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Utah Football Preparing For Tougher Test Against Baylor Bears

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Utah Football Preparing For Tougher Test Against Baylor Bears


SALT LAKE CITY – Head coach Kyle Whittingham and Utah Football turn their focus to week two and the Baylor Bears. This game will be a non-conference game but will also be Big 12 Homecoming weekend for the Utes and other members of the conference.

Week one provided Utah with a competitive environment to fine-tune execution before the competition increases in the coming weeks. The Utes scored 49 points while limiting the Thunderbirds to 0 on the scoreboard. They produced 513 yards total yards and gave up just 150 on the other side of the ball.

More importantly, it was a good welcome back for Cam Rising, Brant Kuithe, and the rest of the squad but now Utah Football’s season truly begins.

Utah Football preparing tougher test against Baylor Bears

If Utah’s week one contest against SUU was the welcome-back party, week two against the Baylor Bears is the reality check. This will be a much tougher matchup but more importantly, will provide a better picture of Utah’s potential this season.

“Much bigger challenge this week, we understand that,” head coach Kyle Whittingham said. “Baylor is a good football team, they’ve got good personnel, and they’re extremely well-coached.”

“We have to prepare the right way all week long, just like we do every single week and be ready for a fight because that’s what it’s going to be.” Kyle Whittingham on the Baylor Bears

Quarterback Cam Rising had a pretty efficient performance in his return to action on Thursday. He also recognizes that this will be a more difficult contest but feels confident in the guys around him.

“I think they’re a very sound football team and I think they’re going to be (very improved) this year,” Rising said of the Bears. “It’s going to be a good game, we’ve just got to be ready to go for anything they bring at us.”

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Utah needs more from the run game

This week will be much tougher competition. Utah has to maintain levels of efficiency & explosiveness while doing so against a better opponent. So, where can Utah make improvements going into week two?

“There were some things we could do better, as there is every single week,” Whittingham said. “I thought we ran the ball just ok. We had 185 yards rushing but we like to get that 5.0 yards a carry statistic and we were just shy of that.”

Top Five Takeaways From Kyle Whittingham’s Utah vs Baylor Press Conference

Utah’s run game should play a bigger role in the formula to success this weekend. The Bears finished as one of the worst defenses in all of college football last season. That has led to Dave Aranda taking over defensive coordinator duties, which could lead to schematic changes. Utah may need to rely on the run game if that’s what the defense dictates. At the very least, there will be a need for balance on offense as they figure out how to best attack the Aranda-led defense.

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“It was a throw-first game plan, I thought we ran the ball efficiently,” Andy Ludwig said. “Southern Utah was fully committed to stopping the run with 9-man boxes, which created a lot of 1-on-1’s which we were able to exploit.”

Still, Ludwig was encouraged by what he saw from the rushing attack, particularly from the specific components of it.

“I was pleased with Mike Mitchell, what he showed. Dijon Stanley out of the backfield whether as a receiver or running the ball, he did a lot of good things. I’ve got a lot of confidence in Micah Bernard, Charlie Vincent, and Jaylon Glover. And I think the offensive line is really going to be something special on this football team.”

Cleaning up mistakes, continue on a positive trajectory

Not only is there a desire for an improved run game there is also a desire to simply play cleaner football. The Utes had 6 penalties for 55 yards as well as two interceptions, two fumbles- which they recovered, and gave up 9 pressures in pass protection (only 2 on Rising).

“I think procedurally we could be better, we had a series where just kept going backward, kept shooting ourselves in the foot,” quarterback Cam Rising said. “Whenever you have that it’s just bad business, bad ball, and you can’t really have a successful drive when you’re doing that over & over. And then cleaning up a few protections to make sure we’ve got it as tight as we can get it would be great.”

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Eliminating self-inflicted mistakes is traditionally a significant part of a team’s improvement after week one. However, tightening up pass protections going into week two will be critical for Utah. Pass protection wasn’t bad against SUU but it could’ve been better and needs to be better against Baylor.

“I think we need improvement in every area,” Ludwig said. “I think I said at the conclusion of fall camp that I was confident in the direction of the offense and the improvement that we’ve shown but in no way are we comfortable. We had good work today and look forward to another day of work tomorrow.”

