Utah gets its first crack at revenge without Kyle Whittingham on the sideline, and BYU is walking into Salt Lake City as the trendiest pick to win the Big 12.
Bush’s Picks
BYUUTAH
BYUUTAH
OverUnder
Best BetBYU
BYU enters preseason as the trendy Big 12 favorite off a 12-win season, and that continuity — same quarterback, same coach, a top-15 transfer class — is exactly the kind of profile that wins close rivalry games. Utah has more question marks up front and on a first-year staff, which is where moneyline value tends to erode fastest in a hostile road environment. Back the Cougars to make it four straight.
BYU
+won last three Holy Wars in a row
+Bachmeier returns healthy after strong freshman debut
+top-15 transfer class, best recruiting class in program history
−top WR Parker Kingston cut after arrest
−no proven backup quarterback sorted out
−only two NFL draft picks despite 12-win season
Utah
+Dampier fully healthy after playing hurt in 2025
+set program's single-season rushing record in 2025
+landed a composite Top-50 national recruit
−first-year coach Morgan Scalley replacing Whittingham after 21 years
−replacing all five starting offensive linemen
−cornerback room gutted by transfer portal departures
This is Bear Bachmeier's rivalry game now. The true freshman rallied BYU from a fourth-quarter deficit to beat Utah last year, and he returns for year two with a healed ankle and a full offseason under his belt instead of a midseason baptism by fire. On the other sideline, Devon Dampier is finally playing without the sports hernia that nagged him for most of 2025 — a 2,490-yard, 24-touchdown season that came while he wasn't fully right physically. Two ascending quarterbacks, one healthy for the first time, headline a rivalry that's been decided by a field goal or less in each of the last two meetings.
BYU comes in with the louder résumé: 12 wins in 2025, a Big 12 title game appearance, and a Pop-Tarts Bowl comeback over Georgia Tech. Utah counters with 11 wins and a rushing record set in a 44-22 Las Vegas Bowl blowout of Nebraska. Both programs are treating 2026 like a continuation, not a rebuild — except Utah actually is rebuilding, just not at quarterback. Morgan Scalley takes over a program Whittingham ran for 21 seasons, and he's replacing all five starting offensive linemen while adjusting to a new coordinator calling plays for Dampier.
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UTAH Utah
That's the tension of this one heading toward November: a BYU team riding continuity and preseason buzz against a Utah team that still has the horses but is asking a lot of new faces up front and in a new staff room. The name on the building hasn't changed in Provo. In Salt Lake City, plenty has.
BYU Cougars
Oct 30?vs Arizona State—
Oct 16?vs Notre Dame—
Oct 9?vs Iowa State—
Oct 2?@ TCU—
Sep 19?@ Colorado State—
Sep 12?vs Arizona—
Sep 5?vs Utah Tech—
Utah Utes
Oct 30?@ Cincinnati—
Oct 16?@ Colorado—
Oct 9?vs Kansas—
Sep 25?@ Iowa State—
Sep 19?vs Utah State—
Sep 12?vs Arkansas—
Sep 3?vs Idaho—
Recent form.
BYU's receiving corps took a hit when Parker Kingston was cut from the program following a February arrest, leaving Bachmeier's top target job up for grabs behind transfers Kyler Kasper and Walker Lyons. The Cougars also don't have a proven backup quarterback sorted out yet, with Treyson Bourguet and freshman Enoch Watson still competing for QB2 — not ideal if Bachmeier takes a hit in as physical a game as this one always is. Utah's issue is more structural: an offensive line replacing five departed starters, including two NFL draft picks off the interior, and a cornerback room gutted by the transfer portal.
BYU Cougars
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Utah Utes
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
BYU has won three straight in this series, but Utah still holds a commanding 60-33 edge in the all-time count and hasn't forgotten what it felt like to own this rivalry for nine years running before the Cougars flipped it. A new coach trying to set the tone for his tenure has every reason to make BYU's trip to Salt Lake City miserable, and a home crowd desperate to snap a three-game skid tends to bring more juice than a road environment for the favorite. If Scalley wants to announce that Utah football didn't leave with Whittingham, this is the game to do it in.
