by Team Del Genio
Sunday, Aug 31, 2025Death, taxes, and the Utah Utes having a great defense under head coach Kyle Whittingham.
In taking the under in their opening game on the road at former Pac-12 rival UCLA, Utah should once again be very good on defense despite losing six starters from last year. Defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley used twenty-two different starters last year because of injuries. Despite that lack of lineup stability, the Utes ranked 29th by holding their opponents to 330 yards per game. Their opponents averaged 20.7 points per game, ranking 25th in the country. Utah ranked sixth in opponent success rate allowed and 15th in havoc rate. They ranked 13th in the nation in defensive success rate against the run and 10th in defensive success rate against the pass. In his tenth year as the team’s defensive coordinator, Scalley rotated heavily and has ten of the twenty-two players back from last year’s two-deep. Five starters are back in his scheme that rotates between a 4-2-5 and a 4-3.
Only one starter is back on the defensive line, with defensive end Logan Fano returning for his junior season. He is expected to be joined in the starting lineup by senior defensive tackle Aliki Vimahi, sophomore defensive tackle Dallas Vakalahi, and junior defensive end Lance Holtzclaw. Freshman defensive tackle Dilan Battle, a transfer from LSU, should be in the mix as well.
The linebackers return one starter, senior Lander Barton. Junior Jonathan Haul shows promise. Senior Levani Damuni, who was the team’s leading tackler in 2023, missed last year due to an injury he suffered in spring practice.
The defensive backfield has two returning starters. Junior Smith Snowden is back at cornerback, and junior Tao Johnson returns at free safety. Senior Rabbit Evans is expected to start at strong safety. Juniors Don Saunders and Elijah Davis are expected to compete for the second starting cornerback job and the nickel back job with J.C. Hart, a sophomore transfer from Auburn.
Utah had played twelve of its last fifteen games under the number when favored, including all four games on the road when the oddsmakers installed them as a favorite of 3.5 to 10 points. They had played five of their last six games under the total when the oddsmakers installed the over/under from 49.5 to 56. The Utes had played seven of their last eight games under the total in the first month of the season, including four straight unders in the first two weeks of the year.
Utah did their job on defense in this game to support our under play. The Bruins only gained 220 yards from 14 first downs. UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava completed only 11 of 22 passes for 136 yards. The Bruins rushed for 84 yards on 23 carries. The Utes registered for sacks for 28 yards.
Given all this, one would think we hit our under. Yet we underestimated the impact of Utah’s new quarterback, Devon Dampier. The Utes only averaged 23.6 points per game last year, which ranked 102nd in the country. Whittingham addressed this by turning to New Mexico to bring in their quarterback, Dampier, and their offensive coordinator, Jason Beck, to revitalize the Utes' offense. On Saturday, Dampier completed 21 of 25 passes for 205 yards with two touchdown passes and no interceptions. He had 12 interceptions last year. Dampier was also Utah’s leading rusher with 87 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries.
At 30-10 after the third quarter, our under play looked in trouble. The oddsmakers installed the over/under in this game in the 49-point range. The Utes scored a touchdown early in the quarter, and they kept our hopes up when they missed the two-point conversion. Yet our fates were sealed when Utah scored a touchdown in their next offensive drive to take a 43-10 lead. That was the final score in the game. The Utes' defense is going to be very good. We were right to be skeptical about the Bruins' offense despite having brought in Imaleava. Yet we may have been very wrong about the Utah offense, and the UCAL defense may deserve closer scrutiny.
Good luck - TDG.
In taking the under in their opening game on the road at former Pac-12 rival UCLA, Utah should once again be very good on defense despite losing six starters from last year. Defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley used twenty-two different starters last year because of injuries. Despite that lack of lineup stability, the Utes ranked 29th by holding their opponents to 330 yards per game. Their opponents averaged 20.7 points per game, ranking 25th in the country. Utah ranked sixth in opponent success rate allowed and 15th in havoc rate. They ranked 13th in the nation in defensive success rate against the run and 10th in defensive success rate against the pass. In his tenth year as the team’s defensive coordinator, Scalley rotated heavily and has ten of the twenty-two players back from last year’s two-deep. Five starters are back in his scheme that rotates between a 4-2-5 and a 4-3.
Only one starter is back on the defensive line, with defensive end Logan Fano returning for his junior season. He is expected to be joined in the starting lineup by senior defensive tackle Aliki Vimahi, sophomore defensive tackle Dallas Vakalahi, and junior defensive end Lance Holtzclaw. Freshman defensive tackle Dilan Battle, a transfer from LSU, should be in the mix as well.
The linebackers return one starter, senior Lander Barton. Junior Jonathan Haul shows promise. Senior Levani Damuni, who was the team’s leading tackler in 2023, missed last year due to an injury he suffered in spring practice.
The defensive backfield has two returning starters. Junior Smith Snowden is back at cornerback, and junior Tao Johnson returns at free safety. Senior Rabbit Evans is expected to start at strong safety. Juniors Don Saunders and Elijah Davis are expected to compete for the second starting cornerback job and the nickel back job with J.C. Hart, a sophomore transfer from Auburn.
Utah had played twelve of its last fifteen games under the number when favored, including all four games on the road when the oddsmakers installed them as a favorite of 3.5 to 10 points. They had played five of their last six games under the total when the oddsmakers installed the over/under from 49.5 to 56. The Utes had played seven of their last eight games under the total in the first month of the season, including four straight unders in the first two weeks of the year.
Utah did their job on defense in this game to support our under play. The Bruins only gained 220 yards from 14 first downs. UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava completed only 11 of 22 passes for 136 yards. The Bruins rushed for 84 yards on 23 carries. The Utes registered for sacks for 28 yards.
Given all this, one would think we hit our under. Yet we underestimated the impact of Utah’s new quarterback, Devon Dampier. The Utes only averaged 23.6 points per game last year, which ranked 102nd in the country. Whittingham addressed this by turning to New Mexico to bring in their quarterback, Dampier, and their offensive coordinator, Jason Beck, to revitalize the Utes' offense. On Saturday, Dampier completed 21 of 25 passes for 205 yards with two touchdown passes and no interceptions. He had 12 interceptions last year. Dampier was also Utah’s leading rusher with 87 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries.
At 30-10 after the third quarter, our under play looked in trouble. The oddsmakers installed the over/under in this game in the 49-point range. The Utes scored a touchdown early in the quarter, and they kept our hopes up when they missed the two-point conversion. Yet our fates were sealed when Utah scored a touchdown in their next offensive drive to take a 43-10 lead. That was the final score in the game. The Utes' defense is going to be very good. We were right to be skeptical about the Bruins' offense despite having brought in Imaleava. Yet we may have been very wrong about the Utah offense, and the UCAL defense may deserve closer scrutiny.
Good luck - TDG.
