SALT LAKE CITY — Devon Dampier, Byrd Ficklin.
Ficklin, Dampier.
Dampier, Ficklin.
Einhorn is Finkle.
FINKLE IS EINHORN!!!
We’ll start this Utes mailbag right there.
Q: “Who’s best for Utah at QB next year? We know they can’t keep both, so is it Byrd or Dampier?” – @garrstew
I am generally not that guy who is going to sit here and tell you why Team A should or shouldn’t do something, or Team A should grab Player X out of the transfer portal.
In this particular case, I am not going to get into which QB Utah should focus on, but I do have some thoughts.
Based on Utah’s current NIL situation, sure, let’s say, hypothetically, that the program cannot hold on to both Byrd Ficklin and Devon Dampier.
If this comes down to money, well, two things.
First, it is believed Dampier is owed a sum in the low seven figures in 2026 as part of a two-year agreement. I have not seen the contract, nor do I know any details.
Second, whatever Ficklin is making this season, he is going to get a raise from someone, whether it be Utah or out of the transfer portal.
Even if Ficklin and his representatives are looking for a gigantic number this winter, that gigantic number will almost certainly be less than Dampier’s number.
From a football standpoint, I have one overarching thought right now: Does Utah believe Ficklin is a better option for 2026 than Dampier?
It’s that simple.
If Kyle Whittingham (or Morgan Scalley) believes Ficklin is the guy, then don’t overthink it. You thank Dampier for this season, you get your resources in order to pay Ficklin within reason, you get him in the weight room, you work on his accuracy, and you move forward.
And to be clear, based on NIL and the general desire of a backup to no longer be a backup, no, I don’t think there is a viable path for the Utes to keep both of these guys on the roster.
At this point, I would be surprised if they were able to pull that off.
Q: “Six Flags America (Washington, D.C.) closed its doors for the final time last weekend. It was a big deal in the theme park community. What places/things are you overly attached to that “normal” people wouldn’t understand?” – @nstod
I love this question, and I gave it some real, genuine thought since it showed up in my mentions a couple of weeks ago.
That said, I don’t know that I’m overly attached to a place or a thing. Then, I asked my wife.
Diners.
I love diners, which are very much a part of New York/New Jersey/Northeast culture. When I say diner, I’m being very specific.
Diner, as in a gigantic menu that is 7-8 pages long, including all-day breakfast.
As in open 24 hours.
As in, preferably owned by a Greek family with all of the children and grandchildren working there.
As in, a selection of spirits behind the cash register, where I can order a bacon cheeseburger at 10 a.m. and not be judged, where I can decompress at 1 a.m. after covering a game over a ham-and-swiss omelette and a cup of decaf.
Ruth’s Diner in Emigration Canyon is pretty close to what I’m talking about, but it’s just not the same.
There are certain elements of New York/New Jersey I don’t miss at all, but there are others I miss every day.
Diner culture is something I miss all the time.
Q: “Football season is winding down. We gonna have you around a little during basketball season for some mailbags?” – @RedSoxRooskie
I hope not.
Meaning, I need a job, and if I have a job, respectfully, I’m going to stop this freelance gig.
I’ve had a small handful of interviews lately, so optimism abounds at the moment, but no, I really don’t want this situation to reach the end of football season.
No offense.
Q: “If the Utes win out, miss the Big 12 championship game, win their bowl game, which season is more, I hate to say disappointing, but for lack of better words, this year or 2019?” – @taylorkirt
First things first.
Is that really how you spell your first name?
I don’t say that to be a jerk, it’s out of curiosity. I covered preps for the first time 8-9 years of my career, and I really feel like I’ve seen every spelling of a name you can imagine, but never Kirt.
Anyway, the more disappointing season between the two would be 2019, and I don’t even think it’s that close.
Those Utes dropped their Pac-12 opener, ripped off eight straight wins to close the regular season, and rose to No. 5 in the College Football Playoff rankings entering the Pac-12 championship game against Oregon.
Utah lost to the Ducks 37-15. The next day, No. 4 Georgia lost to No. 2 LSU in the SEC championship game, which would have allowed the Utes to break through to the four-team CFP, but that SEC result was moot.
