There’s one big question as BYU and Utah get set to begin the 2026 college football season: Can they possibly top the offseason for pure entertainment?
Probably not. The college football offseason had more drama than the Fauci hearings. It had it all. Crime. Back-room squabbling. Revenge. Rumors. High finance.
Now it’s time to play, you know, football. The first week of September, the Cougars (Sept. 5) and the Utes (Sept. 3) will begin their seasons — with sparring partners. In search of someone who wouldn’t hit them back, the Cougars will play Utah Tech and the Utes will play Idaho (apparently, Corner Canyon High was busy that weekend).
Not that there’s any pressure on these teams. The offseason guaranteed that (so did this: BYU is tied for 14th in the AP preseason top 25 rankings, Utah 21st). There are plenty of questions to be answered and the events of the offseason will be present during the season.
1) Can BYU and Utah deliver in a season when they are ranked in the preseason polls and return most of their players at key positions, namely quarterback and running back? They’re expected to challenge for the Big 12 championship.
2) Will Morgan Scalley, formerly the head-coach-in-waiting who is no longer waiting, justify the changing of the guard last winter? For the first time in 22 years, the Utes will have a new head coach. He replaces Kyle Whittingham, who seemingly was encouraged to leave despite his status as Legend in Residence and all-time wins leader.
Not many coaches are nudged to leave after winning 10 games, but the administration and Scalley wanted to turn the page. They couldn’t have continued anyway, under the circumstances.
If the Utes win fewer than nine or 10 games, there will be a lot of second-guessing about what went down in the offseason — especially if the answer to the next question is positive.
3) Whittingham is gone but hardly forgotten and he’ll be part of the 2026 story. Will he return Michigan to its glory days? Same story: Nothing short of 10 wins or a win over Ohio State or a conference title will cut it. The coach got a head start by taking several Utah players and coaches with him (and probably any furniture that wasn’t nailed down). He didn’t exactly live up to the part of his contract that required him to help facilitate a smooth transition.
The other question: Can he bring some order to the chaos at Michigan? Whittingham’s predecessor was fired for an affair with a staffer, the athletic director has been forced to resign at the end of the year, the co-offensive coordinator was accused of (and fired for) hacking into the computers of more than 3,000 students and the NCAA punished the school in two separate cases, one of them being the infamous sign-stealing case.
4) Can the Cougars’ offense overcome the loss of wide receiver Parker Kingston as well as they overcame the loss of quarterback Jake Retzlaff last season? For the second straight offseason, a star offensive player was accused of rape and is no longer part of team. The loss of Retzlaff looked like a disaster in the making for BYU, but there was a silver lining — it discovered freshman Bear Bachmeier, the revelation of the season.
5) What can Bachmeier do for an encore? Last season, he threw for 3,000 yards, completed 65% of his passes, and ran for another 500 yards and 11 touchdowns. The Cougars will go only as far as Bachmeier goes.
6) Can Kalani Sitake continue his hot streak? He’s been sneaky good. His record the last two seasons: 23-4. That’s made him a target for big-time programs. BYU came thiiiis close to losing him to Penn State in the offseason. BYU called an emergency meeting and gave him a big raise. Now he wants a raise for his program …
7) What will happen now that Sitake has gone public with concerns about the program’s financial support from his administration? In a radio interview with Ben Criddle, he said, “We’ve been given the challenge of doing the most with the least. ... If we get an even playing field with that stuff, I should be able to do more.”
8) Now that the Utes have a new head coach, will they finally loosen up the offense? It’s been 13 years since they had a 1,000-yard receiver. Their career receiving leader is still Bryan Rowley, who played from 1989 to 1993. Kevin Dyson is No. 2 on the list; he last played for Utah in 1997. Steve Smith, who ranks among the 20 best wide receivers ever to play in the NFL, never exceeded 43 catches in a season at Utah. The offense has been built around running backs and tight ends and was ultra conservative.
9) Can the Utes find a way to give more playing time to sophomore Byrd Ficklin when they have star senior Devon Dampier on the roster? Dampier threw for 2,490 yards and 24 touchdowns and ran for 835 yards. Ficklin was spectacular on the rare occasions he got on the field, but instead of transferring, he remained with the Utes, saying, “You can’t just ditch your own family.” He turned a mere 61 rushing attempts into 513 yards and 10 touchdowns. Not since Britain Covey has there been a Ute player who could stick a foot in the ground running full speed and go the other way.
After the havoc of the offseason, BYU and Utah will finally return to the field this month for a highly anticipated season.
