Utah’s Offense: Surprising Successes and Hidden Flaws That Could Make or Break the Season

Utah’s offense has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride lately — if you blinked during the 2023 and 2024 seasons, you probably missed their struggles, ranking 92nd and then 115th nationally in total offense, mostly running with backup QBs at the helm. But man, the air’s feeling fresher around Rice-Eccles Stadium these days. Remember Andy Ludwig? The guy was the architect behind some of Utah’s all-time best offensive years — 2008, 2021, 2022 — when the Utes had signal-callers like Cam Rising and Tyler Huntley comfortable in his pro-style system. Once those backups stepped in, the wheels kinda wobbled. Fast-forward to mid-2024, Ludwig steps down, and Utah’s coaching staff, including head coach Kyle Whittingham and heir-apparent Morgan Scalley, went hunting nationwide for an offensive mind who could click fast — which, in this transfer portal era, means dialing in a system that’s both potent and pick-up-and-go. The man they pinned their hopes on? Jason Beck, the New Mexico offensive mastermind whose spread offense rankled defenses, racking up 484.2 yards and over 33 points a game with QB Devon Dampier in 2024. Beck’s ascent wasn’t overnight — from Simon Fraser to BYU and Virginia, and his first Power Five OC job at Syracuse — but his bounce-back at New Mexico caught Utah’s eye. The burning question: can he keep the momentum rolling in Salt Lake City? So far, the signs are promising. For the full scoop on Utah’s offensive renaissance under Beck, dive into the details here: LEARN MORE

After the past two seasons, in which Utah finished No. 92 in total offense (348.4 yards per game) in 2023 and No. 115 (329.8 ypg) in 2024 while being guided by mostly backup quarterbacks, Utah’s current offense has been a breath of fresh air for Ute fans.

Andy Ludwig helped engineer some of the better offensive seasons in school history, including 2008, 2021 and 2022. When a quarterback like Cam Rising or Tyler Huntley had time to learn his pro-style system, it produced good results. With a backup quarterback, not so much.

After Ludwig resigned midseason in 2024, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham and head-coach-in-waiting Morgan Scalley started a national search. The goal, of course, was to find someone that could produce a great offense, but in the transfer portal age, that offense also had to be simple enough for players to pick up in an offseason.

“I give him an A+. Not only in what he’s doing on the field, but his leadership, his impact on the team overall.”

—  Utah coach Kyle Whittingham on QB Devon Dampier

Utah brass landed on New Mexico’s Jason Beck, who helped turn a college football afterthought in Albuquerque into one of the nation’s most productive offenses. With quarterback Devon Dampier, Beck’s offense scored 33.5 points per game and ranked No. 4 nationally in total offense with 484.2 yards per game in 2024.

Those eye-popping numbers put him on Utah’s radar and made him the choice to lead the Utes’ offense in 2025.

As an offensive coordinator, Beck is relatively inexperienced in the grand scheme of college football. He took his first offensive coordinator job at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada, in 2012, then after coaching quarterbacks with Bronco Mendenhall at BYU and Virginia from 2013-21, he got his first chance to be a Power Four offensive coordinator at Syracuse in 2023.

Beck went through some turmoil in his first year as a Power Four OC. The Orange averaged 44.3 points and 507.7 yards in its first four games against Colgate, Western Michigan, Purdue and Army, but a deluge of injuries, including to their star tight end and starting quarterback, derailed the season.

Syracuse ended the season ranked No. 90 in points per game (23.5) and No. 97 in total yards (343.3).

With a fairly healthy team in New Mexico and a dynamic quarterback in Dampier, Beck’s offense clicked and elevated the Lobos to their best season in seven years — a 5-7 record — despite a defense that was among the nation’s worst.

That season was good enough for Beck to make the short list at Utah.

The big question: would Beck and his offense shine at Utah?

So far, the answer has been yes.

Feeling good

“We’ve had a good start. Feel good about where things are, where they’re going, where we need to make improvement,” Beck said. “But yeah, feel good about it.”

Through three games, Utah is averaging 517 yards per game (No. 15 in the nation), including 290 rushing yards (No. 7 in the country). The Utes have converted on third down 71.1% of the time (second best in college football) and have only turned the ball over once.

Sure, Utah’s three games were against UCLA (a bottom-tier Power Four opponent this season), FCS Cal Poly and Mountain West Wyoming, but it’s hard to argue with the results Beck’s offense has produced in the early going.

Beck’s spread attack is run first — Utah is running at a 60.6% clip — and the Utes have been dominant on the ground. Running backs Wayshawn Parker and NaQuari Rogers have provided a formidable one-two punch, with Parker racking up 192 yards and two scores on 27 carries and Rogers adding 152 yards and four scores on 36 carries.

The team’s leading rusher, however, is Dampier, who has carried the ball 33 times for 198 yards and a touchdown. That’s by design, not due to Dampier being pressured — Dampier has been pressured on just 16% of his 99 dropbacks thanks to a stellar offensive line.

Instead, Dampier’s run game is a core tenet of Beck’s offensive philosophy, which is built on the run-pass option.

‘Thorterback’

Beck coined the term “Thorterback,” to refer to a do-it-all, dual-threat quarterback that had some “superhero” in him. He’s found that in Dampier, who has raised his game since arriving at Utah.

Dampier is given a lot of RPO calls and the freedom to make decisions, and he’s made the right decision the majority of the time. His dual-threat ability keeps defenses on their toes and has opened some things up in the passing game.

“My favorite part personally is just the trust level. He gives me every play out there,” Dampier said of Beck’s offense. “There’s multiple options of what I can do with the ball and he makes the plays where I get to make that best decision every play.

“And I think having that freedom, I’m always in control of our destiny and I feel like I make the best decisions on the field.”

