SALT LAKE CITY — Three takeaways from Utah’s 45–14 win over Cincinnati on Saturday night.
1. The Utes won in all three phases to deliver another dominating home win, providing more regret over how they finished in their two losses.
Rice-Eccles Stadium is normally a ferocious environment for any opponent but when there’s perfect fall weather, ESPN’sis in town and the prolific “MUSS” student section is at full volume when Halloween leads into Saturday night, things can get turned up a few notches. Cincinnati understood what it was walking into, but what it probably didn’t count on was the home side punching it in the mouth early in the first quarter and then leaning on it the rest of the way to match the teams’ records at 7–2 overall.
The Utes scored on four of their first five drives in the first half, returned a 75-yard punt for a touchdown for the first time in four years, plus notched a trio of turnovers thanks to their typically active defense. They have scored 67 points before halftime in their last two games and very much solidified their hold on being the third-best team in the Big 12 behind Texas Tech and BYU. Saturday night only reinforced that opinion after another complete effort between the lines.
Quarterback Devon Dampier, who has been dealing with an ankle injury, looked very much like he was back to normal as one of the more dynamic dual-threats in the game. He threw an ill-advised interception down near the goal line but otherwise threw for 213 yards and a pair of touchdowns while also rushing for 78 yards. His ability to make opposing defenses think about him in the run game was clearly evident with the way he drew an extra defender to pause just a half second longer than normal when reading the play, which helped free up some lanes for Wayshawn Parker (104 yards, one TD) and freshman Daniel Bray (43 yards). The offense recorded more first downs (29) than Cincinnati had points and nearly doubled up the time of possession.
Throw in the typical salty defense that head coach Kyle Whittingham and coordinator Morgan Scalley are known for and this was a one-sided affair across all four quarters.
All of which has to make it frustrating for many of the 51,672 in attendance that Utah’s ceiling is so obviously capable of being a real contender in the league but it just so happened to take losses—both close games in the second half—to the pair of teams that it will need some serious help to face again this season (more on that below). It can still be a very good season if the Utes bounce back from last season’s horrors to finish 10–2. If they run the table, it will only underscore a bit of regret that they couldn’t get things done at home against the Red Raiders or on the road to their bitter rival last month.
2. It was a no good, very bad road trip for Cincinnati's normally prolific quarterback.
Bearcats quarterback Brendan Sorsby came into the day tied for the most total touchdowns in the country. He left his trip to the Wasatch Front questioning a lot about how he played after completing just 11 passes against Utah (221 yards, one touchdown) and throwing an interception in a dispiriting effort. He managed the team’s other touchdown on a scamper up the middle but was largely the reason the team went just 6 of 14 on third down and failed to muster much of any threat beyond the third quarter.
It was at least a credit to his slipperiness in the pocket that he avoided taking a sack despite near constant pressure, but it was pretty clear that Sorsby failed to help the team seize control of their conference fate after carrying the offense on their seven-game winning streak.
Of course it didn’t help that Cincinnati, which had four turnovers coming into Week 10, coughed the ball up three times overall and were very much forced to abandon a run game that averaged 6.9 yards per carry. There were two big plays, a 41-yard run by Tawee Walker and Cyrus Allen getting behind the defense for an 88-yard touchdown, but there was far from a consistent effort on offense to give the team a chance on the road.
3. Utah and Cincinnati both remain in the Big 12—and by extension CFP—race, but need some help.
The Big 12 isn’t as convoluted as some of the other conferences around the country but there are as many as teams still alive to make it to Arlington, Texas, for the league title game—and by extension the College Football Playoff—with two or fewer losses in the standings. However, both the Bearcats and the Utes will need some help down the stretch even if they’re right in the thick of things. That’s simply the nature of the tiebreakers in such mega-conferences where not everybody plays everybody.
The entire country will have a big interest in next week’s game involving BYU at Texas Tech, which will go a long way in seeing who has the leg up to finish atop the standings and who might be rooting for additional losses from out of nowhere in the Big 12. Should the Red Raiders prevail in Lubbock, that shifts things forward to a key game between the Cougars and Bearcats at Nippert Stadium in a few weeks. Utah will have a rooting interest in that one as well, not just because it has the head-to-head win over Cincinnati, but also because it needs a few teams tied at 7–2 to cancel out its own losses to Tech and BYU.
As was the case last year, things are never straightforward in the Big 12 and, based on the way things have transpired in 2025, that will likely be the case once again.
