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The No. 20-ranked Utah Utes will open their 2024 college football season against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds on Thursday, August 29, at Rice-Eccles Stadium, Utah. Utah managed an 8-5 record last season, while the Thunderbirds registered a 6-5 mark.
The Utes welcome back a ton of experience led by tight end Brant Kuithe and quarterback Cam Rising. This gives them a boost in what promises to be a thrilling season with an expanded 12-team college football playoff.
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Notable matchup records between Utah and Southern Utah
The Utah Utes and Southern Utah Thunderbirds have met twice, with the latter winning both contests. The first of these matchups occurred on September 1, 2016, when the Utes won 24-0. Their second meeting was on September 10, 2022, when Utah routed the Thunderbirds 73-7.
Who is favored in Utah vs. Southern Utah game?
The bookies favor the Utah Utes to win the game by 38.5 points. Last season, Kyle Whittingham's team finished 6-5-1 against the spread. The over/under is also set at 54 points.
Utah vs. Southern Utah preview
The big news ahead of the game is the return of Cam Rising, who has not played college football in over 600 days. The Thunderbirds are a familiar opponent for the quarterback, who dominated in his team's 73-7 win against them in 2023, throwing for 254 yards and three touchdowns.
During his Monday news conference, coach Kyle Whittingham revealed his objectives against Southern Utah.
"A clean football game; executing the way that we should execute. Limiting penalties. The whole mechanism of substitution, special teams functions. Everything in the whole operation needs to be clean. And that's what we're really looking for. No delay of games, minimize false starts, just those sloppy penalties that can show up particularly early in the season. We'd like to get off to a great start on all that stuff," Whittingham said.
Rising has 5,572 passing yards and 47 touchdowns. His return, coupled with Brant Kuithe's renewed health, has made the Utes Big 12 favorites after they won two Pac-12 championships in 2021 and 2022 before their conference switch.
Whittingham hopes to boost his program's early confidence with a season-opening win this weekend against an upset-minded state rival.
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