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SALT LAKE CITY — We now have a baseline from which to judge the University of Utah football team.
The Utes opened the season emphatically late Saturday night by running UCLA out of the Rose Bowl 43-10 behind 293 total yards from junior quarterback Devon Dampier.
Now, even with a too-small sample size after just one game, we can start examining things.
For example, how about junior nickel Smith Snowden playing both ways against the Bruins?
We'll start this Utes mailbag right there.
Q: "Is there concern for having multiple star players playing both ways? I understand they help and can do it, but are our skill position groups in rough shape, or just not that deep that we need these guys on offense as well? It's not sustainable." - @calebclements17
Concern? Not after one game, but I absolutely think it bears careful attention, especially after Kyle Whittingham indicated during his weekly press conference on Monday that Smith Snowden, Lander Barton, and Jackson Bennee would continue to see action on both sides of the ball.
I definitely subscribe to the notion that you should be trying to get your best players on the field, regardless of offense or defense, so by all means, keep getting those three guys out there on offense, especially Snowden and Barton.
I was clearly in the minority on Sunday morning based on social media reaction, but I thought Snowden's 22 offensive snaps, including nine touches, were a lot given how critical he is to the back end of Utah's defense.
I definitely could be wrong, but watching the game, it felt excessive to have Snowden out there that much.
With that said, when Utah plays a team with a real receiving threat, I'm willing to bet Snowden plays less offense.
As for this situation not being sustainable, that all depends on the opponent and how big the workload gets for Snowden, but I would tend to agree.
Q: "How sustainable are all of these designed runs for Devon Dampier going to be? Why is Beck not running the RBs more often instead?" - @SigmaUte
It was Week 1.
Pro Football Focus had Dampier credited with 10 designed runs against UCLA. Is that a lot? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In a vacuum, yes, I think 10 is a big number, but in fairness, this is the skill set Dampier is coming to the table with.
The junior is a true dual-threat guy, capable of something explosive every time he touches the ball. I can't imagine Dampier is going to get 10 designed runs every week, but that is a number everyone is probably going to have to get used to.
I feel the need to point out that when Cam Rising was healthy, there were games he was getting seven, eight, even nine designed runs. Yes, that was under the previous offensive coordinator, and yes, those things helped take a toll on Rising's health, but I thought it was worth offering that point of reference.
Is there injury concern? Sure, but again, this is what Dampier does, and he looked very comfortable doing it against the Bruins.
As for the running backs, Wayshawn Parker and NaQuari Rogers combined for 27 carries for 123 yards, with each registering a touchdown in a game where the starters were mostly done early in the fourth quarter.
I'm not sure what more you want out of Parker and Rogers in a game that took on the tone it did, but I took it as a very optimistic opening statement behind one of the nation's best offensive lines.
Q: "This WR room is quite clearly lacking. Is this something we should expect all season?" - @Anoncausework
It was Week 1, but the early returns are not good.
Ryan Davis had three catches for 22 yards, Tobias Merriweather hauled in a downfield pass from Dampier for 36, and that was it.
Predictably, this was a topic during Whittingham's press conference. He thinks Merriweather needs to be more involved, but as for the rest of the position room, well, he didn't exactly offer a ringing endorsement.
"If you want more time and you want more production, play better in practice," Whittingham told reporters. "You have to play your way into that role. We're not just going to try to feature somebody if they haven't earned it. Not to say that they're not doing some good things in practice.
"Moving forward, it would be nice to be able to have more production or emphasis placed on that. But again, it's got to be merited. You can't just hand out playing time and production."
Not great, but it's way too early to get up in arms.
I'm reminded here of the 2021 season, when Brant Kuithe, Dalton Kincaid, and Micah Bernard combined for 112 catches, and everyone wanted to know where the wideouts were.
That season ended in the Rose Bowl, in part because Utah was getting the ball into the hands of its best players, regardless of position.
After one game, Utah's biggest skill position weapon on offense just happens to also be its starting nickel.
So be it.
Q: "Spencer Fano was dishing out pancakes on Saturday night, so I have to know. Are pancakes or waffles better?" - @peaceloveutes
Nice setup here, no notes.
The answer is actually eggs, but for the purposes of this exercise, the answer is pancakes.
For some reason, while I like waffles, I find them to be … a lot? I don't know, they're just too rich, and too heavy, and too much for me.
A nice short stack of three pancakes, a little butter, a little syrup, maybe a couple of eggs on the side for protein, and a cup of diner/breakfast joint coffee?
That's good living right there.
Q: "Will we ever have to play at 11 p.m. again after this?" - @DanielSantelli3
No, in the Eastern time zone, you're not getting another 11 p.m. kickoff. There will be more late starts, for sure, but not that late.