Dampier has thrown for 628 yards and seven touchdowns on 73% accuracy with no turnovers, adding 198 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Simply put, his play has been full of the positives from New Mexico and little of the negatives from his last season in Albuquerque.

“I give him an A+. Not only in what he’s doing on the field, but his leadership, his impact on the team overall,” Whittingham said. “He’s just been exactly what we hoped he would be and he’s without question one of our team leaders and the players have embraced him and so I think that we couldn’t have asked any more from him to this point.”

Dampier’s familiarity with Beck’s offense has made the transition as seamless as possible.

“That’s one of the things Dev does best and you don’t necessarily see it, but he has a lot of options on each play — not each play — but on several plays, he has a lot of options and he’s making really good choices of when to hand it, when to pull and throw it, when to pull and run it, and all those different things,” Beck said. “And we just want to continue to give him that and let him do what he does.”

Keeping it creative

One of the other hallmarks of Beck’s offense has been the creative use of his personnel.

Eighteen different players have touched the ball through the first three games, including cornerbacks Smith Snowden and Jackson Bennee and linebacker Lander Barton. He’s run plays for former quarterback Nate Johnson and has utilized do-it-all player Hunter Andrews at tight end and running back, including a few wildcat looks.

He’s brought in an extra offensive lineman at times to better protect Dampier and has even shown some looks with an offensive lineman in the backfield. His run calls have been varied and have worked to success.

Beck has been flexible and been able to tailor his game plans to his personnel. At New Mexico, he didn’t use his tight ends much, but at Utah, they’ve been a focal point of the offense — Dallen Bentley has 112 yards and a touchdown on 11 receptions and Andrews has 63 yards on eight catches.

“We always want to play to our strengths and we always want to be difficult to defend,” Beck said. “So kind of just always working off that premise and then just how the game goes just dictates the situations and that pushes other calls more or less than you think going into it.”

Under Beck, Utah has run a more uptempo style, but has also shown the ability to slow down and milk the clock when needed. Twice now, the Utes have turned in touchdown drives of 19 plays or longer that took up more than half of a quarter.

“There’s certainly a place to have those extended drives. Give your defense a rest, wear out the opposing defense, control, the ball, impose your will,” Whittingham said. “Typically those longer drives have a lot of run aspect to them and so being able to wear them down in the run game, that’s a positive.”

Offense has a new vibe but can still improve

After two seasons of middling offense, Beck has turned things around in Salt Lake City. Utah is fun to watch on offense again, and more importantly, scoring touchdowns.

As the No. 16 Utes enter Big 12 play with a pivotal conference opener against No. 17 Texas Tech, where does the offense need to improve?

To start, the Utes cannot afford to have a half like they did last Saturday against a high-powered Red Raider offense that leads the nation in scoring with 58 points per game. Utah’s offense moved the ball well enough in a 3-0 first half in Laramie, totaling 267 yards and punting just once, but couldn’t finish drives with touchdowns.

Kicker Dillon Curtis was set up in field-goal range four times, but missed three field goals within 50 yards.

“Speaking of the first half, we moved the ball up and down the field. In fact, we had (541) yards of offense and it was almost exactly split evenly in between halves but drastic difference in the scoreboard,” Whittingham said. “We just found a way to not finish drives in the first half and missed a few kicks and consequently it was a tight game at halftime.”

In the second half, Utah scored touchdowns on all four drives to get out of Laramie with a 31-6 victory.

The wide receivers also need to get more involved as the Utes begin conference play.

“A little more outside in the pass game with the receivers. On the inside with the tight ends, it’s been good. If we can get a little bit more on the outside with the receivers, it will help as well,” Beck said.

The chemistry between receiver Ryan Davis and Dampier carried over from New Mexico — Davis has 171 yards and a touchdown on 19 receptions. Tobias Merriweather has emerged a bit with five catches for 88 yards after Whittingham said they needed to get him more involved. Snowden has 10 receptions for 52 yards in his role as a receiver, but after that, there’s a dropoff.

Larry Simmons is the only other wide receiver to record a reception, but it was the most memorable of the season — an eight-yard touchdown snag after Dampier fumbled the ball, picked it up and fired it to Simmons in the end zone.

Redshirt sophomore Daidren Zipperer — the only contributing receiver that returned from last year’s team — was supposed to be in the mix at receiver, but missed the first three games of the season with an injury.

On Tuesday, Whittingham confirmed that he is out for the season.

Throughout the season, Whittingham has also addressed the need for more explosive plays.

Texas Tech leads the nation in gains of 20-plus yards with 26. In comparison, Utah has 14 such gains (seven of those coming via runs) and just five gains of 30-plus yards (three coming through the air). The Utes have been largely excellent in the short and intermediate passing game, but will need to find ways to stretch the defense as the competition steps up.

“We always want to play to our strengths and we always want to be difficult to defend.”

—  Utah OC Jasen Beck

So far, Dampier has attempted just eight passes that traveled 20 or more yards in the air, completing just one. The deep ball isn’t necessarily Dampier’s strength, but Utah will need to take some shots here and there during Big 12 play.

One way or another, Utah will have to find ways to gain chunk yardage.

“Just getting a few more intermediate to chunk plays would always be beneficial,” Beck said. “We’ve improved that a little bit each week, but as we get in conference play, that will get more challenging. But yeah, that’s kind of a little bit of the focus right now.”

The early returns on Beck’s offense have been good, but Utah’s offense will face its first real test of the season Saturday against a Texas Tech defense that has played well to start the season.

“It’s just the opportunity to go up against a really good team in conference and with everything that means when you’re in Big 12 play. And so just looking forward to that to get the conference play rolling,” Beck said.