Utah Preview
(Note: this article was written before the news on Sam Leavitt being downgraded to doubtful on ASU’s injury report tonight)
A former Pac-12 foe is now a Big 12 opponent, and aside from moving to a new conference with ASU, not much has changed in the typical Utah program DNA, which assures the emblematic difficult road game for the Sun Devils in Salt Lake City.
Utah Offense
With the long, storied college career of quarterback Cam Rising having reached its end, Utah needed to turn the page at the position for 2025, and through their transfer portal efforts, the Utes were able to acquire one of the nation’s most dynamic dual-threat QBs in Scottsdale Saguaro High School graduate Devon Dampier.
Dampier, one of several transfers from New Mexico to follow offensive coordinator Jason Beck from UNM to Utah this offseason, excelled in 2024 for the Lobos, throwing for 2,768 yards and running for 1,166 yards with 31 combined touchdowns.
Thus far as a Ute, Dampier has completed 72.5% of his passes, throwing for 1,027 yards, 258 rushing yards, 11 passing touchdowns, two rushing touchdowns, and three interceptions.
Dampier, who had six 100-yard rushing games last season, including a 207-yard performance and a 193-yard outing, hasn’t had quite the dominant ground numbers so far, as he’s had excellent days of 87 rushing yards against UCLA and 86 against Wyoming, but he’s been held to 33 or fewer net rushing yards in the other three games.
The primary knock on the dynamic Dampier’s game, however, remains ball control issues. He threw 12 interceptions for New Mexico in 2024, and the two picks he threw in Utah’s loss earlier this year to Texas Tech contributed greatly to the Utes’ defeat in that ballgame.
In Saturday’s game, of course, Dampier will stand across the sidelines from his high school head coach in ASU assistant Jason Mohns, who had a legendary career coaching at Saguaro High prior to joining ASU’s staff prior to the 2023 season.
At running back, Washington State transfer Wayshawn Parker and New Mexico transfer NaQuari Rogers have earned the most reps so far this season.
Parker leads the team with 280 yards on 42 carries (6.7 avg.) with three touchdowns, along with six receptions for 91 yards with two scores. Rogers has posted team highs so far of 59 carries and four rushing touchdowns, totaling 250 rushing yards, along with three receptions for 43 yards on the year.
The former Wazzu rusher has an impressive yards per carry average but hasn’t yet been used a ton, as he posted a season-high 11 carries in the opener against UCLA and failed to reach double-digit carries in three of five games so far.
On the other hand, Rogers has had double-digit carries in four of five games, including a season-high 16 versus UCLA in the opener.
At wide receiver, yet another New Mexico transfer leads the way for the Utes, as Ryan Davis has posted 36 catches for 348 yards with two touchdowns.
Davis is tied for 11th nationally in receptions and second in the Big-12 in the category behind ASU’s Jordyn Tyson (Tyson ranks sixth nationally), making Saturday’s game a contest featuring the conference’s two most productive receivers thus far in 2025.
In back-to-back weeks, Davis posted 10-reception games against Wyoming and Texas Tech, and the week after that, he notched his first 100-yard game of the year with a 107-yard effort against West Virginia.
Ranking second on the team in receiving is tight end Dallen Bentley, with 22 receptions for 246 yards, with a team-best three touchdown catches. Bentley has been a steady presence in the Ute offensive so far in 2025 as he’s recorded at least four receptions in four of the team’s five games.
Behind Davis and Bentley, however, Utah has struggled to find many additional potent receiving options, as no other players average even 20 receiving yards per game.
Utah has multiple two-way players on its roster this season, including Jackson Bennee and Smith Snowden, who are listed on the roster as defensive backs but have earned starts at wide receiver this season.
Snowden ranks third on the team with 13 receptions totaling 57 yards, with 40 rushing yards on eight carries with a touchdown, while Bennee has three catches for 18 yards and two rushes for 15 yards.
Per usual, Utah has an excellent offensive line, paced by perhaps the best pair of offensive tackles in the country in left tackle Caleb Lomu and right tackle Spencer Fano.
Fano, a 2024 First-Team All-Big 12 selection and a 2025 Preseason All-Big 12 pick, has 29 career starts entering this weekend, while Lomu, a graduate of Gilbert’s Highland High School, has 17 career collegiate starts. Like Fano, Lomu was also named a 2025 Preseason All-Big 12 selection.
Tanoa Togiai and Michael Mokofisi have started each game so far at left and right guard, respectively, while Jaren Kump has four starts so far this season at center. Mokofisi has 38 career collegiate starts, Kump has 33, while Togiai has 15 entering Saturday’s game.
Utah Offense Summary
Behind its dynamic quarterback, its stable of multiple talented rushers, and its pair of consistent pass-catching targets, though Utah may not have many ‘household names’ on its offense, the Utes tie for 18th nationally, averaging 39.0 points per game while also ranking 18th in total offense with 469.2 total yards per game.
