Utah football: Five numbers that tell the story of 43-10 win over Arkansas
Sep 13, 2026, 4:07 PM | Updated: Sep 14, 2026, 2:05 pm
Arkansas Razorbacks vs. Utah Utes at Rice Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday, Sep 12, 2026. (Photo: Joel A. Davidson / UteZone, On3.com)
(Photo: Joel A. Davidson / UteZone, On3.com)
SALT LAKE CITY — Morgan Scalley’s Utah football squad was supposed to beat Arkansas on Saturday night.
The Utes were 12.5-point favorites entering the game, but the manner in which they handled the Razorbacks was far more convincing than the point spread suggested.
Utah built a 29-3 halftime lead and eventually walked away with a 43-10 victory, pairing an explosive offense with a defense that made life increasingly difficult for Arkansas after its opening possession.
The box score tells part of the story. A deeper look at the numbers tells considerably more.
13.9 yards per first-down pass
Utah’s offensive efficiency was driven by how aggressively it attacked Arkansas on first down.
The Utes completed 13-of-17 first-down passes for 236 yards — an average of 13.9 yards per attempt. By comparison, Utah’s 17 first-down rushing attempts produced only 39 yards, or 2.3 yards per carry.
That’s a fascinating split because it shows Kevin McGiven wasn’t simply leaning on the run game and asking Devon Dampier to clean up favorable situations. Utah was using the passing game to create those favorable situations.
Arkansas was determined to account for Dampier’s legs and Wayshawn Parker in the run game, which created opportunities behind and around the second level. Utah repeatedly exploited those looks with Noah Bennee, Parker and its receivers.
The result was an offense that rarely found itself playing from behind the chains. Rather than constantly facing second-and-8 or third-and-long, Utah’s early-down passing game created explosives, moved the sticks and opened the rest of McGiven’s playbook.
It is another significant departure from last season.
Utah’s offense isn’t simply asking the passing game to complement the run anymore. Through two games, it has shown an ability to use the pass to dictate how defenses have to play.
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66.7% blitz rate
Utah’s offensive line gave up just three pressures on the night. An impressive outing for any offensive line, but a particularly encouraging one give the context surrounding this group.
And what makes Utah’s protection performance more impressive, Arkansas didn’t sit back and let Dampier operate comfortably. According to PFF, the Razorbacks blitzed on 18 of Dampier’s 27 dropbacks — 66.7% of the time.
Against the blitz, Dampier completed 11-of-17 passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns. More importantly, Arkansas’ pressure plan didn’t produce the negative plays necessary to derail Utah’s offense.
When Arkansas chose not to blitz, Utah punished it even more severely. Dampier completed 7-of-8 passes for 143 yards — 17.9 yards per attempt — against four-man-or-fewer pressure looks.
That’s the bind Utah created. Bring extra defenders and trust the secondary to survive one-on-one matchups, or sit back in coverage and give Dampier time to attack downfield. Neither answer worked particularly well.
And that’s where the offensive line deserves considerable credit. Arkansas spent most of the night trying to manufacture pressure, yet Utah’s blockers were charged with only three pressures allowed.
6-for-6
Utah reached the red zone six times and scored six touchdowns. That’s about as efficient as an offense can be.
Four scores came on the ground and two through the air, giving Utah 43 points on its six red-zone opportunities. Arkansas reached the red zone twice and came away with 10 points.
The red-zone success is encouraging because it was a question mark coming into the season. The Utes were tops in the country in red zone touchdown efficiency last season.
It did not seem doable again this year, but through two games Utah has crossed the goal-line 13 times in 15 trips to the red zone.
Utah has consistently shown an ability to finish drives once the field becomes condensed, using Dampier’s legs, Parker’s versatility and a variety of personnel packages to stress defenses in different ways.
Against Arkansas, the Utes didn’t need to settle. Once they got close, they finished.
The #UBOYZ were completely dominant on all sides of the ball‼️#GoUtes | #RSNB pic.twitter.com/4vlfJe7Nle
— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) September 13, 2026
2.2 yards per carry
The biggest offseason concern though, stopping the run. And Arkansas entered the game believing its size and physicality would test Utah’s rebuilt defensive front.
But the Razorbacks finished with 61 rushing yards on 28 attempts — just 2.2 yards per carry.
That’s one of the most encouraging numbers of the night for Utah.
The defensive line was one of the program’s biggest unknowns entering the season, and Arkansas provided a much different physical test than Idaho.
Jireh Moe responded with his breakout performance as a Ute, finishing with eight tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack. Johnathan Hall also had eight tackles and a sack.
More impressive than the number of tackles from those two was the average depth of tackle against the run by them.
Hall had a 1.8 yard average depth of tackle on four stops against the run, while Moe averaged 0.0 average depth of tackle on his three run game stops.
Arkansas never established the rushing attack it needed to keep the offense on schedule.
That forced the Razorbacks into longer passing situations — exactly where Utah wanted them.
𝐓𝐇𝐄 definition of 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 🐐
Congratulations again to @weddlesbeard for his induction into the @NFFNetwork 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐚𝐦𝐞, and for becoming the 4th member of 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫 🤝#GoUtes | #RSNB pic.twitter.com/IH0hu9j1yp
— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) September 13, 2026
13 pass breakups
This might be the defensive statistic that best summarizes the night. Utah finished with 13 pass breakups to go along with four sacks and an interception.
Starting quarterback KJ Jackson completed only 14-of-34 passes for 139 yards, no touchdowns and an interception.
Utah’s defensive backs repeatedly challenged Arkansas receivers at the catch point. Elijah Reed, James Chenault Jr., Jackson Bennee and others all contributed to a secondary performance that allowed Utah to play aggressively without constantly manufacturing pressure.
The combination worked. The defensive front made Jackson uncomfortable, while the secondary rarely gave him easy answers downfield. Windows were tight and Utah’s defensive backs did a great job of disrupting the catch point.
After Arkansas drove 64 yards on its opening possession, the Razorbacks struggled to generate anything consistently until their late touchdown against Utah’s reserves.
