SALT LAKE CITY — No. 21 Utah Football opens up the Morgan Scalley era Thursday as they welcome the Idaho Vandals to Rice-Eccles Stadium for the 2026 regular season opener. ESPN700 + 92.1 FM brings you 10+ hours of game day coverage starting at 3pm with kickoff at 7pm.
3PM – Utes Game Day live from Beer Bar (161 E 200 S, Salt Lake City, UT)
Porter Larsen returns for his 8th year as pregame show host and 9th year covering Utah athletics. Utes Game Day begins 4 hours before kickoff with former player interviews, keys to the game, availability reports, sound from practice/press conferences, Utes in the NFL updates and more.
5PM – Bill Riley, Stevenson Sylvester and Zack Moss from Smith’s Tailgate (Guardsman Way)
Bill Riley returns for his 18th season as Voice of the Utes and will be joined in the booth by former Utah linebacker Stevenson Sylvester, who takes on a new role as color analyst after spending the past six seasons as sideline reporter. Replacing Sylvester on the sidelines will be former Utes running back Zack Moss, who makes his debut after concluding a five-year NFL career in 2024.
Riley is a 34-year veteran of radio and television and has won numerous awards as both as host and play-by-play broadcaster, including three NSMA Utah Sportscaster of the Year honors (2012, ’15, ’22).
Sylvester begins his seventh season on the Utes radio broadcast crew and will move up to the booth for his first season as analyst alongside Riley. A four-year starter for the Utes (2006-09) and two-time All-Mountain West selection, Sylvester was a key member of Utah’s undefeated 2008 team that defeated Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. He played five seasons in the NFL, including four with Pittsburgh after being drafted in the fifth round in 2010, and one season with Buffalo (2014)
Moss, the Utes’ all-time leading rusher, will make his debut as the sideline reporter in 2026. He earned Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year honors as a senior in 2019 when he rushed for 1,246 yards and 15 touchdowns. He played five seasons in the NFL after being drafted in the third round by Buffalo in 2020. Moss spent his first two-and-a-half seasons with Buffalo (2020-22), one-and-a half with Indianapolis (2022-23) and one with Cincinnati (2024).
7PM – Idaho Vandals @ No.21 Utah Utes from Rice-Eccles Stadium
ESPN 700 has been the radio home to University of Utah Athletics since 1951. All of Utah’s games on ESPN 700 and 92.1 can also be heard live online through UtahUtes.com and the ESPN 700 app.
Highlighting ESPN 700 & 92.1’s football game-day coverage are four hours of pre-game coverage and two-hour postgame shows that include live interviews with players and coaches and expert analysis. The Morgan Scalley Coaches Show airs on ESPN 700 & 92.1 every Tuesday during the regular season. The show is broadcast live from 6-7 p.m. MT and streamed online
THE UTAH MAN
• Utah head coach Morgan Scalley is set to make his regular season debut leading the Utes after a 44-22 victory over Nebraska in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 31. Scalley, a Salt Lake City native and U alum who has been on the coaching staff since 2008, has served as safeties coach that entire time and was tabbed defensive coordinator in 2016.
• Regarded as one of the brightest defensive minds in the business, Scalley was a finalist for the 2019 Broyles Award. He played for the Utes from 2001-04 and was part of Utah’s 2004 team which went 12-0 and defeated Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl as the first “BCS Busters”.
HOME COOKING
• The Utes open the 2026 season with three straight home games at Rice-Eccles Stadium, having sold out 95 consecutive contests in Salt Lake City. Home has been a great place to be for the Utah football team over the last five years, ranking atop the Big 12 Conference and No. 14 in the nation in home winning percentage during that time (25-6, .806).
UTAH FOOTBALL: NEED TO KNOWS
• Quarterback Devon Dampier is back after starting 12 of Utah’s games in 2025, throwing for 2,490 yards and 24 touchdowns, while rushing for 835 yards and 10 scores. He has been named to preseason watch lists for the Maxwell, Walter Camp and Davey O’Brien Awards among others.
• Wayshawn Parker is also returning at running back for the Utes following a 2025 season where he played in all 13 games, rushing for 981 yards and six touchdowns on 149 carries.
• On the defensive side, 2025 team-leading tackler (67, 6.0 TFL) at linebacker Johnathan Hall returns along with safety and second-leading tackler (64, 4.0 TFL) Jackson Bennee.
• Utah has won 10 of its last 11 season openers with the lone loss coming in a 29-26 defeat in The Swamp against Florida on Sept. 3, 2022.
• The Utes have won 17 straight home openers at Rice-Eccles Stadium (not counting truncated 2020 season due to COVID-19).
• Utah and Idaho are set to meet on the football field for the first time since 1993, a 28-17 Vandal victory in Salt Lake City.
FOLLOW THE UTES
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