This particular season will be viewed two ways.
At a potential of 10-2, it’s a terrific turnaround after last season’s 5-7 debacle. But, it will be an opportunity lost, specifically the loss at BYU, which will be looked upon as a black eye. That game was there for the taking, but Utah managed to cough it up, and with it, potentially a spot in the Big 12 championship game.
BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier (47) gets rid of the ball just ahead of Utah defensive end John Henry Daley (90) as BYU and Utah play at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. (Photo: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)Q: “Utah has been a perennial top-25 program, with few exceptions largely related to injuries, for roughly a decade. Does it have what it needs for “staying power”? What factors/elements are most likely to derail consistent contention moving forward? How can the program avoid them?” – @Alex_Roll_4
I find this question interesting because, 5-7 years ago, the answer would be different than it is now.
Roughly 5-7 years ago, I would’ve probably said, yes, Utah has staying power, because not only can this staff recruit, it does a very nice job of nurturing talent over the course of three, four, five years and, in some cases, turning the no-star and three-star guys into all-conference players, if not more.
Of course, times have changed.
All of those things I mentioned still hold true in 2025, but so much of a program’s staying power moving forward is going to be based on money. I feel weird boiling it down to just that factor, but that is very clearly the college athletics world we now live in.
Yes, Utah’s culture will help it retain talent in this environment, and if we assume Morgan Scalley is the next head coach, that culture will remain once Kyle Whittingham retires.
Ultimately, though, the program needs more money and more resources than it is currently working with in order to make sure it retains talent, but also to make sure it can pull talent out of the transfer portal.
So, to your question, does Utah have what it needs in order to have “staying power”?
At the moment, no, I don’t think so.
Q: “What’s your in-and-out, 7-min Buc-ee’s stop play-by-play itinerary?” – LilJMath
This was a bit of a running joke last week as Utah prepared to face Baylor, and I prepared to drive from Austin to Waco for the game.
I contend that getting in and out of Buc-ee’s is a seven-minute process. To pull this off, you need a plan.
For starters, this is not a gas stop. If you’re stopping at Buc-ee’s for gas, it’s a whole thing and there’s no way you’re sticking to the timeframe.
Here we go.
Make sure you park, or at least enter, at the front of the store. If you enter from the side, you’re going to walk in on the merch side, and you’re going to get roped in to taking a lap. We don’t have time for that.
Enter at the front, the first stop is the bathroom. Once you’re done there, assuming you want a drink and/or food, you’re either doing a fountain drink or a coffee, which are right next to each other. Do not go to the back wall for bottled drinks, because you’ll get caught up in foot traffic.
For food, we’re not doing fudge, we’re not doing the jerky counter. We’re doing the prepared BBQ sandwiches, or the heating station with tacos and burritos.
You have your fountain drink/coffee, you have your prepared food. There are an abundance of registers at the front of the store to cater to the masses, even during prime hours, so that’s not taking long, and you’re out.
Not for nothing, on the way home from Waco Saturday night, I definitely got in and out at roughly midnight.
Bathroom, small coffee, and a chicken fajita taco, which was actually pretty bad.
If you stay on task, seven minutes is absolutely doable at a Buc-ee’s, even at its busiest.
Q: “Does it hurt Utah not playing any ranked teams to close out the last two games for additional justification for CFP, assuming the Big 12 championship game doesn’t happen?” – @Sharky0018
I’ve been screaming about this for most of the last month.
Any chance Utah may have for an at-large bid to the College Football Playoff as a 10-2 team missing the Big 12 championship game is being hampered by its lack of a tough schedule.
Kansas State is not ranked, Kansas is not ranked, the Utes’ two losses are to No. 5 Texas Tech and No. 11 BYU; and as far their CFP resume goes, their only win even worth discussing is over No. 25 Arizona State, which was playing without star quarterback Sam Leavitt.
Through the first three midseason rankings reveals, the selection committee seems to love Utah, which also has favorable metrics coming down the stretch, but none of that’s going to matter in the end.
Utah has no one left to play that can help its cause, while the contenders around the 12th-ranked Utes have either games that can still help them, play in a better conference and therefore have a better resume, or both.
