Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
- Utah football aims to rebound in 2025 with a retooled offense.
- The Utes face UCLA and Cal Poly, with UCLA's new QB drawing attention.
- Cal Poly, struggling in FCS, offers Utah a chance to regain momentum.
SALT LAKE CITY — After back-to-back seasons of disappointment to varying degrees, Utah football is looking for a bounce-back 2025 season.
The offensive side of the ball has essentially been completely retooled, with several new faces doting the roster and coaching staff. But following a productive and effective spring period, Utah feels confident in the future.
A year removed from being the consensus favorite to win the Big 12 — a designation Utah missed on by a large margin — the Utes will enter the 2025 season with far different expectations. Utah won't be picked to be the favorite, but could the team compete for a Big 12 title?
ESPN's Bill Connelly, who recently updated his SP+ rankings after spring, sees Utah as the 31st best team in the country, with the 55th hardest schedule in the country.
That's to say, Utah has a good shot to contend for a title if the team lives up to its internal expectations.
Each week we'll break down two games on Utah's upcoming schedule, starting with the season-opener on the road against UCLA and the home-opener against FCS Cal Poly.
Listen to a breakdown of these games weekly on the Utah Checkdown podcast.
UCLA Bruins
Date: Saturday, Aug. 30 (TBA)
Location: Rose Bowl Stadium; Los Angeles, CA
2024 record: 5-7 (3-6 Big Ten)
Final AP ranking: N/A
Last meeting: Sept. 23, 2023, Salt Lake City; Utah won 14-7
Preseason win projection: 5.5 wins
The move to the Big Ten didn't go as well for the Bruins as they would have hoped (at least not in the first year).
The offense stalled out, especially with an anemic run game that averaged only 86.6 yards per game — good for third worst in the FBS — and only managed only 18.4 points per game.
Sure, the weekly defenses faced in the Big Ten were more challenging than what UCLA experienced weekly in the Pac-12, but nothing really went well for a team in transition away from former head coach Chip Kelly.
The offense was poor, but the defense saw a major drop-off in production, too. The one saving grace was a top run defense that ranked sixth in the country last season.
As such, head coach DeShaun Foster made significant changes in his coaching personnel and attacked the transfer portal hard in an effort to get better in every facet of the game.
The Bruins moved on from veteran offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, running back coach Marcus Thomas, and offensive line coach Juan Castillo, among other moves.
Foster brought in former Indiana co-offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri, A.J. Steward (running backs) and Andy Kwon (offensive line) to join the staff, while shifting around some roles. At Indiana, Sunseri helped the program to its first 10-win season last year and is considered a great developer of quarterbacks.
Fortunately for Sunseri, the QB he'll be working with as the presumed starter is former Tennessee starter Nico Iamaleava, who threw for 2,616 yards, 19 touchdowns and five interceptions on a 63.8% completion percentage last year with the Vols.
But Iamaleava was a late add to the program after committing to the Bruins during the spring transfer portal period and finishing out the semester at Tennessee. He'll have just a short time to acclimate to his new team before welcoming a Utah team to the Rose Bowl in the first game.
Though Iamaleava is more than capable of being ready for the season-opener at home, his comfortability — to say nothing of his in-game chemistry — with the Bruins will likely take some time, giving the Utes a potential leg up with an early date against the star quarterback that will draw plenty of national attention in Week 1.
Beyond the starting quarterback, UCLA has plenty of questions surrounding the program ahead of the season-opener. Can the Bruins actually return to an effective ground game, especially after losing leading rusher TJ Harden to SMU?
Harden was also the team's second-leading receiver and third-highest graded player on the offense, according to Pro Football Focus. Add to that the loss of receivers Logan Loya and J.Michale Sturdivant and there's a decent amount of production to replace — if you believe that UCLA was good enough on offense.
Among the team's 30 new additions from the portal, UCLA picked up Cal's leading rusher Jaivian Thomas, in addition to former Utah running back Anthony Woods (injured for 2024 season). Former Utah wide receiver Mikey Matthews also made the move to UCLA after a one-year stint with Cal.
UCLA also added four offensive linemen from the portal, and each has the potential to help the ground game be more effective.
But with all the changes, will UCLA be a team ready to compete in Week 1? Utah is also in a transition period of sorts — mostly on the offense — and nothing will be guaranteed in this Week 1 game.
Both teams should be better on offense than their respective 2024 seasons, but how much?
In Utah's favor is the fact that the Utes have won six of the last seven games against UCLA. But nothing is predictable in the first week of the season, especially with both teams looking to answer some significant questions.
A Rose Bowl showing between Iamaleava and Utah starting quarterback Devon Dampier should be entertaining to say the least.
Offense (2024 stats)
Scoring: 18.4 points (31.2 five-year avg.)
Rushing: 86.58 yards (193.48)
Passing: 242.2 yards (237.68)
Total: 328.8 yards (431.16)
Defense (2024 stats)
Scoring: 25.3 points (26.04 five-year avg.)
Rushing: 96.17 yards (113.53)
Passing: 244.7 yards (254.56)
Total: 340.8 yards (368.08)
Cal Poly Mustangs
Date: Saturday, Sept. 6 (TBA)
Location: Rice-Eccles Stadium; Salt Lake City, UT
2024 record: 3-8 (2-6 Big Sky)
Last meeting: N/A
Utah's only home nonconference game comes against an FCS team that has struggled as of late. This is the first meeting between the two schools, but don't expect to see an upset here.
Even if Utah suffers a Week 1 loss on the road, Cal Poly is a get-right game in every sense of the word. The Mustangs were one of the worst teams in all of FCS, winning just three games and just two in the Big Sky last season.
The team was the second-worst in FCS in the ground game, according to PFF, and generally below average on offense. And though the team had some successes on defense, the team allowed way more than its offense could produce, resulting in losses week after week.
It's tough to see a wholesale change from 2024 to 2025 for Cal Poly that would make them a threat against Utah.
Though Utah should never overlook an opponent, it's not likely that Cal Poly will put up much of a fight against what should be an improved Utah offense. But hey, Utah fans can get a first look at home of QB Devon Dampier for his first game at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Offense (2024 stats)
Scoring: 20.7 points
Rushing: 101.6 yards
Passing: 235.3 yards
Total: 336.9 yards
Defense (2024 stats)
Scoring: 31.3 points
Rushing: 145.1 yards
Passing: 278.0 yards
Total: 423.1 yards