Utah Football Schedule

Utah will be back in action against the Baylor Bears for week two on Saturday.  You can find Utah football’s conference schedule here.

Steve Bartle is the Utah insider for KSL Sports. He hosts The Utah Blockcast (SUBSCRIBE) and appears on KSL Sports Zone to break down the Utes. You can follow him on X for the latest Utah updates and game analysis.

Take us with you, wherever you go.

Download the new & improved KSL Sports app from Utah’s sports leader. You can stream live radio, video and stay up to date on all of your favorite teams.

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Utah

911 recordings detail hours leading up to discovery of Utah girl, mother dead in Las Vegas

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911 recordings detail hours leading up to discovery of Utah girl, mother dead in Las Vegas


CONTENT WARNING: This report discusses suicide and includes descriptions of audio from 911 calls that some viewers may find disturbing.

LAS VEGAS — Exclusively obtained 911 recordings detail the hours leading up to the discovery of an 11-year-old Utah girl and her mother dead inside a Las Vegas hotel room in an apparent murder-suicide.

Addi Smith and her mother, Tawnia McGeehan, lived in West Jordan and had traveled to Nevada for the JAMZ cheerleading competition.

The calls show a growing sense of urgency from family members and coaches, and several hours passing before relatives learned what happened.

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MORE | Murder-Suicide

Below is a timeline of the key moments, according to dispatch records. All times are Pacific Time.

10:33 a.m. — Call 1

After Addi and her mother failed to appear at the cheerleading competition, Addi’s father and stepmother called dispatch for a welfare check.

Addi and her mother were staying at the Rio hotel. The father told dispatch that hotel security had already attempted contact.

“Security went up and knocked on the door. There’s no answer or response it doesn’t look like they checked out or anything…”

11:18 a.m. and 11:27 a.m. — Calls 2 and 3

As concern grew, Addi’s coach contacted the police two times within minutes.

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“We think the child possibly is in imminent danger…”

11:26 a.m. — Call 4

Addi’s stepmother placed another call to dispatch, expressing escalating concern.

“We are extremely concerned we believe that something might have seriously happened.”

She said that Tawnia’s car was still at the hotel.

Police indicated officers were on the way.

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2:26 p.m. — Call 5

Nearly three hours after the initial welfare check request, fire personnel were en route to the scene. It appeared they had been in contact with hotel security.

Fire told police that they were responding to a possible suicide.

“They found a note on the door.”

2:35 p.m. — Call 6

Emergency medical personnel at the scene told police they had located two victims.

“It’s going to be gunshot wound to the head for both patients with notes”

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A dispatcher responded:

“Oh my goodness that’s not okay.”

2:36 p.m. — Call 7

Moments later, fire personnel relayed their assessment to law enforcement:

“It’s going to be a murder suicide, a juvenile and a mother.”

2:39 p.m. — Call 8

Unaware of what had been discovered, Addi’s father called dispatch again.

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“I’m trying to file a missing persons report for my daughter.”

He repeats the details he knows for the second time.

3:13 p.m. — Call 9

Father and stepmother call again seeking information and continue to press for answers.

“We just need some information. There was a room check done around 3:00 we really don’t know where to start with all of this Can we have them call us back immediately?”

Dispatch responded:

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“As soon as there’s a free officer, we’ll have them reach out to you.”

4:05 p.m. — Call 10

More than an hour later, Addi’s father was put in contact with the police on the scene. He pleaded for immediate action.

“I need someone there I need someone there looking in that room”

The officer confirmed that they had officers currently in the room.

Addi’s father asks again what they found, if Addi and her mother are there, and if their things were missing.

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The officer, who was not on scene, said he had received limited information.

5:23 p.m. — Call 11

Nearly seven hours after the first welfare check request, Addi’s grandmother contacted police, describing conflicting information circulating within the family.

“Some people are telling us that they were able to get in, and they were not in the hotel room, and other people saying they were not able to get in the hotel room, and we need to know”

She repeated the details of the case. Dispatch said officers will call her back once they have more information.

Around 8:00 p.m. — Press Conference

Later that evening, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police held a news conference confirming that Addi and her mother, Tawnia McGeehan, were found dead inside the hotel room.

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The investigation remains ongoing.

