The 2018 Utah Utes football team represented the University of Utah during the

2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 2018. The regular season began on August 25, 2018, and ended ...

. The Utes were led by 14th-year head coach Kyle Whittingham and played their home games in Rice–Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, UT. They were members of the South Division of the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

. The Utes completed the regular season with a 6–3 record in conference play, winning the South Division for the first time since joining the Pac-12 Conference in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. In the Pac-12 Championship Game, the team lost to North Division champion Washington by a score of 10–3. They were invited to the Holiday Bowl to play Big Ten Conference runner-up Northwestern, where the Utes lost by a score of 31–20 to end the year at 9–5 overall. Utah was led on offense by quarterback Tyler Huntley until he suffered a season-ending collarbone fracture in the game against Arizona State on November 3. Redshirt freshman Jason Shelley started for the rest of the season. Running back Zack Moss compiled 1,096 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns. Two members of the Utah offensive line earned first-team all-conference honors, Jordan Agasiva and Jackson Barton. Utah's defense featured four members of the first-team All-Pac-12: defensive linemen

Bradlee Anae Bradlee Joseph Ioane Anae ( ; born January 17, 1998) is an American football defensive end for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Utah. Early years Anae grew up in Laie, Hawaii and attended ...

and

Leki Fotu George "Leki" Fotu (born August 23, 1998) is an American football nose tackle for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Utah and was drafted by the Cardinals in the fourth round of the 2020 NFL ...

, linebacker

Chase Hansen Chase Hansen (born May 20, 1993) is an American football linebacker who is a free agent. He played college football at Utah. Collegiate career Hansen redshirted his true freshman season. He left the team after his freshman year to go on a LDS Mi ...

, and cornerback Jaylon Johnson. Hansen led the conference in tackles for loss with 22, and Anae tied for the conference lead in sacks with 8.

Previous season

The Utes finished the 2017 season 7–6, 3–6 in Pac-12 play to finish in fifth place in the South Division. They were invited to the

Heart of Dallas Bowl The First Responder Bowl is an NCAA post-season college football bowl game played annually in the Dallas, Texas, area. The bowl was first held on January 1, 2011, and since 2014 has been contested in late December. The bowl was held at the Cott ...

where they defeated West Virginia.

Preseason

Position key

Recruits

The Utes signed a total of 20 recruits.

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Pac-12 Media Days

The 2018 Pac-12 media days are set for July 25, 2018 in Hollywood, California. Kyle Whittingham (HC), Chase Hanson (LB) & Lo Falemaka (OL) at Pac-12 Media Days. The Pac-12 media poll was released with the Utes predicted to finish in second place at Pac-12 South division.

Schedule

Utah announced their 2018 football schedule on November 16, 2017. The Utes will play FCS Weber State and Northern Illinois and returning to the traditional last game of the year spot, Utah will play in-state rival

BYU Cougars football The BYU Cougars football team is the college football program representing Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. The Cougars began collegiate football competition in 1922, and have won 23 conference championships and one national champion ...

in out-of-conference play. In Pac-12 conference play, the Utes will not play cross-divisional foes California and Oregon State. Source:2018 Utah Utes football schedule
''FBSchedules.com''. Retrieved Dec 4, 2017.

Game summaries

Weber State

at Northern Illinois

Washington

at Washington State

at Stanford

Arizona

USC

at UCLA

at Arizona State

Oregon

at Colorado

BYU

The Utes scored 28 unanswered points and overcame a 27–7 deficit in the third quarter to defeat their in-state rival, the BYU Cougars, for the eighth consecutive time.