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Utah has arrived at the first of two bye weeks this season with a 4-1 record.
After a 34-10 loss against Texas Tech in late September, the Utes bounced back with a 48-14 victory at West Virginia to head into the bye week off a win for the first time in three years.
The Utes — dealing with injuries to a few key players — will rest and recuperate this week before embarking on the second half of the schedule, starting with Arizona State next Saturday at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
The loss to Texas Tech leaves the Utes with little margin of error in the conference title race, but as October begins, Utah still has all of its preseason goals in front of it.
With the Utes at about the midseason point, let’s take a look at five key stats that paint the picture of Utah’s 2025 season to this point.
84%
What a difference a year has made in the red zone.
Last season, the Utes were plagued by red-zone inefficiency, ranking No. 45 in scoring in the red zone (87%). In terms of scoring touchdowns in the red zone, the Utes were near the bottom of the FBS — getting in the end zone just 48.7% of the time.
The red-zone woes were high on the list of things for new offensive coordinator Jason Beck to fix when he arrived in Salt Lake City, and through five games, he has done just that.
Utah ranks No. 18 nationally in red-zone scoring percentage, scoring at least three points in all but one of 25 trips to the red zone. Even more encouraging is the percentage that the Utes are scoring touchdowns inside the 20-yard line — 84% of the time. Just six other teams nationally have a higher red-zone touchdown percentage than the Utes.
Beck’s play-calling — and Dampier’s execution — has been good in the red zone.
“We take red zone very seriously,” Dampier said. “If we get all the way in there, seven points is more than three. So big emphasis to make sure that we score when we get in there.”
90.4
Defensive end John Henry Daley has not only been Utah’s best defensive player through five games, but one of the best in the nation.
Daley’s 90.4 Pro Football Focus defensive grade ranks No. 23 in the country among all defensive players. The BYU transfer, who waited behind Logan Fano and Van Fillinger last season, has certainly made the most of his starting opportunity.
Daley has registered at least half a sack in all five games in 2025 and currently leads the nation in total sacks with 6.5. Daley has 22 total quarterback pressures so far, which is tied for fourth in the nation, and his win rate (percentage of “wins” vs. blocking on non-penalty pass rush snaps) of 29.2% is the third-highest among defensive ends with at least 75 pass rush snaps.
Teams haven’t found a way to slow down Daley.
“How haven’t we seen him improve? He’s improved in every aspect of his game. He’s stronger. He’s a technician. I mean, he’s worked on his fundamentals and his techniques extremely hard,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “He’s got really good pass-rush skills as evidenced by, I think he’s still leading the nation in sacks.
“He’s a guy that has really, really polished up his game over the last year and really made himself into an exceptional player.”
76% and 242.6
Utah’s offensive line has mostly lived up to expectations.
The experienced front five have kept Dampier clean on 76% of his 167 dropbacks and allowed only three total sacks all season — tied for No. 9 in the nation. The offensive line has also been pivotal in Utah’s rushing attack, which has rushed for 242.6 yards per game — No. 13 in the country.
Utah’s offensive line is generating 3.5 line yards per rush — a metric that attempts to measure just how much yardage an offensive line generates on each rush — which is among the best in the Big 12 Conference.
Beck’s offense at Utah is a run-first attack, and when the Utes are able to run the ball effectively, success follows.
In all but one game this season, Utah has gained at least 242 rushing yards, resulting in four wins. The other game, against Texas Tech, featured a defensive line that outplayed Utah’s front. The Red Raiders held the Utes to just 101 rushing yards, stifling their rushing attack and forcing Dampier to beat them through the air.
The Utes were limited to only 3.3 yards per rush attempt, a drastic decrease from the 6 yards per rush they enjoyed heading into the game.
Against West Virginia, the Utes were back to their old ways in the run game, rushing for 242 yards (5.1 yards per carry).
If Utah’s offensive line can avoid a repeat of the Texas Tech game, Beck’s offense works well.
“When we’re running the ball like we were capable of, that’s when things open up for us,” Whittingham said.
21
If there’s one thing to nitpick about Beck’s offense, it’s been the lack of explosive plays through the air.
The Utes actually rank in the top 25 in plays of 10 yards or more (77 such instances), but rank No. 54 in plays of 20-plus yards (21). Narrow that down to “explosive” plays through the air, and Utah ranks No. 71 in pass plays of 20-plus yards (13) and No. 68 in pass plays of 30-plus yards (6).
In the loss against Texas Tech, the Utes had one play of 15 yards or more — a 44-yard pass from Dampier to tight end Dallen Bentley.
Against West Virginia, the Utes had six passes of 15 yards or more and five runs of 15 yards or more, utilizing the middle of the field much more and attempting a lot more intermediate and deep passes than a week ago.
For Utah’s offense to take the next step, it’ll have to string performances like that together against better defenses, but last Saturday’s 48-14 win was a step in the right direction.
“We know that that was something that hurt us in the last week and we needed to be able to push the ball down the field better,” Whittingham said.
“We did that this week. Receivers stepped up, answered the challenge. I thought we had a good scheme going in and the right dose of run and pass, play-action off the run game and tight ends were a factor,” Whittingham continued. “Again, Dallen Bentley continues to play good football for us.
“JJ Buchanan had a really nice touchdown grab, that first one. Ryan Davis has been good every game, and so yeah, the throw game really was in much higher gear this week than weeks past.”
52
Utah has missed 52 tackles this season, a number that the coaching staff views as unacceptable.
Improving tackling is one of the main priorities for Morgan Scalley’s unit.
“Tackling is something that we pride ourselves on. We work on it every week. This week will be no different. And we were very sloppy in that regard last week. Very sloppy,” Whittingham said after the Texas Tech game, where Utah missed 23 tackles.
Against West Virginia, there was marked improvement, with Utah missing 11 tackles — pretty close to Whittingham’s goal of single-digit missed tackles each week.
There’s still some issues for the Utes to work out coverage-wise on defense, but the group as a whole has been very solid through the first five weeks of the season.
They’ll be tested by an injury to starting safety Nate Ritchie, who has been filling in for injured safety Rabbit Evans. Freshman Nate Tilmon could need to step up, or the Utes could move Jackson Bennee to safety.
In case you missed it
The bye week arrives at the perfect time for the injury-riddled Utes, which are dealing with injuries to safety Ritchie, two-way player Bennee and starting defensive tackles Dallas Vakalahi and Aliki Vimahi, among others.
From the archives
Extra points
‘They trust me’: Ryan Davis stakes his claim as Utah’s WR1 with 107-yard game at West Virginia
This former Ute still feeling ‘blessed’ to be playing a ‘little kid’s game’
What Rich Rodriguez said after West Virginia’s loss to Utah, with BYU next on a short week