Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
- Utah's offense ranks third nationally with an 86.2% touchdown rate in 2025.
- Coach Kyle Whittingham credits Jason Beck, Devon Dampier and an elite offensive line.
- Utah averages 39.5 points per game, with no win under 25 points this season.
SALT LAKE CITY — With just over three minutes left in the first half, John Henry Daley strip sacked Wyoming quarterback Kaden Anderson, while teammate Lander Barton jumped on the loose ball.
Utah took over possession on their own 46-yard line, and three plays later were on the Cowboys' 19-yard line in what projected to be an eventual score. On the next play, though, Nate Johnson rushed for 16 yards before being stripped of the football, resulting in a fumble recovered by Wyoming on their 3-yard line.
The play itself was ultimately insignificant in what turned out to be a 31-6 win over its former Mountain West foe to end the nonconference part of the schedule. That failed series, though, remains Utah's only unsuccessful drive inside the red zone this season.
Utah has scored either a field goal or touchdown in 28 of its 29 red zone trips (96.6%) in six games this season, which ranks eighth in the country. But most impressive has been that 25 of those 28 attempts have resulted in a touchdown (86.2%), which ranks third in the country.
In comparison to last season, Utah's offense managed just 19 touchdowns on the season, and not much more in 2023, in which the team finished with 25. Compare that with Utah's back-to-back Pac-12 championship seasons — 53 touchdowns in 2022 and 52 in 2021 — and it's a jarring reminder of how far the offense dropped off the last couple seasons.
Nuances aside — of which injuries played a big part — Utah has had a lackluster offense for the last two season.
But in 2025, after a rebuilt system through the transfer portal and a turnover in coaching, the offense has produced at a high level, en route to averaging 39.5 points per game. In fact, no game for Utah has been decided by less than 25 points in the team's five wins — finally pairing the offense with an always stout Utah defense.
Coming from a place of inefficiency and a lack of production, Utah has flipped the script in just a short period of time and is now back to being including in the Associated Press Top 25 rankings after its latest win — a 42-10 result over a then-ranked Arizona State team — and being included as one of a few teams who could challenge for a Big 12 title.
For Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham, there's a simple explanation.
Jason Beck. Devon Dampier. An elite offensive line.
The trifecta of sorts, to him, has been the simplest of answers to Utah's sudden success on offense again. There's no real complicating it when it's been fairly easy to diagnose.
"It's a combination of having an outstanding O-line, Jason's scheme and play-calling, and Devon's dynamic ability at the quarterback position, and so I think that is probably the reason that we're having success on offense," Whittingham said Monday.
Nothing to it, right?
Beck has brought a free-flowing system that is adaptable to whatever the defense gives his offense, but it's been contingent on identifying the playmakers and putting the ball in their hands as much as possible. See, not too complicated at all (maybe a little sarcasm there).
For this year's version, it's been a mostly effective ground game that hasn't been too reliant on a heavy passing attack to move the ball down the field and score points. But should the team need to pivot, Beck's had enough playmakers to get the job done, with Dampier facilitating it all — much like a heavier dose of the passing game against West Virginia.
It's a diverse system that Dampier said makes Utah efficient in whatever approach they need to take for the week.
"I think that's what makes our offense so dangerous," Dampier said. "When you win in the trenches, yeah, I mean, you could pass or run the ball. So the defense chooses how they want to try to lose the game, and we're gonna take advantage of that."
Dampier certainly deserves a lot of credit for executing the offense and finding different ways to beat teams. Against Arizona State, he rushed for 120 yards and three touchdowns while having a relatively quiet night passing with seven completions.
But against West Virginia, Dampier threw for 234 yards and four touchdowns on 21-of-26 passing, all while the team still managed 242 yards rushing.
That success doesn't happen, Whittingham and Dampier both caution, without an offensive line that has been one of the best in Whittingham's 21-year tenure as head coach.
"Pointing back to the offensive line, obviously, still as high on the offensive line now as I was at the beginning of the season, and they really played their best game this past week," Whittingham said.
That offensive line currently features the fourth-highest graded offensive tackle in Spencer Fano on a unit that ranks No. 1 in the country, according to PSFN and other outlets who grade teams. As such, Utah ranks No. 1 in third- and fourth-down conversions, in the lowest quick pressure rate allowed and is third in adjusted yards before contact.
It's a wholesale system that is working in tandem to perform at the highest level. So while it may be simple on the surface, it's a complete team effort in a turnaround season for offensive production. And it's been a game changer for the Utes in their second season in the Big 12.
