Estimated read time: 10-11 minutes
Editor's note: Read the schedule preview of Southern Utah and Baylor in Part 1 here, Utah State and Oklahoma State in Part 2 here, Arizona and Arizona State in Part 3 here, and TCU and Houston in Part 4 here.
SALT LAKE CITY — We continue down Utah's 2024 schedule with two more opponents after the second bye of the season — a return to the rivalry game against BYU (in conference play no less), and another meeting against Colorado (the pretend — forced even? — rival).
Listen to a breakdown of these games weekly on the Utah Checkdown podcast.
BYU Cougars
Date: Saturday, Nov. 9 (TBA)
Location: Rice-Eccles Stadium; Salt Lake City, UT
2023 record: 5-7 (2-7 Big 12)
Final AP ranking: N/A
Last meeting: Sept. 11, 2021, Provo; BYU won 26-17
Preseason win projection: 4.5 wins
Big 12 preseason poll 13th
Welcome back to the rivalry game as a conference matchup. For years, Utah could argue the game meant nothing more than bragging rights since it had no bearing on conference standings. Now, there's a little bit more meaning behind a hotly-contested game that pits households against each other.
I'll let you debate whether that's a good thing or not (Cam Rising certainly wants to beat BYU).
The Cougars hold the most recent bragging rights after earning a win at their place in a cathartic and emotional night in Provo in 2021. But Utah fans will argue that BYU never had to face Rising, who was named the team's starter two weeks later. Barring injury, Rising gets his chance, finally, to take a swing at BYU.
It should make for another entertaining rivalry meeting (Oh, and both teams enter the rivalry game off a bye week — an extra week of in-state debate).
"We'll go to church, and then we'll battle it out the next week," defensive lineman Junior Tafuna joked during Big 12 media days.
Compared to the teams we've reviewed as part of Utah's schedule breakdown, BYU was relatively quiet in the transfer portal. The Cougars lost 16 players and brought in 10 in the offseason — not a terrible number, just lower than many other teams we've reviewed. That can help with consistency but doesn't provide much of an upgrade to a team that missed a bowl last season.
Most notably, though, BYU restocked the cupboards in the QB room, adding Gerry Bohanon (USF), McCae Hillstead (Utah State), and Treyson Bourguet (Western Michigan) after losing two QBs to the transfer portal and former starter Kedon Slovis graduated to the NFL.
BYU returns Jake Retzlaff under center, but the expectation is that he'll battle it out with Bohanon and Hillstead for the starting job. Retzlaff started in four games last season for the Cougars but had a somewhat lackluster showing (648 yards, 3 TDs, 50.4%). The early belief is Bohanon will earn the starting nod for the Cougars, but time will tell.
Bohanon missed all of the 2023 season at South Florida due to a torn labrum to his throwing shoulder, so the last true action on the field came in 2022 where he threw for 1,070 yards, six touchdowns and six interceptions at a 56.9% completion percentage in seven games. He'll need to be more efficient if he wants to earn a starting role, though.
(He was more efficient at Baylor, so there's an opportunity there, but that was three years ago.)
The QB situation remains one of the biggest questions for the Cougars coming into the 2024 season after a down offensive year in the program's first season in the Big 12. There's more at play than just the QB, but it's a good place to start; and if BYU can't get that to work, they'll have a tough time improving upon last season.
Fortunately for the Cougars, they return one of the most dynamic players on the roster in wide receiver Chase Roberts, who led BYU with 573 yards and five touchdowns (and was the highest-graded offensive player in PFF). Roberts has limitless potential and is worthy of serious attention.
Behind Roberts, BYU returns Kody Epps, Keanu Hill, Jackson Bowers and Ryner Swanson, among others, to bring added experience to the field, which should help whichever QB earns the starting nod to have experienced pass catchers. This group should be improved from a year ago, but, again, QB will be a factor.
