SALT LAKE CITY — At their first bye week, Utah was 4-1 with a perfect nonconference slate, and then suffered a 34-10 loss to Texas Tech.

They were just getting warmed up. Since then, Utah destroyed defending Big 12 champion Arizona State 42-10 and beat Colorado 53-7 with one of the most dominant halves in recent memory (43-0 and 400 to -18 in yardage).

Last week with “College GameDay” in Salt Lake City, the Utes beat No. 17 Cincinnati 45-14 and played a complete game in all three phases, with nearly 500 yards of offense, three takeaways, and a punt return touchdown by Mana Carvalho that registered as an earthquake at Utah’s seismology department.

They held one of the Big 12’s top quarterbacks, Brendan Sorsby, to 11-of-33 passing and landed another blowout win.

But their struggles in the Holy War continued. Utah would love to have another shot at their three red zone fourth downs. Instead of attempting short field goals, head coach Kyle Whittingham decided to go for it and went 0-of-3 – three turnovers on downs and 0 points. In a 24-21 final, those missed opportunities were the difference.

By virtue of their blowout wins, the College Football Playoff selection committee viewed them favorably in the first rankings release Tuesday. Utah checks in at No. 13 and right in the pack of two-loss contenders No. 10 Notre Dame, No. 11 Texas, and No. 12 Oklahoma.

As we pause the weekly game previews for Utah’s bye week, we’ll look back at their progress in the key stat categories I identified in the preseason, compare to their rankings at the first bye week, as well as look at their new projected game results via Pick Six PLUS.

QB Rating

• 2024: 114th of 134 FBS teams
• 2025 1st bye week: 41st of 136 FBS teams
• 2025 2nd bye week: 55th of 136 FBS teams

Pass yards/attempt

• 2024: 111th of 134 FBS teams
• 2025 1st bye week: 86th of 136 FBS teams
• 2025 2nd bye week: 77th of 136 FBS teams

TD/INT ratio

• 2024: 113th of 134 FBS teams
• 2025 1st bye week: 30th of 136 FBS teams
• 2025 2nd bye week: 25th of 136 FBS teams

The pass game has held serve since the first bye week — up 10 spots in yards per attempt, down 10 spots in QB rating — but most importantly, Devon Dampier has continued to take care of the football.

In the past two seasons, the injury-riddled quarterback room was plagued by interceptions. Dampier, and his offensive coordinator Jason Beck, have fixed that problem.

These stats include the Colorado game, when Dampier was a late scratch from the lineup, but his replacement true freshman Byrd Ficklin played well enough to earn All-Big 12 honors.

Sack rate

• 2024: 76th of 134 FBS teams
• 2025 1st bye week: 6th of 136 FBS teams
• 2025 2nd bye week: 8th of 136 FBS teams

As I wrote in the preseason, “look for a major improvement in this category, and Utah may even push into the national top five here.” Eighth is pretty close.

No change here from the first bye week. Dampier has continued his top-rated pocket elusiveness and the offensive line has lived up to Kyle Whittingham’s praise as the best group he’s ever coached.

Rushing yards/carry

• 2024: 94th of 134 FBS teams
• 2025 1st bye week: 24th of 136 FBS teams
• 2025 2nd bye week: 5th of 136 FBS teams

Rushing yards/game

• 2024: 98th of 134 FBS teams
• 2025 1st bye week: 13th of 136 FBS teams
• 2025 2nd bye week: 3rd of 136 FBS teams

Utah is the most improved rushing offense in America from 2024 to 2025. From nearly outside the national top 100 to the top five in most stat categories, Utah is able to dominate the line of scrimmage and control the game with the run.

Wayshawn Parker is still third in the Big 12 in yards per carry (7.0), he has stacked consecutive 100-yard games, and his stated goal of a 1,000-yard season is still intact.

Opponent-adjusted rush defense

• 2024: 37th of 68 Power 4
• 2025 1st bye week: 41st of 68 Power 4
• 2025 2nd bye week: 26th of 68 Power 4

The 2024 season was an uncharacteristic decline in rushing defense for Morgan Scalley’s unit. I labeled this a key stat in the preseason, and there has been some improvement since the first bye week.

Utah’s rushing defense is middle-of-the-pack nationally in yards per carry, well below average in limiting explosive long-yardage runs, and just outside the top 25 in the opponent-adjusted number above.

Not included here is the passing version of this stat, in which Utah has excelled. They are No. 7 in opponent-adjusted passing, and are in the top 10 of all passing stat categories: yards per game, yards per attempt, completion percentage, limiting explosive passing, and QB rating.

That will be tested next week against the nation’s top passer Sawyer Robertson of Baylor.

2025 schedule projection (via Pick Six PLUS)

At the first bye week, Utah was 4-1; and at the time, my numbers had them projected to finish 9-3. Their outlook has improved significantly after their three blowout wins.

Utah was ranked No. 21 in my Game Grader at the first bye, but they have surged up to No. 9 — and are all the way up to No. 3 in the “last four games only” Game Grader.

At 7-2, I have Utah projected as significant favorites in their final three games, which would get them to 10-2 (7-2 Big 12), and they still have a path to the Big 12 title game. If they finish 10-2 and continue to post big blowout margins down the stretch, they have a shot at an at-large playoff bid.

Utah fans should be cheering for some underdogs throughout November, like Pittsburgh over Notre Dame, TCU and Cincinnati over BYU, and continued chaos in the ACC.