Of course, the 11 p.m. kickoff was a byproduct of being able to start a game at 8 p.m. on the West Coast, but Utah isn't going back to the West Coast, at least not during the regular season, so you're good.
The latest kickoff you're getting the rest of the way on the East Coast would be 10:30 p.m., which means an 8:30 p.m. local start in the Mountain time zone.
For what it's worth, the Utes kicked off at 10:15 p.m. ET or later on three different occasions last season.
Beyond the first three weeks of the season, we don't get kickoff times until 12 days or, in some cases, six days out; but if I had to gamble, I would say, at a minimum, Arizona State-Utah on Oct. 11 and Utah-BYU on Oct. 18 both smell like late starts.
While we're here, I'm sort of intrigued by which TV window Texas Tech-Utah on Sept. 20 ends up in. The Utes have established themselves in the too-early going, while the Red Raiders have (in)famously bought a roster it thinks can compete.
Q: "Do you have a favorite part of the game? Followed up by a food question, would a Buc-ee's thrive in Utah?" - @MrSmokinUte
I love the opening kickoff.
Fundamentally, I don't think what the media does is different from what the players do. Meaning, we all spend the week working toward the weekend. Players and coaches are practicing and planning, the media is writing, podcasting, engaging, etc.
Once Saturday comes, and it's time to play, I don't speak for anyone else, but kickoff signifies that we made it through the week.
I have often heard, regardless of what sport I'm covering, that the game is the payoff after the hard work is complete.
To me, as a media member, it's the same idea.
As for the more-important part of this two-part question, congrats to everyone back in Utah on Tuesday's news that Buc-ee's is going to build a 74,000-square foot location in Springville.
That is going to be an absolutely massive building, in which one will be able to find a Buc-ee's branded cooler, a Buc-ee's branded kayak, beef jerky, a brisket sandwich, and the cleanest public restrooms you've ever seen, all under one roof.
Yes, Buc-ee's will thrive in Utah, because the location is perfect. If I'm not mistaken, Springville is a major I-15 hub, so yeah, there's going to be a lot of vehicles moving through that Buc-ee's.
As a resident of Texas for all of 18 months, I will offer a few Buc-ee's thoughts.
- The first time you walk in there will very much be sensory overload. It's just so big, with so many things happening at once. For what it's worth, I wrote about my first Buc-ee's experience.
- If you enjoy jerky, Buc-ee's has a wide assortment, but my advice is to get it from the counter, not the wall where it's pre-packaged.
- There is a strong possibility you're walking out of there with some sort of merch on the first trip there: a hat, a shirt, a shot glass, a coaster, something. We were away for the weekend in Dallas recently, stopped at a Buc-ee's about halfway through, and wound up with a Buc-ee's swimsuit for our son after we forgot to pack his. It happens.
Q: "Does any stadium have anything that matches the quality of the grilled hotdog stands that surround you as you're walking out of the Rose Bowl?" - @dtosborn11
Here's the problem.
I've been to the Rose Bowl for a game three times, but as a media member, I am not leaving the stadium alongside fans, but rather hours afterward.
That means I have never experienced the hot dog carts on the way out, but just know, I want to.
I cannot tell you the last time I attended a sporting event in a non-work capacity, but I will offer this.
A couple of months ago, we saw Wu-Tang Clan here in Austin at Moody Center, which is the on-campus basketball arena. On the way out, there were hot dog carts set up just beyond the arena steps.
These were not just any hot dog stand, but Sonoran hot dogs. For the uninitiated, a Sonoran hot dog is wrapped in bacon, usually on a bolillo (Google it), and topped with something like pinto beans and mayonnaise.
I usually do not participate in gluttonous stuff like that, but the smell coming out of the arena got me. It was $8 well spent, even if I felt shame and disgust afterwards.
Q: "Is [Isaac] Wilson in the dog house? Whitt wouldn't even let him take one snap." - @russdog67
This is an easy one, and certainly not worth getting worked up over.
Once Dampier's evening was done at the Rose Bowl, Kyle Whittingham went to third-string quarterback Byrd Ficklin in the fourth quarter, not backup Isaac Wilson.
I don't know if anyone asked Whittingham about this either postgame or during his normal Monday press conference, but I assume he wanted to get Ficklin some reps in a low-leverage, low-stakes atmosphere.
Not only do you already know what you have in Wilson, but he is also the backup to Dampier, so putting him in there at that time would have been approaching malpractice.
Ficklin took seven snaps, did not attempt a pass, and got his feet wet in first game as a collegian.
It's a net positive for everyone: Whittingham got to sit his starter early, he didn't put his No. 2 option in harm's way, and he got his 18-year-old No. 3 option some game action on the road.
Onward.