The Ute line is stellar as usual, as Utah ties for sixth nationally with only three sacks surrendered on the year, while also helping the Ute run game to rank 19th nationally in team yards per carry (5.44).
Now then, the question remains as to whether Utah truly has a potent offense or if it has capitalized on a lackluster list of opponents outside Texas Tech, which handed Utah a 34-10 loss in Salt Lake City.
Saturday’s game is likely to be a proving ground in many respects for both teams involved, and we will probably learn the true identity of the Utah offense by the time the contest is complete.
Utah Defense
The starting Utah defensive line has typically consisted of Logan Fano and budding superstar John Henry Daley at defensive end, with Jonah Lea’ea at one defensive tackle position, with Dallas Vakalahi and Aliki Vimahi splitting starts at the other tackle spot.
A one-time BYU transfer, Daley had 10 game appearances with seven total tackles across the first two seasons of his college career but he has absolutely blown up in the early half of the 2025 season as he leads the Big-12 and ranks third nationally in sacks (6.5), while tying for fifth in the country and tying for the conference lead with 8.5 tackles for loss. He also has 25 total tackles and a team-high two forced fumbles – an achievement that helps him tie several others for seventh nationally.
Daley’s performances have not only been impactful but also consistent, as he’s had at least a split sack in each game so far and already has two multi-sack games.
Lea’ea has posted 17 tackles, including one for loss with a forced fumble, Fano has 10 tackles, including 3.0 for loss with a sack and a pass breakup, Vimahi has posted seven tackles, while Vakalahi has chipped in one tackle in three games.
At linebacker, veteran Lander Barton has been joined by Johnathan Hall in the starting lineup each game.
Hall leads the team so far with 26 tackles on the year, including one for loss, with an interception and two pass breakups, while Barton has posted 23 tackles, including one for loss, a share of a sack, a quarterback hurry, and a fumble recovery.
Defensive back Nate Ritchie has also started every game thus far, but is reportedly out for Saturday’s game due to injury. Ritchie currently ranks second on the team in total tackles (25) and tackles for loss (3.5).
Elsewhere in the secondary, Elijah Davis and Smith Snowden have started every game together as the team’s cornerbacks, with Tao Johnson having also started each game so far at safety. Jackson Bennee has also earned multiple starts in the secondary for Utah.
Bennee leads all Utah defensive backs with 20 tackles on the year and also has team-highs of three interceptions and three pass breakups. Only three FBS players in the country have more than the three interceptions picked off so far by Bennee.
Johnson has tallied 18 tackles, including 2.0 for loss, with an interception, Davis has 13 tackles, including a share of a tackle for loss, while Snowden has 11 tackles and a split of the team lead with three pass breakups.
Utah Defense Summary
Utah is ranked admirably on a national scale in multiple key defensive categories, as the Utes tied for 16th in scoring defense (14.6), ranked 18th in pass defense (159.6), 25th nationally in total defense (300.4), and tied for 25th in third-down defense (.313).
Though he’s far from the only playmaker on the Ute defense, ASU’s offensive line and overall blocking schemes will need to have a consistent set of answers for John Henry Daley, who at this point would have to receive strong consideration for the Big-12’s midseason defensive player of the year, if such an award existed.
ASU will need to protect the quarterback, run the ball with effectiveness and consistency, and, perhaps above all, greatly refine its execution when deep in opposing territory.
Utah Special Teams
Traditionally a standard bearer in terms of special teams success, Utah’s placekicking has been a big shaky this year as Dillon Curtis has connected on 5-of-8 field goal attempts and 24-of-25 extra point tries. Curtis’ issues, however, have really only come from one game as he was just 1-of-4 on field goal attempts against Wyoming.
Punter Orion Phillips averages 43.8 yards on 12 punts with a long of 58 yards.
In the return game, Rayshawn Glover averages 15.4 yards on five punt returns with a 51-yard return, while Jackson Bennee averages 34.3 yards on three kickoff returns with a 57-yard touchdown.
Overall Summary
Entering what will be the 36th all-time meeting between Arizona State and Utah, ASU holds a 23-12 all-time edge over the Utes but a narrow 7-6 margin since Utah entered the Pac-12 Conference in 2011.
Prior to last season’s Sun Devil win in Tempe, ASU had lost four straight and six of eight to Utah. Salt Lake City, the host of this weekend’s game, has been terribly unkind to the Devils for the past decade as ASU has lost three straight and four of its last five games at Rice-Eccles Stadium, with the most recent win coming in Todd Graham’s final season with ASU in 2017.
Guided by Kyle Whittingham, who with the early season firing of Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy now has sole standing as the second-longest tenured active FBS head coach behind Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, following last season’s losing record – the first for Utah since 2013 – the Utes were expected in the preseason to be a potential conference title game contender and this weekend’s game will go a long way to determining the viability of both teams’ chances of ultimately competing for the conference crown.
In Saturday’s game, quarterback play, ball control, and defensive playmaking likely will be key factors in what truly feels like a ‘fork in the road’ type of affair that could place the winning team among the conference favorites and the losing team into a backseat position in that race.
