Utah Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham and his program hope to do better than last season's 5-7 finish in 2025. Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

College football analyst: Utah Utes will have 'big bounce back year'

Originally posted on Utah Utes on SI | By Cole Forsman | Last updated Aug 18, 2025 7:43 PM ET

Utah football head coach Kyle Whittingham tends to use the word "disappointing" whenever he's asked about the Utes' 5-7 finish to last season.

Indeed, dropping seven of their last eight games to end the season near the bottom of the Big 12 standings is not how Whittingham and company envisioned the 2024 campaign playing out — especially after being picked to win the league in its preseason media poll.

But as the Utes revamped their offense around quarterback Devon Dampier and first-year coordinator Jason Beck throughout the offseason, a different (and more positive) phrase started to circulate around Salt Lake City heading into the 2025 regular season: "bounce-back."

It's the same phrase The Athletic's Chris Vaninni used to describe the Utes in his ranking of all 136 Football Bowl Subdivision teams, which had Utah firmly in the top 25 at No. 18.

"My pick for a big bounce back year, behind one of the best offensive lines in college football and New Mexico transfer QB Devon Dampier," Vannini wrote regarding Utah's outlook for 2025.

While not everyone has bought into the hype surrounding Utah's additions on offense, a few of the sport's most prominent personalities and analysts are more bullish than others. On3 analyst Brett McMurphy, Fox Sports commentator Joel Klatt and The Athletic senior writer Ralph Russo — formerly the head of the AP Top 25 poll — are among the prominent figures in the college football community who believed the Utes were deserving of a top 25 spot in the media and coaches' polls.

As for Vannini, he has the Utes as the second-highest ranked Big 12 team entering the season, behind only No. 7 Arizona State and ahead of No. 21 Kansas State, No. 24 Texas Tech, No. 27 Iowa State and the rest of the league. Utah was also the only team that had a losing record last season to check in among Vannini's preseason top 20, and the lone school that ranked No. 70 or worst in his end-of-season 2024 rankings to make it inside the top 50 of his 2025 preseason list.

Utah did not make the Associated Press preseason top 25, nor did it appear on the USA Today coaches' preseason poll either. The Utes did, however, receive a spot in Yahoo Sports' top 25 that released late last week.