Regardless of which quarterback is going to be the starter for the Utes, ASU will encounter its most challenging opponent to date. Here's a comprehensive look at a familiar foe.

Utah Offense

In recent games, Utah’s offense—and essentially its entire team—has been operating without its starting quarterback, Cam Rising. Rising is a seventh-year senior who, when healthy, is one of the most effective signal callers in college football.

On Thursday, reports surfaced that Rising will, in fact, start for the Utes against Arizona State. This would mark his first game appearance since suffering a hand injury against Baylor on Sept. 7.

For his career entering 2024, Rising had over 5,500 passing career passing yards and over 950 career rushing yards. He became a household caliber name for his play in 2021-22 when he threw for 2,493 yards and 20 touchdowns with five interceptions along with 499 rushing yards and six scores in 2021 and then 3,034 passing yards with 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions along with 465 rushing yards and six touchdowns the following season.

From there, Rising missed the entire 2023 season due to injury. In two games this year, he has completed 62.1% of his passes for 346 yards, seven touchdowns, no interceptions, and 46 rushing yards.

If healthy, Rising is a gritty winner and one of the most capable quarterbacks in college football, but it remains to be seen what version of Rising will take the field on Friday night.

Should that announcement be smoke-and-mirrors from the Utah staff, or if Rising has further injury issues in this game, backup Isaac Wilson figures to take Rising’s place as he has for the past few games as a starter.

Wilson, a true freshman and younger brother of NFL quarterback Zach Wilson, was rated by Rivals as the No. 160 overall recruit of the 2024 class, the nation’s second-best dual-threat quarterback prospect, and the top recruit out of the state of Utah.

The rookie has appeared in all five games and started the last three, totaling 830 passing yards on 55.7% passing with six touchdowns, seven interceptions, eight sacks suffered, and 52 net rushing yards on 29 carries with a long run of 48 yards.

At running back, team veteran Micah Bernard has become one of the more productive backs in the Big 12 so far, averaging 109.4 rushing yards per game as he has 547 yards on 82 carries – an excellent 6.7 yards per carry average – with one touchdown. He also has six catches for six yards with a score.

Bernard ranks 14th nationally and fifth in the Big 12 in rushing yards per game and also places second in the Big 12 and 20th nationally in yards per carry.

The 6-foot, 206-pounder has three 100-yard games this season, including a college career-high of 182 yards on 25 carries against Oklahoma State.

Backup running back Mike Mitchell has 127 yards and a touchdown on 37 carries in five games.

Pinnacle High School graduate and former Arizona Wildcat and USC Trojan Dorian Singer starts at wide receiver for the Utes, along with Money Parks and Mycah Pittman.

Singer, who only had 24 receptions for 289 yards last season for USC after a 1,000-yard receiving campaign for Arizona the previous year, leads the way with 26 receptions for 359 yards, though he has yet to catch a touchdown this year for the Utes.

Singer’s best game so far this season came against one of his former teams when he caught nine passes for 155 yards against Arizona two weeks ago. Last year at USC, Singer’s season-highs were four catches (twice) and 44 receiving yards.

Parks has 14 receptions for 190 yards and two scores, while Pittman has 33 yards on two receptions this year.

At tight end, longtime Ute Brant Kuithe leads Utah with four touchdown catches and ranks second on the team in both receptions (17) and receiving yards (269). With the exception of a one-catch, five-yard outing against Baylor earlier this season, Kuithe has had at least 50 receiving yards in each of the four other games, and he had a three-touchdown day against Southern Utah in the opener.

A highly versatile tight end, Kuithe has also scored a rushing touchdown this season and five rushing scores in his college career.

Kuithe likely will be joined in action at tight end by Dallen Bentley, who has two receptions for 15 yards this season.

Utah’s offensive line figures to start Gilbert Highland High School graduate Caleb Lomu at left tackle, left guard Tanoa Togiai, center Jaren Kump, right guard Michael Mokofisi – an honorable mention All-Pac-12 selection a year ago – and right tackle Spencer Fano.

Mokofisi enters the game with 31 career collegiate starts, the most of any player on offense for Utah. Kump has 22 career starts, Fano has 17, while Togiai has seven and Lomu five.

Utah Offense Summary

With Rising expected to start Friday, the Utes' offense shifts away from the hands of a true freshman and onto the shoulders of one of the longest-tenured active players in major college football.

Overall, even including the games Rising has played this season, the Utah offense has had its share of mediocre moments. Utah does not rank inside the nation’s top 50 in any major offensive category.

Statistically, on a national scale, Utah is tied for 50th in team rushing offense (181.8) while placing 55th in team passing efficiency (141.51), 56th in total offense (417.0), 65th in team passing offense (235.2), tied for 71st in scoring offense (28.4), tied for 81st in turnovers lost (eight) and tied for 88th in red zone offense (.818).

It remains to be seen how healthy and how effective Rising will be, but whether he’s at his very best or if he’s greatly limited due to physical issues, expect steady doses of Bernard on the ground and Kuithe and Singer through the air.

Utah Defense

Up front, the Utah line figures to feature Connor O’Toole and either Logan Fano or Van Fillinger at defensive end with Junior Tafuna and Keanu Tanuvasa at tackles.

Fillinger, one of the league’s top defensive linemen when healthy, leads Utah with 7.0 TFLs and 5.5 sacks as part of his 24 total tackles. He also has three pass breakups, one quarterback hurry, and one blocked kick. He leads the Big 12 and is tied for fifth nationally in total sacks and is tied for 25th nationally in total tackles for loss.

