“I’m just going to focus on us this week, our guys, our coaches, so I’m not going to give much thought on the opponent this week,” Utah’s head coach said weekly press briefing.
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham usually answers some questions about the Utes’ upcoming opponents in his weekly Monday morning press conference.
He didn’t this week.
Whittingham touched on the upcoming rivalry game between No. 23 Utah and No. 15 BYU in his opening statement by noting the statistical similarities between the two teams, but that was about the extent of his comments on the 2025 Cougars.
“Between the two teams, there’s a lot of similarities statistically,” Whittingham said. “Both rushing for roughly the same amount, throwing for roughly the same amount, scoring roughly the same amount. Defensively, there’s a lot of similarities as well, both in the upper third of the conference in most of the key stats and so should make for a great matchup.”
Utah is rushing the ball at a 248.2 yard-per-game clip, No. 8 in the country, while BYU is averaging 238 yards per game, tied for No. 11 in the nation. The Utes are gaining 211.5 yards per game through the air (tied for No. 87 in the country), while the Cougars are averaging 210.2 passing yards per game (No. 90). Utah ranks No. 16 in the nation with 39.5 points per game, while the Cougars rank No. 21 with 37.5 points per game.
Like Whittingham said, it’s the same story defensively.
Both teams are ranked in the top 20 in yards allowed per game (BYU 263.5, Utah 293.5), and the two rivals are right next to each other in points allowed per game (Utah No. 11 with 13.83 points and BYU No. 12 with 14.67).
The two teams separated by less than 50 miles are also top 20 in passing yards allowed (Utah giving up 153.7 per game, BYU giving up 159.3). The only category that BYU has a real edge in is rushing defense — BYU ranks No. 23, allowing 104.2 per game, while Utah has given up 139.8, tied for No. 61 in the country.
Saturday’s game in Provo is just the fourth time overall, and first time since 2009, that the two rivals have faced off while both ranked in the AP Top 25. With both teams excelling in most phases of the game, Saturday’s contest is expected to be close — ESPN’s matchup predictor gives the Cougars a 51% chance of winning, while Utah is favored by 3.5 points in Vegas.
That comment from Whittingham about the statistical similarities between the two teams is about the only one that you’ll get from him on this BYU team.
The longtime Utah coach and former BYU player declined to answer a question about Bear Bachmeier, the Cougars’ true freshman quarterback, at Monday’s press conference.
“You know, I’m just going to focus on us this week, our guys, our coaches, so I’m not going to give much thought on the opponent this week. And so really you have to ask them what they think of Bear,” Whittingham said.
Though he’s not speaking publicly about the 2025 iteration of the Cougars this week, Whittingham did give his thoughts on the rivalry as a whole now that the two schools are back in the same conference.
“I think it’s always been intense for sure, and conference implications certainly add to it,” Whittingham said.
Both teams enter the game with Big 12 championship and College Football Playoff hopes still alive, making this year’s rivalry game one of the more important ones in the series’ long history. Unlike when the two schools were in the Mountain West, however, the Big 12 has not slotted the rivalry game in the traditional spot on the last week of the season.
Last season’s game was played Nov. 9 — Utah played three more games after the rivalry contest — and this season’s game comes even earlier.
“I think in the past when we were in the Mountain West and the game being held in the last slot of the season, last game of the season, that added to it as well. As of right now, it’s not the case. What are we dead center, just about, in the season?” Whittingham said.
“And so I think it’s almost the same as it was when the Mountain West, when we were in there, but just not quite because the buildup throughout the entire year to having the last game is a little bit different than playing right in the middle, in my opinion.”
With the implementation of the transfer portal — about 50% of Utah’s roster is new, between incoming freshmen and transfers — there’s not as many players on this year’s team that have experienced the Utah-BYU rivalry as in decades prior, when players stayed for three or four years.
Utah’s most prominent player, quarterback Devon Dampier, is from Arizona and started his career at New Mexico. Obviously, he has no history with the rivalry game, but his coaches and players have educated him on what it means to the program, the fanbase and the state.
“I understand the significance of this game. We’ll be dialed into it for sure,” Dampier said.
Whittingham said the players that have previously played in the rivalry game “do a good job of educating the guys on what the rivalry’s all about.”
Utah will also have a short segment in today’s team meeting letting the newcomers know what the rivalry is all about.
“We also take a small segment in the team meeting on Monday, which will happen today, educating the new guys on little bit of the history. It’s not a long extensive thing, but just the history of the rivalry and more just the tradition and what’s happened in the past and just how on a national scene, it is one of the better rivalries in the country in my opinion,” Whittingham said.
Another chapter in the storied rivalry will be written this Saturday in one of the higher-stakes battles in Utah-BYU history, with the Utes trying to stay alive in the Big 12 title race and beat the Cougars for the first time in three tries.
Category: General Sports
