The oldest rivalry in Utah sports is back as Utah State and the University of Utah will meet on the gridiron for the first time since 2013. The 11-year gap is the longest span between games in the 132-year old series. USU will look to pull off a major upset over a team that’s a preseason Big 12 Conference favorite and a popular pick to make this year’s expanded College Football Playoff.
This is the third installment in a series of 12 opponent previews that will go in-depth on each of the Aggies foes for the 2024 football season. It includes input from Josh Furlong, the Sports Director of KSL.com who’s duties include covering the Utes as a beat writer.
Game Info
- Game Day: Sept. 14
- Location: Merlin Olsen Field (Logan, UT)
- Kickoff Time: 2:30 p.m.
Quick-Hit Info on Utah
- Head Coach: Kyle Whittingham (21st year at Utah, 162-79 record)
- 2023 Record: 8-5
- 2023 Offense Rank: 100th (23.2 points per game)
- 2023 Defense Rank: 19th (19.3 points allowed per game)
- Returning Production Rank — 43rd
- 2024 Preseason Consensus Ranking — 14th
History of Utah State vs Utah
- All-Time Series: Utah leads 79-29-4
- First-Ever Meeting: Nov. 25, 1892 (USU won 12-0)
- Most Recent Meeting: Sept. 11, 2015 (Utah won 24-14)
Utah Players to Watch
- Cam Rising (QB)
- Dorian Singer (WR)
- Brant Kuithe (TE)
- Junior Tafuna (DT)
- Connor O’Toole (DE)
- Karene Reid (LB)
The Utes in 2023
Last year kind of ended up as a wash for Utah since it started the year with outside shot expectations at a playoff bid. The main obstacle to that was Cam Rising not being healthy enough to return so the Utes were left with Bryson Barnes along with a sprinkling of Nate Johnson, neither of whom were really positive impacts on winning. As a result, Utah kind of functioned as the Pac-12’s version of Iowa — great defense, mediocre offense. The Utes were 19th in points allowed per game and 100th in points scored.
The struggles on offense didn’t keep Utah from rising from a preseason ranking of 14th to as high as No. 10 by late September. A loss to 19th-ranked Oregon State stopped the ascension further into the top 10 and began a slow decline out of the top 25. Utah took down No. 18 USC to stabilize things in Week 7 (and sent the Utes back to 13th in the AP Poll) but Utah then lost four of its next six games to end the year, including a 14-7 loss to Northwestern in the Las Vegas Bowl.
2024 Season Prospects
Last year the Utes were treading water in the Top 25. This year they’re expecting to be at or near the top, something Furlong noted is something the team is embracing.
“(The Utes) truly believe they’re a playoff-caliber team that can win the Big 12 and compete in the 12-team playoffs,” Furlong said. “They’re not shying away from those expectations, either, and want to be considered among the elite of the sport this season.”
Preseason rankings consistently place the Utes inside the top 15 and they’ve been a fairly popular pick to end up in the expanded College Football Playoff. A look at the 2022 team — that had a healthy Rising leading the offense — supports that since Utah ended that season inside the top 10, meaning they would have made it into an expanded playoff.
Rising’s health has been a discussion point for nearly a year but according to Furlong he’s as healthy as he’s been his whole career at Utah. At this point, the only concern would be another injury which the Utes will try to manage, especially relative to Rising’s notable scrambling ability (he had 964 yards and 12 touchdowns across the 2021 and 2022 seasons).
The reason to focus so much on Rising is that when he led the Utes’ offense, it was a powerhouse. In 2021 and 2022, Utah ranked 14th and 11th respectively in points scored per game (reminder, that rank was 100th last year without him) and those teams, paired with the always consistent Whittingham defenses, were the ones who were back-to-back Pac-12 champions.
While Rising will be the headliner (he’s certainly gotten enough talk so far in this preview), the talent around him on offense will be crucial to Utah’s success. According to Furlong, the offense has “upgraded” around Rising. One key addition is transfer wide receiver Dorian Singer, who moved from USC to Utah. Back in 2021, Singer put up 1,105 yards and six touchdowns while with Arizona. He then went to USC and managed just 289 yards despite playing all 13 games. Singer will once again be moving into the role of No. 1 WR and could be an impact player.
“Dorian Singer is going to garner a lot of attention,” Furlong said. “He’s already developed a strong connection with Rising and showed his potential during the Utah spring game.”
Singer isn’t the only talented pass-catcher that will be an addition to the 2024 offense. Tight end Brant Kuithe, although he has been a Ute since 2018, will add firepower the Utes didn’t have last year because, like Rising, Kuithe missed all of 2023. He actually missed a lot of 2022 as well, playing in just four games. In Kuithe’s last healthy season (2021) he caught 50 passes for 611 yards and six touchdowns, similar to his 2019 campaign where he had 34 receptions for 602 yards and another six touchdowns. Singer and Kuithe should form a dynamic 1-2 pass-catching punch.
Running back is a bit of a mixed bag with the Utes. There’s a lot of names but questions about who will emerge. Micah Bernanrd, who also missed significant time in 2023, should be back to potentially improve on the back-to-back 500-yard rushing seasons he had from 2021-22. Jaylon Glover, who played the RB2 role to Ja’Quinden Jackson — who transferred to Arkansas — last year could step into the top role.
Looking toward the defensive side, the Utes have some very good players they need to replace. Jonah Ellis is one of the biggest as he led the team with 12.0 sacks and 16.0 TFLs (despite playing only 10 games) and left to enter the NFL Draft (ultimately being taken 76th overall in the third round). Utah also lost a pair of safeties, Sione Vaki and Cole Bishop, who were both in the top five in tackles among their overall top-level impact for an elite defense.
There’s a host of potential players to replace those three defensive leaders, battles that have yet to be fully settled. In the defensive backfield Tao Johnson, Johnathan Hall, Nate Ritchie and Smith Snowden are all players who saw notable snaps last season and should be fully capable of stepping in and replicating most of what Vaki and Bishop brought to the table.
“This group shouldn’t take too much of a step back,” Furlong said, “but there will be some hiccups at times as they get more playing time.”
On the defensive line, there are yet another player who had their 2023 impacted by injuries that can bolster this year’s team. Connor O’Toole played in only eight games but had the second-most sacks on the team (4.5) and Logan Fano had 3.5 sacks in only five appearances. If they stay healthy it’ll give Utah yet another elite pass rush, though if they don’t it’s possible the Aggies could get to see more of their former teammate, Paul Fitzgerald, who transferred down to Salt Lake in the offseason.
Regardless of who the Utes lost, it’s worth keeping in mind that in the last nine seasons they’ve only ranked outside the top 40 in points one, that being the COVID-impacted 2020 season. It’s likely to be good no matter what and elite if everything lines up just right.
Preseason Game Prediction — Decisive Loss
It’s rivalry game, it’s at home, and yet the challenge may prove too great for Utah State. This isn’t the Utah the Aggies took on in 2012 and 2013 that was struggling through its first handful of seasons in the Pac-12 (and were also the only non-COVID years a Whittingham-led Utes team missed a bowl game). In the decade since the last meeting, the Utes established themselves as a Pac-12 power in football — making two straight Rose Bowls — and were picked to top the Big 12 even as a newcomer this season. An upset by Utah State in this one would be nothing short of monumental.
