College Football HQ

Fox announces Big Noon Kickoff location for Week 8

Ryan Young|
Brigham Young Cougars students cheer during a third down defensive play against the West Virginia Mountaineers during the fourth quarter at LaVell Edwards Stadium. Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images
Brigham Young Cougars students cheer during a third down defensive play against the West Virginia Mountaineers during the fourth quarter at LaVell Edwards Stadium. Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

In this story:

BYU CougarsUtah Utes

The state of Utah gets a big national spotlight in Week 8 of the college football season as Fox's Big Noon Kickoff show heads to Provo for No. 15-ranked BYU's rivalry clash with No. 23 Utah.

The Cougars are off to a 6-0 start (3-0 in the Big 12) after a 33-27 double-overtime win at Arizona on Saturday night, while the Utes (5-1, 2-1) moved into the AP top 25 poll after a 42-10 win over then-No. 21 Arizona State.

This will be Big Noon Kickoff's second visit to Provo, following the pregame show's appearance there last season for BYU's game against Arizona. BYU has also hosted ESPN's College GameDay once, in 2009, for a game against TCU. (And GameDay was in Salt Lake City for a BYU-Utah game in 2004).

The Cougars opened the season unranked and have yet to beat a ranked opponent this year, but they've taken care of business while opening Big 12 play with wins over Colorado, West Virginia and Arizona.

BYU is led by quarterback Bear Bachmeier, a true freshman who spent the spring at Stanford before transferring. He has passed for 1,220 yards, 8 touchdowns and 3 interceptions and rushed for 297 yards and 7 scores. Running back LJ Martin has 652 rushing yards and 4 TDs.

Utah's only loss came against Texas Tech, which is now ranked No. 7. Outside of that, the Utes have been the ones delivering blowouts, winning each of their other five games by at least 25 points. The win over Arizona State on Saturday was their first vs. a ranked opponent this year, but the Sun Devils were without star quarterback Sam Leavitt due to injury and struggled badly without him.

The Utes are led by dual-threat quarterback Devon Dampier, who had 104 passing yards and 120 rushing yards with 3 TDs in the win Saturday night. Dampier, who spent the last two seasons at New Mexico, has passed for 1,131 yards, 11 TDs and 3 INTs with 378 rushing yards and 5 TDs.

The Utah-BYU rivalry is referred to as "The Holy War", with the first meeting coming way back in 1895. Utah leads the all-time series, 52-30-4, but BYU has won the last two clashes.

Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. ET from LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, and the game will be televised on Fox.

The Big Noon Kickoff show features host Rob Stone with former USC QB Matt Leinart, former Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn, former Alabama RB Mark Ingram, legendary coach Urban Meyer and Barstool Sports' Dave Portnoy.

Published
Ryan Young
RYAN YOUNG

Ryan Young joins CFB HQ On SI after 15 years as a college football beat writer, including the last seven years in Los Angeles covering the USC Trojans for Rivals. He previously covered Florida and Coastal Carolina after four years at the Kansas City Star. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland.

Share on XFollow RyanJYoung
Home/News