I do look forward to how this shakes out, and what the selection committee’s justification will be for leaving Utah out after it spent the last three weeks pumping the Utes up.
Related: The midseason CFP rankings reveals are useless.
Q: “Let’s start with a take on these two amazing things combined here, because holy smokes, this Utopia Bagels looks like it’s worth some Delta Miles.” – @sapasuvlaki
You have no idea what’s happening here. I’m sorry.
Pull up a chair.
A couple of weeks ago, our questioner dropped a video on my timeline of a well-known, New York-based food influencer couple dubbed, “Devour Power.”
In this particular video, the couple, Greg and Rebecca, were at Utopia Bagels in the Whitestone section of Queens doing a review of Utopia’s 10-pound pizza bagel.
Do watch the video, but it’s as it sounds. One of Utopia’s bagels in humungous form, boiled, baked, topped with sauce, cheese and toppings. The interesting part is, they pull out the bagel and turn the insides into garlic knots.
Now that that’s out of the way, Utopia Bagels can kick rocks with this.
I’m a bagel purist. That giant bagel is for social media (159,000 Instagram followers, 66,000 TikTok followers), not to mention tourists. It’s for influencers, and as far as I can tell, it’s not even on the regular menu.
It’s a goof, and I hate that Utopia does it.
Utopia has gone viral a number of times over the years for different things, one of which was rainbow-colored bagels, which is also stupid and strictly for tourists.
Here’s the thing. You’re a bagel place in New York City, you have a prime location in Queens, which some argue is Bagel Central U.S.A., and your bagels are excellent to begin with.
Do you really need to be doing all this extra stuff? Be better, be less lame.
I see right through you.
Here’s the other thing: Five miles away, in the Fresh Meadows section of Queens, right on Harding Expressway, is Bagel Oasis.
A 24-hour joint that still hand rolls and hand pulls everything, Bagel Oasis, as far as modern times go, is still pretty much no frills. They’re not big on social media, they won’t ship it to you on Goldbelly, but it’s fresh, it’s consistent, the hand roll/hand pull thing absolutely matters, and it’s comforting.
And sure, while the bagels are awesome, I’ll get romantic about Bagel Oasis, because it brings back memories.
Growing up on Long Island, when I got a little older and some more independence, my brother and I would go see our grandparents in the Jackson Heights section of Queens. Bagel Oasis.
When I knew I was leaving New Jersey for Utah in 2019, I made a conscious effort to take my last work trip out of LaGuardia Airport instead of Newark. Bagel Oasis going, Bagel Oasis upon coming.
While covering Monmouth in 2015, I once decided to cover a commitment announcement at Cardozo High School, which is in Bayside. Cardozo is about three miles from Bagel Oasis.
While still living in New Jersey, my wife was on Long Island and brought home two-dozen bagels. They’re fresh, so you really have to eat them, or freeze them pretty quickly. I forgot to stick them in the freezer and left them out to get moldy. I don’t think she’s ever been more mad at me.
Anyway, Bagel Oasis > Utopia Bagels, all day long.
Q: Please rank the following:
Nice, these questions are actually why I do the mailbags to begin with.
1. Utah microbrew with a stupid name: Utah’s craft beer scene is surprisingly, shockingly pretty strong. Level Crossing is up there with anything I’ve had anywhere, while T.F. and Fisher were always consistent stops for me.
2. Gas-station coffee at 3 a.m.: I’ve been there. Maybe not at 3 a.m. or a gas station, per se, but I’ve been there, and you’re always sort of taking your life, or at least your stomach into your own hands when making this decision. Plenty of times, I would be covering something late in New York City, and would need to either drive home to the Jersey Shore, or not fall asleep on the train heading back. I promise you, the options at roughly 1 a.m. on the lower level of Penn Station are not great. I have regrets.
3. A cold slice from a random NYC bodega: I can’t imagine a scenario where I’m doing this. A cold slice? No. A sandwich or something hot and prepared fresh? Absolutely. There are always options at all hours in NYC. You never have to resort to something cold and questionable, even in the sketchiest of bodegas at an off hour. If all else fails, a bag of chips and a water until you’re able to find something, somewhere you’re not going to die from botulism.