Tafuna, a Second-Team All-Pac-12 pick last year, has 15 tackles including 2.0 for loss with one quarterback hurry. His 41 career starts entering Friday’s game are the most by any Ute listed on this week’s depth chart.

O’Toole has 12 tackles, including 2.5 sacks with one forced fumble, while Tanuvasa has 12 tackles, including 3.0 for loss with a sack, two quarterback hurries, and a pass breakup.

Fano has collected nine tackles, including 1.5 for loss with a sack and one quarterback hurry so far this season.

Lander Barton lines up at “Stud” linebacker, Sione Fotu at “Mac” linebacker, and Karene Reid at “Rover” linebacker.

Barton leads the group and ranks third on the team with 23 tackles with a pass breakup, while Fotu has 19 tackles with two pass breakups and one quarterback hurry.

Reid, a Second-Team All-Pac-12 choice in 2023, has appeared in just two games but has eight tackles and a fumble recovery.

In the secondary, cornerbacks Zemaiah Vaughn and Elijah Davis are joined by strong safety Alaka’i Gilman and either Tao Johnson or Nate Ritchie at free safety, with Smith Snowden as the team’s top nickel back.

Johnson leads the team so far with 29 tackles, including 2.0 for loss with an interception and a pass breakup. Gilman has 17 tackles, including 3.0 for loss with an interception and a quarterback hurry, while Snowden has 16 tackles, including 3.0 for loss with an interception and a team-high four pass breakups.

Davis has 12 tackles, including one for loss with a team-high two interceptions, while Ritchie also has 12 tackles, including one for loss.

Vaughn, an honorable mention All-Pac-12 selection last season, has 12 tackles, including one for loss with a pass breakup.

Utah Defense Summary

Typically an elite national defense, though Utah isn’t quite in the absolute upper echelon in most defensive categories, it still ranks at highly respectable levels. Thetes rank 15th and 16th nationally and second in the Big 12 in scoring defense (15.0) and total defense (280.2), 26th nationally in pass defense (173.0), and 31st in the country in rush defense (107.2).

Also, Utah is tied for 10th nationally by allowing just eight total touchdowns on the year so far.

However, the “Sack Lake City” moniker hasn’t proven exceedingly true this season. Utah is in a multi-team tie for 34th nationally—coincidentally tied with ASU and 10 other schools—averaging 2.40 sacks per game, while the Utes are also in a multi-team tie for 37th national in team tackles for loss (6.6 per game).

Utah Special Teams

Utah has historically been known for incredible special teams efforts, and punter Jack Bouwmeester continues that legacy. With his average of 46.21 yards on 19 punts, he leads the Big 12 and ranks ninth nationally.

Placekicker Cole Becker has connected on 8-of-11 field goal attempts this season with a long of 44 yards.

The return game has produced sparse dividends for Utah so far. Mycah Pittman averages 5.63 yards on eight punt returns, Rayshawn Glover averages 2.00 yards on five punt returns, and Money Parks averages 12.75 yards on four kickoff returns.

Overall Summary

From the initial year of expansion from the Pac-10 to the Pac-12 Conference, ASU and Utah were tied at six wins apiece. However, in recent years, it has been all Utes, as the Devils have dropped four straight in the series after winning the first four in that stretch from 2011-14 and then consecutive games in 2017-18.

Those four recent losses for ASU in the series have not been particularly close, as the average margin of defeat for the Sun Devils against Utah in that four-game span has been 26.3 points per game. Last year, Arizona State suffered one of its most ample poundings in recent memory with a 55-3 throttling in Salt Lake City.

The preseason favorite to win the Big-12 and still a top-20 nationally ranked team, though Utah suffered an unpredicted loss to Arizona at home two weeks ago, any Ute team coached by Kyle Whittingham has to be taken very seriously and must be viewed as a very significant challenge.

Whittingham, tied with Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy as the second-longest tenured active FBS coach behind Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, has been at the helm for the Utes since 2005 and has been in the program since 1994, was a two-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year and twice guided Utah to the Rose Bowl game.

For this encounter, all eyes will be on Utah quarterback Cam Rising's comfort and effectiveness, assuming the Utah staff's announcement of him as the starter isn’t just an instance of strategic misdirection.

ASU cannot afford the sloppy first halves that have been the case the past three games, even though two of those have resulted in wins for the Sun Devils. Quite frankly, there are things that ASU got away with against Texas State and Kansas that it simply cannot get away with against Utah.

Arizona State was 0-5 last year against ranked opponents and is 1-10 against top-25 foes since the start of the 2022 season, with the only victory coming in the Sun Devils’ surprise takedown of Washington in October of 2022.

To claim a victory over Utah for the first time since 2018 and achieve what undoubtedly would be the most significant win for ASU under Kenny Dillingham, the Sun Devils will have to have an efficient and effective game from Sam Leavitt, a borderline dominant game from the offensive line and for the defense to rattle Rising, cause turnovers and not let pass-catchers like Kuithe and Singer consistently move the chains – especially on third downs.

Join your fellow Sun Devil fans on our premium message board, the Devils’ Huddle, run by the longest-tenured Sun Devil sports beat writer, to discuss this article and other ASU football, basketball, and recruiting topics. Not a member yet? Sign up today and get your daily fix of Sun Devil news!