Utah routs Idaho 66-14 in Scalley's coaching debut
Morgan Scalley's first game at Rice-Eccles ended in a 66-14 rout of Idaho, with Devon Dampier and Byrd Ficklin splitting quarterback reps and Wayshawn Parker scoring 3 touchdowns before halftime.
Scalley's first game at Rice-Eccles never got interesting
Idaho quarterback Joshua Wood was intercepted on the third play from scrimmage, Utah led 31-7 by halftime, and the only real question by the fourth quarter was how many reserves Morgan Scalley could get onto the field. Utah finished with 633 yards of total offense against 225 for Idaho, according to the Deseret News, and the 66-14 final is about as clean a debut as a first-year head coach could draw up.
Idaho66-14The interesting part was how Utah got there. Offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven played both quarterbacks, and both delivered: Devon Dampier went 13 of 18 for 176 yards and 3 touchdowns before the break, then Byrd Ficklin followed with 93 yards and 2 more scores through the air, plus 70 yards on the ground, capped by an on-the-run completion to Mana Carvalho for 23 yards while rolling right, per the Deseret News. That is quarterback depth most Big 12 rooms do not have, and Scalley spent the opener using every bit of it.
The rebuilt offensive line got its first real grade, and passed
Scalley closed fall camp naming a captains' group — Dampier, Wayshawn Parker, Alex Harrison, Jonathan Hall, Trey Reynolds and Nate Ritchie — built around a line room that had lost all five starters and still hadn't settled on a five heading into the opener. Against Idaho, the new starting group of Zereoue Williams, Solatoa Moea'i, Harrison, Roger Alderman and Cedric Jefferson didn't allow a sack and generated real push, which Scalley credited afterward: "Good offensive line units finish plays, and so they're pushing guys, they're running down the field, pushing the pile," he told the Deseret News.
The defensive front didn't have as clean a night — just 1 sack and 4 tackles for loss, and Idaho's more experienced offensive line found room for one legitimate 13-play scoring drive. Scalley wasn't panicked about it: "I do feel like sacks are great, but hitting the quarterback is what you're really after, and I thought we did a pretty good job making life uncomfortable for him," he said, adding he'd review the tape before passing judgment on the backup tackles. Idaho was never going to be the real test for either line — Arkansas, in 8 days, is.
Wayshawn Parker made the Rogers question disappear in one half
The one real jolt of fall camp came a week before kickoff, when running back NaQuari Rogers entered the transfer portal. Rogers rushed for 1,598 career yards and 11 touchdowns after transferring in from New Mexico, and his representative confirmed the move to On3's Pete Nakos — an odd subtraction for a program that had spent the offseason building out that room.
.@WayshawnParker is living in the end zone‼️ At the half: 🔴 53 yards rushing 🔴 23 yards receiving 🔴 3 TOTAL TDs #GoUtes | #RSNB
Parker made it look like a non-issue. The captain scored 3 total touchdowns — two receiving, one rushing — for 53 rushing yards and 23 receiving yards, all before halftime and on limited snaps, exactly the workhorse role Kevin McGiven's run-first offense was built to hand him. Whatever Rogers's exit cost the depth chart, it didn't cost the offense a beat against Idaho, and Parker didn't need a second half to make the point.
An SEC team, not a Big Sky one, is next up at Rice-Eccles
Utah's next real measuring stick comes on September 12 vs. Arkansas, a week after the Razorbacks play their own opener. Arkansas heads into the year with KJ Jackson newly named the starting quarterback, and the résumé we have on file for them is still last season's: a 17-31 loss to Missouri. Both programs are mid-transition, which makes the extra week of tape a little less trustworthy than usual.
The line opened with Utah favored by 9.5, and the total was set at 54.5 — a fairly middling number for an offense that just hung 66 on somebody. If Idaho proved anything about this year's Utes, it's that a still-settling defensive front and a two-quarterback rotation can get to 60-plus points against overmatched competition. Arkansas will be a very different set of downs.