Utah vs. Arizona State football game set for nighttime kickoff

Utes and Sun Devils set to meet for the second time as Big 12 constituents

Utah Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham walks along the sidelines during the second quarter against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Milan Puskar Stadium. | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

Following its bye week, the Utah football team will take on Arizona State in a nighttime game at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Kickoff between the Utes and Sun Devils is set for Oct. 11 at 8:15 p.m. MT on ESPN, according to a news release from the Utah athletic department. It'll be the second-latest start time for Utah this season, second only to its season-opener at UCLA on Aug. 31 (9:05 p.m. MT).

Both teams are idle this upcoming weekend after earning wins in Big 12 play in Week 5.

Utah sits at 4-1 overall following a dominant victory at West Virginia over the weekend, in which quarterback Devon Dampier tossed a career-high four touchdown passes to spearhead a 48-14 triumph over the Mountaineers, getting the Utes back in the win column after sustaining a lopsided loss to Texas Tech at home.

"You don’t want to sit on a loss ever, but to sit on it for two weeks is double the torture," said Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham after the game. "And so it’s really big to be able to end that, what, first half, almost first half of the season on a positive and get some guys healed up hopefully, and gives us momentum into the next contest."

Arizona State, meanwhile, will head into the Week 6 affair two weekends removed from a come-from-behind victory over TCU to remain undefeated in league play. The Sun Devils, trailed by 17 early on, tied things up with under 2 minutes to play after Sam Leavitt connected with Jordyn Tyson for a score. TCU fumbled on its ensuing drive, setting up Arizona State kicker Jesus Gomez for his second clutch field goal in as many weeks to give the Sun Devils a 27-24 win.

Gomez knocked through a game-winning field goal the week prior against Baylor.

Arizona State's third consecutive win since suffering a 24-20 setback at Mississippi State helped them improve to 4-1 overall on the season, as well as earn it a spot in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll as the No. 25 ranked team.

The Oct. 11 contest will mark the No. 36 all-time meeting between Utah and Arizona State and the second as members of the Big 12. The Utes have won the last three head-to-head games in Salt Lake City and four of the past five overall in the series.