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The past few weeks have seen the Utes explode into national media: on ESPN, on talk radio, on websites with analysts picking Utah as a top team in the country.
But the most screen time Hunter Dimick has gotten in the past month has been on The Drive, when Jared Norris let slip that Dimick wasn't the best dish-washer in the world.
"There's just so many things I could say on record [about that]," Dimick said, his face flushing red.
But Utah's junior defensive end is scheduled to return to prime time this week — or at least he could when Cal visits Utah on Saturday night. Against Jared Goff, who some have touted as a future NFL Draft No. 1 overall pick, the Utes would love to have their top returning sack artist.
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said he's expecting Dimick "at or near 100 percent" on Saturday night.
"Not that we don't have other guys who are tough and physical up front, but he's exceptional in that regard," he said. "He's very talented."
Dimick, who had 10.5 sacks last season, said he was hoping to be ready for Oregon, but Utes trainers "highly recommended" he sit out. But even though he was in street clothes, he was ecstatic to see the Utah defense break out of an early season sack slump.
Whittingham acknowledged after toppling the Ducks that the Utes held back some of the blitz packages and schemes in an effort to catch UO by surprise. Dimick said it wasn't always easy to hold those cards close.
"It kind of sucked not being able to do everything we wanted, but at the same time, our coaches know what they're doing," he said. "We have full faith in them, and having that has paid off."
Dimick himself is excited to show all that he can do, getting back on the field after the two-game layoff. Goff provides a special challenge for the Utes, given his accuracy and ability to go through progressions.
"Obviously getting into his head early is going to have to be a key to this game," he said.
Utah feels the head games are a little easier to manage when Snacks is on the field.
Utah's decoy punt return inspires copycats
While Britain Covey said after Utah executed a punt return decoy play that he thought it seemed "kind of crappy" in practice, Boobie Hobbs said he never had a doubt.
"No, I knew it would work because it was a team effort," Hobbs said "Without all 11 guys, it wouldn't have worked, but I knew our team would do it at a high level."
You know the rest of the story: Hobbs fooled the camera crew and the entire Ducks coverage team as he returned the punt 69 yards for a score in Utah's 62-20 pummeling of Oregon.
The very next day, the Seattle Seahawks ran the play with Richard Sherman, returning it 64 yards against the Chicago Bears and getting a field goal out of it. This past weekend, Southern Utah's Naia Ursua pulled off a similar play for a 68-yard return for a touchdown.
It's caught on, Whittingham said, because most punt coverage units key on the returner. A punter can have trouble alerting the coverage unit in a loud stadium that they're going after the wrong guy.
"We'll see how prevalent it becomes: It may just be something that showed up for a couple of weeks and then disappears for another couple of years, I don't know," he said. "That's why we put it in because we realized the difficulty of trying to defend it. If everything lines up and the kick is where you anticipate it, it's really hard to defend."
While the Utah coaching staff would love to take credit, Whittingham said he pulled the play from the St. Louis Rams, who executed it against the Seahawks last season.
Hobbs still thinks Seattle could fine tune it a bit.
"Richard Sherman, I don't think he quite did it like me," he said. "He could've scored, but it was pretty cool."
Fogal undergoes surgery
Utah sophomore nickel back Jordan Fogal underwent reconstruction of his ACL on Monday after his knee gave out in the buildup to the Oregon game, costing Fogal his season.
Fogal came to the U. this fall from California's College of San Mateo, where he was a standout as a freshman and redshirted due to an ACL injury in 2014.
He was one of the first newcomers to appear on the U.'s two-deep, backing up junior Justin Thomas, and he played in Utah's first three games, recording one tackle.
Senior Ahmad Christian, recovering from a torn Achilles, made the trip to Oregon in Fogal's absence.
Utah is pursuing a medical redshirt for Fogal, which would give him three years to play three. If they're not successful, he'll have two left to play two.
Twitter: @kylegoon and @matthew_piper