Utah
Utah vs. West Virginia picks, predictions for college football Week 5 game
A pair of Big 12 teams looking to get back on track clash in Morgantown, West Virginia, on Saturday, as Utah and West Virginia square off coming off disheartening losses.
While the Utes strive to put a 24-point defeat to Texas Tech behind them, the Mountaineers hope to completely wash away their lackluster outing against Kansas in their league opener, setting up an intriguing battle between two teams that need to get back in the win column if they want to keep pace in the ultra-competitive Big 12 title race.
Several outlets and media personnel have phoned in their picks for the Week 5 matchup at Milan Puskar Stadium. It’s worth noting, though, that the following predictions have been made without confirmation of the health status of some key players on both sides, namely, West Virginia running back Tye Edwards.
Here’s a look at how a few prognosticators foresee the Utes-Mountaineers matchup playing out.
Bleacher Report’s David Kenyon, after predicting the Utes would beat the Red Raiders last week, has Utah edging out a 7-point win on the road in Week 5 to move to 4-1 on the season.
Kenyon’s prediction forecasts a much closer contest on Saturday in comparison to some of the other picks on this list.
After simulating the outcome of the Utes-Mountaineers matchup over 10,000 times, Dimers.com’s model gives Utah an 83% win probability, while West Virginia has a win probability of 17%.
ESPN’s matchup predictor has been more favorable to the Utes since the start of the season, and that trend continues heading into Week 5 as Utah boasts a 72.2% win probability rate over West Virginia.
The Utes, who previously had the upper hand in five of their 12 regular-season games heading into the 2025 campaign, according to ESPN analytics, are now the algorithm’s favorite to win six of their final eight Big 12 contests, with the exception of road trips to BYU (29%) and Kansas (38.1%).
Bill Connelly’s SP+ model, a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measurement of college football efficiency, grants the Utes an 83% chance of beating the Mountaineers on the road. Connelly’s metrics-based formulas have accurately predicted three of Utah’s four games so far this season, with the exception of last week’s Texas Tech game.
Technically, Odds Shark’s computer predicts the Utes will score 33.6 points against the Mountaineers. But that’s not possible, thus the slight round-up.
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Jon Anderson will be charged with moving the Orem school forward following the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk on campus last year.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Incoming UVU President Jon Anderson poses for a photo with his family after an event announcing his selection at Utah Valley University in Orem on Friday, July 17, 2026.
Utah
Beaver County residents set up thousands of sandbags ahead of flashfloods
BEAVER COUNTY, Utah — A massive community effort is underway as volunteers and Beaver County crews distribute thousands of sandbags to protect homes from the potential path of floodwaters.
After the Cottonwood Fires, residents have been waiting for weeks for relief to come in the form of rain, though officials now warn it may come all at once with an increased risk of flooding and debris flow.
Emergency Service Director Les Whitney believes that the fire has left plenty of debris to bring trouble for residents.
“We got a lot of water. We’re bringing debris with it, so tree branches, tree limbs, logs, lots of different size firewood, and that’s all in the creeks. We’re worried about that plugging up our bridges and stuff, so we have heavy equipment and excavators located in strategic places so that we can keep those bridges open,” said Whitney.
An estimated 140 homes and condominiums were spared from the flames, but remain in the paths of floodwaters.
Residents can also pick up sandbags at the Beaver County Sheriff’s Office or at the Beaver County Rodeo Fairgrounds.
Utah
Utah man arrested again for allegedly abusing dog twice in three months
EAGLE MOUNTAIN — An Eagle Mountain man currently on pretrial release in 4th District Court who is accused of abusing his dog has been arrested again for allegedly punching the same animal.
Keith Reaves Davis, 43, was booked into the Utah County Jail on Wednesday for investigation of aggravated cruelty to an animal.
Utah County sheriff’s deputies were called Wednesday afternoon to a grocery store on a report that a man was beating his dog after it had gotten off its leash and was stopped by a bystander, according to a police booking affidavit.
“I reviewed security camera footage from the grocery store, and an individual matching the description of the suspect was seen holding the dog in the air by one paw and repeatedly striking the dog on the right hind leg area. I observed the male strike the dog several times before dropping the dog from approximately 1-2 feet. The strikes appeared to be as hard as the male could hit,” the arresting deputy wrote in the affidavit. “The dog did not cry out or whimper as if the dog was accustomed to the abuse.”
When questioned, Davis “admitted to striking the dog because it was not behaving,” the affidavit states.
An animal control officer who responded to the scene to take custody of the dog noted it was the same dog he had taken from Davis exactly three months earlier during another animal abuse investigation.
In that case, Davis was charged in 4th District Court with aggravated cruelty to an animal, a class A misdemeanor; and public intoxication, a class C misdemeanor, after deputies received a tip from a neighbor that a dog was being abused at Davis’ home, according to charging documents. When questioned, Davis “acknowledged hitting his dog as punishment,” the charges state.
Deputies also reviewed videos that the neighbor had filmed. The neighbor told investigators “there was blood from the dog on the ground of the garage and (the neighbor) can hear the dog screaming as if it’s being hurt. Deputies got the videos from the (neighbor) and you can hear very loudly the dog screaming and crying with a lot of loud banging noises. In one of the videos, you can hear the dog sounding like it is being choked by a collar and is grasping for air,” a police booking affidavit states.
Davis’ next court hearing in the April case is scheduled for July 28.
In their latest booking report, sheriff’s deputies note that they “believe further harm will be inflicted on this dog if it is released back to the male a second time,” and have recommended the dog not be returned to Davis.
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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