In the backfield, BYU returns up-and-coming back LJ Martin, who led a mostly slow-developing run game with 518 yards and four touchdowns. Behind Martin is Miles Davis, who entered his name in the transfer portal before eventually withdrawing, and others who should help add to an improved run game.
BYU will need much more production out of the run game this year if they hope to make progress from last year, and there's reason to believe it can. Some of that will be aided by a veteran offensive line that will be led by center Connor Pay.
Despite BYU making a switch on defense to bring Jay Hill in to lead the squad, the Cougars continued a downward slide in all standard statistical categories — including a finish at 99th in scoring defense, 112th in run defense, 92nd in passing defense, and 109th in total defense.
Hill returns the bulk of his defensive roster and will have all the opportunity to improve upon last season and put his noted stamp on the Cougars defense. That defense will likely be led by Tyler Batty on the defensive line.
Last season, Batty was the top-graded defensive player for BYU, according to PFF. He finished with 57 tackles, nine tackles for loss, and 5.5 sacks — in addition to eight QB hurries and two forced fumbles. But they'll need more on the line — someone to make a jump — to be where Hill wants his defense to be as a 4-3 base.
The Cougars add Jack Kelly from Weber State (he knows Hill's defense well) to help in the linebacker room, where they lose last year's two main starters AJ Vongphachanh and Max Tooley. Kelly will likely be lined up next to Ben Bywater, who suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in October.
But Bywater is still coming back from the injury, and time will tell whether he'll be ready for the season start. Assuming all is well, he'll likely be available against Utah.
In the secondary, BYU returns several players — Jakob Robinson, Raider Damuni, Micah Harper — with starter experience and are expected to have a better season. Experience will be key for this group as they look to add onto what they did last season.
All in all, head coach Kalani Sitake wants his team to be more consistent and physical, and that starts on the defensive side of the ball.
Offense (2023 stats)
Scoring: 23.1 points (31.9 five-year average)
Rushing: 104.3 yards (163.5)
Passing: 205.4 yards (267.2)
Total offense: 309.8 yards (430.8)
Defense (2023 stats)
Scoring: 29.8 points (25.0 five-year average)
Rushing: 177.7 yards (159.1)
Passing: 240.0 yards (225.9)
Total offense: 417.7 yards (385.0)
Colorado Buffaloes
Date: Saturday, Nov. 16 (TBA)
Location: Folsom Field; Boulder, CO
2023 record: 4-8 (1-8 Pac-12)
Final AP ranking: N/A
Last meeting: Nov. 25, 2023, Salt Lake City; Utah won 23-17
Preseason win projection: 5.5 wins
Big 12 preseason poll 11th
Welcome to everyone's Super Bowl — or so that's how starting quarterback Shadeur Sanders sees it.
So far, the Buffaloes have been all show and no substance in Deion Sanders' attempt to build Colorado to a top team. But anyone being honest knew it would take more than one season for Colorado to get out of the cellar as previously one of the worst teams in FBS.
The problem is, the transfer portal continues to churn, and it's tough to accurately predict what Colorado will do in the second season of the "Coach Prime" era. Colorado could be great, or it could be another year of mediocre play — even with Shadeur Sanders and dynamic two-way athlete Travis Hunter on the roster.
Coach Prime has brought a ton of attention to Boulder, but Year 2 is where things get tougher.
Colorado lost 41 players to the transfer portal, and bring in 42 — a complete line change to last year's team. And with the change, Colorado is expected to be better simply because they've upgraded at several positions. But it's still a lot of change in a little amount of time.
Shadeur Sanders comes in as one of the best quarterbacks in the game, with high NFL draft value, but he had 52 sacks last season to limit some of what he can do on the field — some. He threw for 3,230 yards and 27 touchdowns to just three interceptions and showcased why many consider him one of the best in the country.
