Utah (3-0, 0-0) vs. Texas Tech (3-0, 0-0)
- Kickoff: Saturday, 10 a.m. MDT
- Venue: Rice-Eccles Stadium (Salt Lake City)
- TV: Fox
- Livestream: foxsports.com/live
- Radio: ESPN 700 AM/92.1 FM
- Series: Texas Tech leads, 2-0. This will be the first game between the two teams in Salt Lake City. The Red Raiders won two games over Utah in back-to-back years in 1972 and 1973 in Lubbock, Texas, in their only previous meetings.
- Weather: Partly cloudy with temperatures in the high 60s at kickoff, rising to mid-70s by end of game.
The trends
For Utah: The Utes have outscored their opposition by an average of 45.7 points to 8.3 on their way to a 3-0 start and a top-20 ranking.
Two of those games have come on the road. Over Utah’s next six games, the team will play at home four times and leave the state of Utah just once.
For Texas Tech: The Red Raiders have outscored their opposition by an average of 58 points (which leads the nation) to 11.7 on their way to a 3-0 start and a top-20 ranking, one spot behind Utah in the Associated Press Top 25.
Each of Texas Tech’s first three games have been played at their home stadium, Jones AT&T Stadium. During the next month, the Red Raiders will play three of the next four games away from home, including games at Utah, Houston and Arizona State, with a home game against Kansas mixed in.
What to watch for
Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff” will be in Salt Lake City for the game, and for good reason — this matchup has the potential to be the Big 12 game of the year.
This will be one of the premier quarterback matchups in a league full of high-end signal callers, with Utah’s offense being led by Devon Dampier and Texas Tech’s by Behren Morton.
Dampier is more of a dual-threat and is in his first season with the Utes — through three games, he’s accounted for 826 yards (628 passing, 198 rushing) and eight total touchdowns, with no turnovers.
Morton, meanwhile, is more of a traditional drop-back passer, as he’s thrown for 923 yards, 11 touchdowns and one interception.
While there are going to be plenty of elements about Saturday’s game that will be intriguing to see how the two teams match up, the top storylines start with the quarterbacks.
Key player
John Henry Daley, Utah DE: Going into the matchup, both Utah and Texas Tech are tied for 16th nationally in sacks per game, averaging 3.0 per contest.
Daley leads the Utes’ pass rushing attack — he is one of only three players nationally who has five sacks thus far in 2025, and his 38 sack yards lost leads the country. Last week in the win over Wyoming, his 15-yard sack on Kaden Anderson knocked the Cowboys out of field goal range early in the game.
While Morton is one of the college game’s more electric passers — he is tied for the national lead in TD passes — the numbers show he’s impacted by pressure.
According to his Pro Football Focus grades, Morton’s passing grade drops from 90.0 with a clean pocket to 53.3 when he’s under pressure.
Another part of the Texas Tech offensive equation will be whether the Red Raiders can successfully run the ball. Texas Tech, despite losing running back Tahj Brooks to the NFL and USC transfer Quinten Joyner to injury, has averaged 219 rushing yards per game so far.
The Utes, meanwhile, are giving up 90 yards on average on the ground, and Daley leads Utah with 6.5 tackles for loss.
Quotable
“I think this is a big test, the measuring stick for the Big 12 — two teams that have played well early meeting up for a top-25 matchup, ‘Big Noon Kickoff.’ These are the kind of things you wanted. They have a great defense, but we have a great offense.” — Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton
“It’s a nationally televised opportunity, and to have our program showcased on the ‘Big Noon Kickoff’ game is a big plus. We’ve had big games here before, so it’s nothing new to us, but anytime you have a chance to get in front of a national audience and have people get a chance to see our stadium and our MUSS and band and just the crowd and the hostile environment is a positive for us.” — Utah coach Kyle Whittingham
Next up
- Utah: at West Virginia
- Texas Tech: at Houston
Utah schedule
- Aug. 30 — at UCLA, W 43-10
- Sept. 6 — vs. Cal Poly, W 63-9
- Sept. 13 — at Wyoming, W 31-6
- Sept. 20 — vs. Texas Tech
- Sept. 27 — at West Virginia
- Oct. 11 — vs. Arizona State
- Oct. 18 — at BYU
- Oct. 25 — vs. Colorado
- Nov. 1 — vs. Cincinnati
- Nov. 15 — at Baylor
- Nov. 22 — vs. Kansas State
- Nov. 28 — at Kansas
