Utah
Will the Utah Utes win the Big 12 in 2025?
With just about three months to go until the 2025-26 college football season, a clear-cut favorite to win the Big 12 title at this stage of the offseason has yet to emerge.
It might just be that the league isn’t as top-heavy as some of the other power conferences around the country. Even then, parity should make for an intriguing conference championship race to monitor all throughout the regular season.
According to nationally-acclaimed analyst Phil Steele, the Big 12 could see a three-way tie atop the league’s standings. Utah, Baylor and Iowa State are projected to share the league’s regular season title in Steele’s preview of the conference, followed by Arizona State, Texas Tech and Kansas State in a tie for second place.
Steele has the Utes’ offensive line ranked No. 1 in the league, with three of its members featured on his all-conference teams. Spencer Fano is listed on Steele’s All-Big 12 First team as expected, while Caleb Lomu appears on the second team and Tanoa Togiai on the fourth team.
The Utes have another four on the defensive side of the ball mentioned on Steele’s All-Big 12 teams, including Landon Barton, Logan Fano, Dallas Vakalahi and Smith Snowden. Utah’s defensive units have received high praise from Steele, with its linebacker corps ranking No. 1 and its defensive line and defensive backs coming in at No. 3, respectively, among the Big 12’s other units.
Notably, Utah’s skill position groups weren’t as highly rated in Steele’s preview. The Utes’ running back room is ranked No. 10 in the Big 12 by Steele, while their wide receivers come in at No. 12. Utah’s quarterback room, headlined by New Mexico transfer Devon Dampier, is ranked as the fourth-best in the Big 12.
It’s anyone’s guess as to how the Big 12 will shake out in 2025. ESPN’s FPI projects Kansas State finishes atop the standings, with Arizona State, BYU, Kansas and TCU rounding out the top five. Granted, the FPI’s win projection totals aren’t separated by much — BYU, Kansas, TCU and Baylor all fall in the 8-9 win range.
In a year without a dominant preseason favorite to win the Big 12, perhaps an opportunity to rise to the top is upon the Utes this upcoming season.
MORE UTAH NEWS & ANALYSIS
Utah
Here’s who will lead Utah Valley University as its next president
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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