If given time, Sanders can and will hurt opposing defenses. And with Hunter there to throw to, Sanders has an impressive target to do some damage. Hunter was the second-leading receiver on the Buffaloes last season, amassing 721 yards and five touchdowns in nine games. Those numbers would have certainly been higher if not for an injury that sidelined him for a few weeks.
Xavier Weaver, Colorado's leading receiver last season with 908 yards, now plays in the NFL, but Jimmy Horn Jr. returns for another season (567 yards, 6 TDs) to add another weapon on the field.
Colorado upgraded in the portal with the additions of FAU leading receiver LaJohntay Wester (1,168 yards, 8 TDs), Vanderbilt leader receiver Will Sheppard (684 yards, 8 TDs), and Cincinnati tight end Chamon Metayer (258 yards, 5 TDs), in addition to up-and-coming talent Terrell Timmons Jr. (NC State), Cordale Russell (TCU) and tight end Sam Hart (Ohio State).
Sanders and Hunter are Colorado's best options, but offensive line play will be integral to the team's success. The Buffaloes brought in nine offensive lineman from the transfer portal to retool the entire unit.
But expecting the line to gel immediately will be a tall task; however, even being a little better will go a long way for Colorado — it honestly can't get much worse.
Speaking of offensive line play, Colorado garnered only 68.9 rushing yards per game last season — dead last out of 133 FBS teams. Freshman back Dylan Edwards led the charge, but only finished with 321 rushing yards and one touchdown. Edwards entered the transfer portal after the season and is now at Kansas State, where he'll get a chance to play his former team in October.
Coach Prime brought in two up-and-coming backs — Isaiah Augustave (Arkansas) and Dallan Hayden (Ohio State) — from the transfer portal, but neither is especially proven yet ... and there's still question as to what the offensive line will look like this season.
And with new offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur calling the shots, there's an expected emphasis on the run game. Shurmur, traditionally, likes an outside zone game, with an emphasis on running the ball on first down. So having an effective run game will be pivotal to what Shurmur hopes to do with the offense (to compliment a dynamic passing attack).
On defense, Hunter, again, is the star. But he can only do so much given where Colorado was on defense last season — near last in almost all major statistical categories, including No. 130 in total defense.
There's only room to go up at this point.
Exactly half (21 players) of the total transfers coming into Colorado are on the defensive side of the ball, spread out through all position groups, though the biggest impact players (at least on paper) came on the defensive line. There's no secret Colorado needed to be better in the trenches, and Sanders is doing what he can to rebuild there quickly.
The Buffaloes get proven players on the line, with interior lineman Rayyan Buell (Ohio), and edge rushers B.J. Green (Arizona State), Quency Wiggins (LSU), Samuel Okunlola (Pittsburgh). Green led the Sun Devils as the top-graded player in PFF and is expected to be a Day 1 starter with the Buffaloes.
If Colorado can create more havoc plays up front, that should help relax much of what happens behind them to help improve with consistency. But the defense will be led by first-time defensive coordinator Robert Livingston, who has spent most of his coaching tenure as the secondary coach with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Livingston has a good reputation coaching the secondary, but it's unknown how he'll do in his first year overseeing the entire defense. His goal is to add "versatility" to the defense, especially in the secondary, to cater to his team's strengths.
But, again, Livingston is unproven as a DC, so there's little to go with in terms of how he'll do coaching. That's a tall order for a first-time DC, but expect improvement.
By the time Utah travels to Boulder, much more will be known about both sides of the ball; but even with improved talent on both sides of the ball, Colorado remains an unknown.
Offense (2023 stats)
Scoring: 28.2 points (22.9 five-year average)
Rushing: 68.9 yards (133.2)
Passing: 294.7 yards (207.7)
Total offense: 363.6 yards (341.0)
Defense (2023 stats)
Scoring: 34.8 points (33.9 five-year average)
Rushing: 176.4 yards (187.0)
Passing: 276.9 yards (262.3)
Total offense: 453.3 yards (449.2)