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Ban on AI glasses in Utah classrooms inches closer to passing

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Ban on AI glasses in Utah classrooms inches closer to passing


AI glasses could allow you to get answers, snap photos, access audio and take phone calls—and now a proposal moving through the legislature would ban the glasses from Utah school classrooms.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said Kizzy Guyton Murphy, a mother who accompanied her child’s class on a field trip to the state Capitol on Wednesday. “You can’t see inside what the student is looking at, and it’s just grounds for cheating.”

Mom Tristan Davies Seamons also sees trouble with AI glasses.

“I don’t think they should have any more technology in schools than they currently have,” she said.

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Her twin daughters, fourth graders Finley and Grayson, don’t have cell phones yet.

“Not until we’re like 14,” said Grayson, adding they do have Chromebooks in school.

2News sent questions to the Utah State Board of Education:

  • Does it have reports of students using AI glasses?
  • Does it see cheating and privacy as major concerns?
  • Does it support a ban from classrooms?

Matt Winters, USBE AI specialist, said the board has not received reports from school districts of students with AI glasses.

“Local Education Agencies (school districts) have local control over these decisions based on current law and code,” said Winters. “The Board has not taken a position on AI glasses.

MORE | Utah State Legislature:

Some districts across the country have reportedly put restrictions on the glasses in schools.

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“I think it should be up to the teachers,” said Briauna Later, another mother who is all for preventing cheating, but senses a ban could leave administrators with tired eyes.

“It’s one more thing for the administration to have to keep track of,” said Later.

The proposal, HB 42, passed the House and cleared a Senate committee on Wednesday.

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Kalshi sues Utah over efforts to stop prop betting in the state

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Kalshi sues Utah over efforts to stop prop betting in the state


SALT LAKE CITY — A prediction market is suing Utah over plans to regulate proposition betting that it says would run afoul of federal regulations.

Kalshi is a New York-based prediction market that allows users to place “event contracts” on future outcomes and earn a payout if they are correct. Those transactions are regulated through the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, the company said Utah has plans to prevent the company from offering contracts in the state and asked the courts to block any enforcement that “interferes with the operation and function of plaintiffs’ futures market.”

“Plaintiff KalshiEX LLC believes the governor of Utah and the Attorney General’s Office of Utah will imminently bring an enforcement action against Kalshi with the intent to prevent Kalshi from offering event contracts for trading on its federally regulated exchange,” the complaint states. “Defendants have repeatedly represented that they believe Kalshi is operating unlawfully under Utah anti-gambling laws.”

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The lawsuit points to a couple of posts from Gov. Spencer Cox and an op-ed written by Attorney General Derek Brown in the Deseret News on Sunday. After Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Mike Selig announced that his agency would “defend its exclusive jurisdiction” over prediction markets last week, Cox took to X calling the markets “gambling — pure and simple.”

“They are destroying the lives of families and countless Americans, especially young men,” he wrote. “They have no place in Utah. Let me be clear, I will use every resource within my disposal as governor of the sovereign state of Utah, and under the Constitution of the United States to beat you in court.”

He followed that up last Thursday, saying Utah is “ready to defend our laws in court and protect Utahns from companies that drive addiction, isolation and serious financial harm.”

In his op-ed, Brown argued that prediction markets are “the newest iteration of gambling” and said he didn’t see a difference between betting and trading futures.

“Although traditional sports betting apps are illegal under Utah law, these platforms argue that they merely allow users to hedge their risk,” he wrote. “But what is the real risk to hedge when you are simply predicting whether LeBron James will score more or less than another player? It’s simply a bet, dressed up in different clothing.”

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The lawsuit also comes as the state Legislature is advancing a bill that would clarify that proposition betting — or betting placed on specific players or events during games — falls under the state’s definition of gambling, which is prohibited by the Utah Constitution. HB243 has passed the House and a Senate committee and is awaiting consideration on the Senate floor.

But Kalshi says its contracts are lawful thanks to a carveout in Utah’s anti-gambling laws that allows for “lawful business.” Its lawsuit claims Kalshi’s attorneys made “multiple attempts” to contact Brown about potential action against the company but were “met with silence, even though the Utah AG had previously been willing to communicate with counsel.”

Asked about the lawsuit on Tuesday, Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said he is “standing with the governor on this one.”

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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