night and found her. But after Aguilar shot Jacky in the leg, he began shooting at Taylor, who had no choice but to run to her car to get away. Her car was hit multiple times by bullets. Aguilar then shot Jacky a second time as she lay on the ground and Taylor drove away.

On Tuesday, Taylor’s mother, Lori Taylor, read a statement to the board on her daughter’s behalf.

“My innocence and freedom was taken from me,” she said.

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McKall Taylor says the “horrifying events of that night will forever play in my head,” and the sounds of Jacky screaming and the gunshots as well as the sight of Jacky falling to the ground, will never go away.

“Francisco is a murderer who has zero remorse,” her letter states.

Likewise, Rosa Nunez told the board that for her and her family, “nothing in our world has felt safe since” that night as they all “continue to relive this horrific moment.”

After shooting Jacky and driving off, Aguilar says he called his father and “told him I was sorry for not being better, for not making good choices, I told him that I loved him. I was just planning on probably shooting myself, too.”

His father told him that although what he did wasn’t right, “he’d rather see me behind bars than in a casket,” and then told his son to “be a man about it. … This is where you have to change.”

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Aguilar was arrested after his tires were spiked by police.

“An apology won’t fix what I did. I’ll never be able to fix what I did. But I want to say I’m sorry,” he said Tuesday. “I don’t even know how to fix what I did. I’m hoping I’m on the right track now.”

Johnson noted that Aguilar has done well during his short time being incarcerated. But that doesn’t change the fact “the crime was horrific,” he said.

The full five-member board will now take a vote. The board could decide to schedule another parole hearing for sometime in the future or could order that Aguilar serve his entire life sentence. But even if that were to happen, Johnson says Aguilar could petition every so often for a redetermination hearing.

The board’s decision is expected in several weeks.

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The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.



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