Can No. 12 Utes keep it rolling against Kansas and get Scalley off to best start by a Utah coach?

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A lot has gone right for Morgan Scalley’s Utes in 2026.

Despite replacing the entire starting offensive line, most of the starters on the defensive line and a good chunk of the coaching staff, including heralded offensive line coach Jim Harding and offensive coordinator Jason Beck, the Utes have hit the ground running in Scalley’s inaugural season as the head coach.

By just about any metric, the Utes are one of the best teams in college football.

Utah ranks No. 11 in the nation in total offense, No. 12 in scoring offense, No. 15 in total defense and No. 3 in scoring defense. In all but one quarter of Utah’s schedule, the Utes have been dominant, often putting games to bed by the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Sure, Utah’s schedule hasn’t exactly been a murderers’ row, but all the Utes can do is play who is in front of them, and they’ve responded by beating every opponent by at least 14 points.

Quarterback Devon Dampier has been efficient, throwing for 896 yards and nine touchdowns with just one interception on a 70.3% completion percentage, while adding 135 yards and two scores on the ground.

Wayshawn Parker has staked his claim as one of the Big 12’s premier running backs with 328 yards and five touchdowns on the ground and 154 yards and four scores as a receiver, and receiver Braden Pegan has emerged as a go-to threat for the offense.

Offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven has made Ute fans forget about Beck with his creative and effective offense that features two quarterbacks (Dampier and Byrd Ficklin) and a variety of interesting formations and plays.

‘Being multiple’

“I think the whole idea was being multiple and trying to distribute the football and getting everybody involved, making defenses have to defend the whole field and not knowing where the ball’s going to land,” McGiven said. “That I think is a big part of our identity.”

Defensively, Utah has quelled fears raised last season by being one of the best teams against the run so far in 2026, holding teams to only 84 rushing yards a game. Against run-heavy Iowa State, the Utes held the Cyclones 93 yards under their 204-rushing-yards-per-game average.

If there’s been anything to nitpick in Utah’s excellent play during the first third of the season, it’s been a couple of slow starts to the second half.

Against Utah State, the Utes failed to score on their first two drives, turning the ball over on downs and fumbling it. Against Iowa State, the Utes punted on three straight drives to open the third quarter before scoring the game-clinching touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Each of those drives took up just five plays, with only one drive getting into Iowa State territory.

“Iowa State’s the one time where coming out of halftime, I thought, ‘OK, we’re not as clean as we need to be,’” Scalley said.

Nearing history

While Utah’s head coach will be emphasizing a strong second-half start this Saturday, he’s a long, long, long way from pushing the panic button.

“Really in my opinion, one game where you’re saying, OK, probably wasn’t clean enough coming out of the half. Other than that, it’s not time to panic,” Scalley said.

After a 5-0 start to his head coaching career, which began with a Las Vegas Bowl victory last season, Scalley needs just one more win to set the record for best start to a Ute coaching career, surpassing Jim Fassel.

Debuting the 𝒊𝒄𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒔 for the first time this season, with the new lids 😮‍💨🧊#GoUtes | #RSNB | @UofUHealthpic.twitter.com/ubJG7X79WJ

— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) October 9, 2026

Scalley and his Utes will try to make Utah history against Kansas in a late-night white out game at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

The program will be hosting its first-ever “white out” game, encouraging fans to wear white. Artist Armando Villarreal, who has worked with Utah on helmets in the past, has hand-painted each of the helmets for Saturday’s game. The new helmets feature a “Utah” script with icicles, snow and mountains throughout.

The Jayhawks enter Salt Lake City at 2-2 with blowout wins over Middle Tennessee and Long Island University and losses to Missouri and Arizona State. While the Jayhawks’ offensive and defensive numbers are impressive — Kansas enters the game with the nation’s eighth-best rushing offense (254 yards per game) and the eighth-best total defense (244.8 yards allowed per game) — when you narrow it down to the Jayhawks’ two Power Four games, the numbers slip.

In those two games, Kansas is averaging 129.5 rushing yards and allowing 348.5 total yards per game.

Containing the run

Even though Kansas hasn’t wowed against Power Four competition yet, the Jayhawks’ rushing offense could pose a threat to the Utes, who have so far done a great job against the run.

Dylan Edwards sets the tone for the Jayhawks, rushing for 296 yards and three touchdowns on 50 carries, but behind him, there’s a dearth of options due to three injuries hurting depth.

Jalen Dupree has stepped up with 103 yards and two scores on 21 carries, but the Jayhawks’ second rushing option is dual-threat quarterback Isaiah Marshall.

In addition to 810 yards passing for six touchdowns with three interceptions on a 54.8 completion rate, Marshall has rushed for 234 yards on 51 carries. Kansas will try and run the ball often, especially if rain showers appear during the game.

Against FBS opponents, Kansas has run the ball nearly 60% of the time — one of the highest percentages in college football this season.

Containing Marshall and Edwards will be job No. 1 for the Utes.

“Keeping a guy like that contained. You can’t let a guy like that out in space. He really hurts you with his feet,” defensive coordinator Colton Swan said of Marshall.

“His feet really are exemplified if he gets out in space, and so really teaching our defensive linemen how to take away his superpower, his feet, and keep a guy like that contained.That is echoed throughout our whole defense and also game plan is making sure that we can take guys like that away.”

Turnover game

While Utah hasn’t forced a ton of turnovers this season, that could change Saturday against Kansas, which has turned the ball over seven times.

“I would say we need more turnovers, honestly. I feel like we haven’t had enough turnovers and just keep attacking the ball,” said safety Rabbit Evans.

When Utah has the ball, the key will be another good performance from the offensive line. The hallmark of Kansas’ defense has been its defensive line, led by defensive ends Leroy Harris III and David Santiago. No team has rushed for over 200 yards against Kansas this season due in large part to good performances from the defensive line and linebackers like Trey Lathan.

Harris III and Santiago will be the players to watch when Kansas is on defense. They have both graded out as some of the best defensive ends in the country and have been effective at getting after the quarterback and stopping the run.

“Their defensive front, very stout, very productive, getting TFLs,” Scalley said. “They’re a pretty aggressive defense. They run to the ball. You can tell they’re coached really well.”

Utah is favored by 15.5 points at home in what should be a rocking environment.

“It should be a pretty awesome environment for a Kansas team that is physical,” Scalley said.

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