After a trip to Seattle for its first FBS opponent of the season, Utah State will take on a familiar foe in the Utah Utes. The “Battle of the Brothers” is one of the longest-running series in the country, dating back to 1892 and featuring 113 total matchups. Although the series has slowed since 2015, the two schools have found enough common ground to have regular games scheduled between them. Utah State hosted the Utes in 2024, and after this season there are games scheduled between the two teams in 2031 and 2033.
On a similar note to the Aggies’ game against Washington, this matchup figures to be incredibly difficult given USU’s struggles against both power conference teams and ranked opponents. Utah is both, and it will make for a tall mountain to climb for Utah State.
Quick-Hit Info on Utah
- Head Coach: Morgan Scalley (1st season at Utah)
- 2025 Record: 11-2
- Returning Production Rank — 54th
- Returning Starters — 5 (2 offense, 3 defense)
- *Preseason Consensus Ranking — 22nd
- Preseason Offense SP+ Rank — 18th
- Preseason Defense SP+ Rank — 34th
*Based on an average ranking across seven national polls/rankings
PLAYERS TO WATCH
- Devon Dampier (QB)
- Braden Pegan (WR) – Former Utah State player
- Paul Fitzgerald (DE) – Former Utah State player
- Johnathan Hall (LB)
- Jackson Bennee (S)
OFFENSE
From an Aggie perspective, there are numerous familiar faces in Utah’s offense. These range from Kevin McGiven, USU’s offensive coordinator last year, who now serves in that same role at Utah, to a small host of former Aggie players and opponents. Utes wide receiver Braden Pegan starred for Utah State last year, tallying 60 catches for 926 yards and five touchdowns. The man who will throw to Pegan, QB Devon Dampier, faced the Aggies when he was at New Mexico in 2024.
Dampier’s arrival at the beginning of last season helped revive a Utah offense that had been in the dumps ever since the last healthy Cam Rising season back in 2022. The offense ranked outside the top 100 in points in both 2023 and 2024. But in 2025, the Utes were fourth in the nation in points per game, its second-best ranking in program history behind its famous 2004 season with Alex Smith at the helm. Dampier accounted for 3,325 all-purpose yards (2,490 passing, 835 rushing) with 34 total touchdowns (24 passing, 10 rushing).
While much of the credit for Utah’s highly productive offense goes to Dampier, he certainly doesn’t get all of it. A major part of the Utes’ run game was having multiple threats on the ground. And Dampier was only the second-leading rusher on the team. The Utes have two other key returners for the run game: Wayshawn Parker (981 yards, six TDs) and backup quarterback Byrd Ficklin (513 yards, 10 TDs). Utah did lose NaQuari Rogers (387 yards, 11 TDs), one of three players to score 10+ rushing touchdowns, but given the team returns two of the other three, that’s a loss that can be overcome.
With each of the three top threats in the ground game returning, Utah’s offense should maintain its spot as a top-tier offense in FBS. The only holdup will be that the team has to replace its entire offensive line. That includes the departure of two first-round NFL draft picks, Spencer Fano (ninth overall) and Caleb Lomu (28th overall). It’s a heck of a lot of talent to replace. And the Utes also have a new offensive line coach thanks to the shake-up in the staff with Whittingham leaving.
The passing game will likely be a sideshow to Utah’s elite ground game, much as it was last year. But that isn’t to say it should be completely ignored. Dampier ranked a mediocre 65th in passing yards per game, comfortably average and perfectly capable of dicing up a defense if you stack the box. The addition of Pegan will be a welcome upgrade for the Utes’ receiver room
DEFENSE
Defense was a staple of the Whittingham era, but last year saw a rare weakness slide into the unit. The Utes ranked 111th in rush defense, allowing opponents to average 4.8 yards per carry and 181.2 yards per game. Scalley, who maintains the status quo of being a defensive-minded head coach, brought in multiple transfers to bolster what is still a relatively young core at defensive line. Five of Utah’s projected two-deep players are sophomores with limited on-field experience. That will put more pressure on returners like linebacker Johnathan Hall and safety Jackson Bennee, who were 1-2 for the team in tackles last year, to pick up the slack on stopping the run.
Even with the weakness in stopping the run, Utah still did perfectly fine on defense, ranking 18th in points allowed per game. And that’s something that needs to be kept in mind with the Utes’ defense, and probably the team as a whole. The program has been a well-oiled machine in churning out talented defensive players for the better part of two decades. Utah only has three returning starters, but the team still has a top 40 recruiting class and a pipeline of developing players at all levels of the defense. And while Whittingham is gone, Scalley was the defensive coordinator under him for a decade and has been with the program since 2007. He’s fully capable of building an elite defense since he’s been doing it for a while now.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Utah returns both placekicker Dillon Curtis and punter Orion Phillips. Curtis returns after a solid freshman campaign where he made 68 of 71 PATs, shattering the program record for most PATs made in a single season. Curtis was accurate, though often unused, as a field goal kicker. He didn’t attempt a field goal in five of his 13 appearances. Curtis did have one game where he played poorly, making just 1 of 4 field goals against Wyoming, but made 10 of his 11 attempts aside from that one off day.
Phillips saw even less time on the field than Curtis, who at least got to benefit from kicking a bunch of PATs. Phillips played in all 13 games as the Utes’ full-time punter, but failed to qualify for the NCAA punting leaderboard because he didn’t average the minimum of 3.6 punts per game. His average of 42.3 yards per punt would have ranked 56th if he made the official leaderboard.
UTAH STATE’S GAME VS UTAH
Game Info
- Game Day: Sept. 19
- Location: Rice-Eccles Stadium (Salt Lake City, UT)
- Kickoff Time: 1:30 p.m. MT
- TV Broadcast: FOX
- Radio Broadcast: KVNU 102.1 FM / 610 AM
History of Utah State vs this opponent
- All-Time Series: Utah leads 80-29-4
- First-Ever Meeting: Nov. 25, 1892 (Utah State won 12-0)
- Most Recent Meeting: Sept. 14, 2024 (Utah won 38-21)
Utah State has only won a game in this series once since 1997. That came in 2012 when the Chuckie Keeton-led Aggies took down the Utes at home, 27-20, on Merlin Olsen Field in overtime. The two sides have played three times since then with all games being relatively close, but all were victories for Utah.
RESULT PREDICTION: Decisive win for Utah
For pretty much all of the same reasons detailed in the Washington opponent preview in this series, this will very likely be a tough outing on the scoreboard for the Aggies. But there are a couple of factors that could make this game interesting.
The first reason is that this is a rivalry game, at least in Utah State’s mind. The Utes may scoff at the Battle of the Brothers and its history that dates back to the 19th century, but the Aggies care. And the last four matchups have shown that Utah State is capable of hanging with Utah. Back in 2012, the Aggies actually won, with the next two games being fairly close, 30-26 and 24-14. Even in 2024, the 17-point margin of victory for the Utes makes it look like a more decisive win, but Utah State led that game late in the first half and was within one touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
Another reason is that, despite fairly high preseason rankings, there’s a chance Utah could see a drop-off with its coaching change. The Utes are going from all-time leadership under Kyle Whittingham to an unknown, unproven first-year head coach with Scalley. He’s been propped up as the coach in waiting, and his impatience over Whittingham’s refusal to finally retire led to the messy breakup between the Utes and their legendary coach. Theoretically, that should mean Scalley is good enough of a coach to justify a move that risked alienating a program legend and the Utah fanbase that has grown to love Whittingham.
