Utah football by the numbers: The good, bad and otherwise

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It’s not the position Utah players and coaches thought they would be in at this point, but seven weeks in, the Utes are 4-3 with a 1-3 record in Big 12 play.
As Kyle Whittingham’s team looks to get back on track with its first win in over a month, here’s a look at five stats that paint the picture of Utah’s 2024 season.
The 2024 season started off a little bit shaky for sophomore Spencer Fano. As a freshman, Fano was entrusted with probably the most vital spot along the offensive line, protecting the quarterback’s blind side at left tackle.
This year, he moved to right tackle, his old high school position.
There were certainly ups and downs during Fano’s first season, and he had a rough first game against Southern Utah in the 2024 opener, allowing a sack and four pressures, two of which resulted in a quarterback hurry.
Since that game, however, he’s been not only Utah’s best offensive lineman, but one of its best offensive players, period.
The young tackles — sophomore Fano and redshirt freshman Caleb Lomu — have been the strength of the offensive line, while the interior has struggled at times, especially against TCU.
Fano holds a Pro Football Focus grade of 89.9 on a 100-point scale, and his run-blocking grade of 91.8 is the best in the entire nation.
“When you’re good on the edges, which is the most demanding offensive line spot is the edges, you’re out on that island, you got a chance to really be good. And both him and Caleb Lomu are doing an excellent job out there,” Whittingham said.
Historically, Utah has been successful at winning the turnover margin — taking care of the ball on the offense and taking it away on defense.
This year, that hasn’t been the case.
It’s mostly due to the large amount of giveaways by the offense this season — Utah has 12 turnovers on the season, with eight interceptions from Isaac Wilson, three interceptions from Cam Rising and a fumble by Micah Bernard.
Meanwhile, the Utes are tied for 62nd in the country in terms of turnovers generated by the defense with nine total — seven interceptions and two fumbles. Elijah Davis leads the way with two interceptions, while five other players — Tao Johnson, Alaka’i Gilman, Smith Snowden, Junior Tafuna and Cameron Cahoun each have one.
With five games left, Utah is in danger of snapping one of its longest-running streaks. For the last 20 seasons, the Utes have returned an interception for a touchdown and still needs one this year to break the NCAA record for most consecutive seasons with a pick-six.
It’s something that has become routine every year for Kyle Whittingham’s program, but we have yet to see it this season.
“We want to be in the league defense at the end of the day and part of that is making havoc plays,” defensive end Logan Fano said.
It’s a pretty sound defensive strategy against a true freshman quarterback — bring extra pressure and force him to speed up his game.
Teams have been blitzing Wilson on 45.3% of his dropbacks this season, and that number has passed the 50% mark two times — Oklahoma State blitzed him 58.8% of the time and TCU blitzed him 51.2% of the time.
Until Wilson and the Utes can make teams pay for doing it, teams are going to continue to send extra pressure at him with no consequences.
An inexperienced quarterback has taken his lumps in his first taste of Power Four football, and while he has to improve when facing pressure, there may be things interim offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian can do to help him.
Look for Bajakian to possibly give him more quick routes — and hot routes — so he can get the ball out faster when facing pressure.
Figuring out how to help Wilson against the blitz is going to be priority No. 1 for Bajakian as offensive coordinator.
Utah’s defensive deficiencies — missed tackles, giving up too many big plays at key times, and lack of sacks — have been well-documented.
While there’s still things to improve, considering the fact the defense has been on the field a lot due to the offensive inefficiencies, there’s a lot to like about Utah’s defense.
Morgan Scalley’s unit ranks No. 12 nationally in points allowed per game (16.43), No. 20 in total defense (305.6 yards per game) and No. 7 in first downs allowed (98 total this season).
But the most impressive stat is the rate in which Utah is getting off the field on third downs. It’s not perfect — and has allowed a few too many third-and-long conversions this season — but opponents are moving the chains on third downs at just a 26.2% rate against the Utes. That’s good for fifth-best in the country.
“We’re a very good defense. We’re not elite and it takes us terminating those plays to become elite and we’re working toward that,” Scalley said last week.
Utah’s offensive ineptitude has been the story of the season. After three straight losses in which the Utes scored just 10, 19 and seven points, respectively, things came to a head.
All of those games were winnable if the Utes had respectable offensive production, and after three straight performances in which Utah looked like it had no answers on that side of the ball, offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig resigned.
Bajakian, who has been Utah’s quarterbacks coach this season, takes over as offensive coordinator for the rest of the season and will call his first game this Saturday against Houston.
Don’t expect any wholesale changes to Utah’s offense — Bajakian will be working out of the current playbook — but if the offense becomes a little bit less predictable and can score a few more touchdowns per game, that will be a huge improvement from its current state.
“I mean, we’re not recreating the wheel here. We’re going to just keep it simple, really help out our O line, more speed and space, just simple stuff. Really simplify things for our team,” Wilson said.
After nearly six years in his second stint at Utah, offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig resigned on Sunday night after the Utes’ 13-7 home loss to TCU and Kyle Whittingham tapped quarterbacks coach Mike Bajakian to be Utah’s interim offensive coordinator. Here’s a look at Bajakian’s history and how he can get Utah’s offense back on track.
‘A very dynamic personality’: What Whittingham says about new interim OC Mike Bajakian (Deseret News)
Big 12 power rankings: BYU, Iowa State remain at top after scares, while Utah falls further (Deseret News)
Frustration mounts following another uninspiring offensive performance from Utah (Deseret News)