Postgame Notes: No. 17 Utah vs. Utah State
9/19/2026 6:48 PM | Football
Postgame Notes
(at) No. 17 Utah 33, Utah State 0
Salt Lake City, Utah (Rice-Eccles Stadium)
Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026
Kick: 1:43 p.m. MT | End: 4:59 p.m.
Attendance: 51,455 (sellout)
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General
Offense
Defense
Special Teams
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(at) No. 17 Utah 33, Utah State 0
Salt Lake City, Utah (Rice-Eccles Stadium)
Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026
Kick: 1:43 p.m. MT | End: 4:59 p.m.
Attendance: 51,455 (sellout)
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General
- Today's game was the 98th straight sellout of Rice-Eccles Stadium, dating back to the 2010 season opener. Every game since then has been sold out, with the exception of the pandemic-altered 2020 season.
- Head coach Morgan Scalley is now 4-0 at the helm of the Utes. Scalley is the first head coach since Jim Fassel in 1985 to win their first four games leading Utah.
- Utah leads the series with Utah State 81-29-4 overall and 55-17-4 when playing in Salt Lake City. The last time Utah shut out the Aggies was in 2006 in Logan, 48-0.
- Utah has won 11 straight games when winning the turnover battle (dating back to the 2024 season finale at UCF). Today, the Utes had one interception and one fumble recovery, while Utah State had one fumble recovery.
- Today's shutout was the first by Utah since the 2024 season opener vs. Southern Utah (49-0). The last shutout against an FBS team was on Oct. 26, 2019 vs. California (35-0).
- Utah State won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. The Utes defended the South goal to begin the game.
Offense
- Utah has scored 30-plus points in nine straight games dating back to last season, the longest active streak in FBS. In this year's three games, Utah has scored 66 points vs. Idaho, 43 vs. Arkansas and now 33 vs. Utah State.
- Utah totaled 480 yards of offense on 74 plays. The offense has put up 440-plus yards in all three games this season.
- Quarterback Devon Dampier was 22-of-32 passing for 253 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing 10 times for another 34 yards. He is 13-2 as the starter at Utah.
- Wide receiver Braden Pegan tied career highs with eight catches and two touchdowns, while also posting a season-high 122 receiving yards. Pegan is the first Utah wide receiver since Bryan Thompson in 2019 to have multiple touchdown receptions and 100-plus receiving yards in a game. Other Utah players have done it since 2019, but at other positions besides wide receiver.
- Pegan has caught at least one pass in 15 straight games played.
- Running back Daniel Bray had 101 all-purpose yards (career-high 82 rushing, 19 receiving) including a 63-yard rushing touchdown. It is the longest play of the season so far for the Utes.
- Dampier's 28-yard touchdown pass to Pegan capped off a nine-play drive to open the game. Utah has scored a touchdown on all three of its game-opening drives this season.
- Fellow quarterback Byrd Ficklin had a nine-yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter for his first rushing touchdown of the season.
- Wide receiver Ricky Johnson set personal bests with four catches and 43 yards with a long reception of 18 yards.
Defense
- Utah held the Aggies to 188 total yards, a season-best for the Utah defense and the fewest allowed by the Utes since the Colorado game last season (140).
- Utah held the Aggies to 58 rushing yards, marking the second straight game a Utah opponent rushed for under 100 yards (Arkansas had 61 last week). The last time that happened in consecutive weeks was in the first two games of the 2025 season (UCLA – 84; Cal Poly – 65); the last time both games were against FBS teams were the final two games of 2023 (Colorado – 37; Northwestern – 65).
- The Utes held Utah State to a three-and-out on its first possession of the game. Utah has held two of three opponents without a first down and has not allowed a touchdown on all three game-opening drives.
- Utah had five TFLs and four sacks in the game. It included the first 1.5 sacks of linebacker Cyrus Polu's career, while Polu's 1.5 TFL today were also a career-best.
- Safety Rabbit Evans made his first career interception, reeling in a pass headed for the corner of the end zone during the third quarter. It was a third-down play and Evans also assisted on another third-down stop later in the game.
- Utah handily won the first-down battle in the first quarter, 12-0. Utah State did not record a first down until early in the second quarter (on its third drive of the game).
- Linebacker Trey Reynolds set a new career-high with 10 tackles. It was the first 10-tackle game by a Utah player this season.
- Linebacker Elijah Elliss also reset his career-high tackles with five, including an assisted TFL.
Special Teams
- Kicker Dillon Curtis connected on a 54-yard field goal late in the second quarter. It was the first make from 50-plus yards since Curtis made a 53-yarder last season vs. Colorado and matched Curtis' career-long (54) which he made on first collegiate field goal attempt—last year in the season opener at UCLA.
- Curtis remains perfect on the season with PATs (15-of-15) and is now 3-for-3 on field goals.
- Playing on the punt team, Nate Tilmon came up with a fumble recovery after Utah State muffed a punt from Orion Phillips. It gave the Utes great field position with 54 seconds left in the second quarter and set up a three-play touchdown drive to send Utah into the locker room with a 26-0 halftime lead.
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