As the sun rose over the Salt Lake Valley on Saturday morning, thousands of Utah fans crowded behind Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff” pregame show set on the campus of the University of Utah, brimming with excitement and optimism for the morning’s Big 12 opener between two unbeaten teams.

The sold-out Rice-Eccles Stadium crowd showed up in force for the 10 a.m. kickoff, playing some part in Texas Tech’s seven false start penalties.

But Saturday’s big-time game ended the same way the last marquee game here did (a 35-6 loss to Oregon in 2023 with “College GameDay” in town) — with a hush over the sold-out crowd, save for the contingent of Texas Tech fans in the southwest corner of the stadium.

Utah’s offense looked pretty similar to that 35-6 beatdown against Oregon, too. The Utes averaged 45.7 po

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