LARAMIE, Wyo. — Wyoming has pulled off a few upsets of power conference teams at War Memorial Stadium, most recently beating Texas Tech in 2023, and the threat of another shocker in the high plains here brewed for much of Saturday night’s game against No. 20 Utah.
Eventually though, the Utes found their offense in the second half and continued their dominant defensive play to leave Wyoming with a 31-6 win and move to 3-0 in nonconference play.
“Kind of a weird game,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham appropriately put it postgame.
It was an ugly game at times — especially the 3-0 first half — which featured 15 combined penalties, including seven holding penalties (five on Utah and two on Wyoming).
In all, the Utes were flagged for 10 penalties for 98 yards.
“Way too many penalties. That’s a big negative for us,” Whittingham said. “We got to play cleaner apparently. It’s not like us to have that many penalties and that much penalty yardage, so we got to do a better job with that.”
Whittingham had a succinct message at halftime for Utah’s offense, which couldn’t reach the end zone.
“Finish drives. Very simple,” Whittingham said.












The Utes’ offense took those words to heart, scoring touchdowns on all four of their second-half drives.
Despite a productive first half from running back NaQuari Rogers, offensive coordinator Jason Beck opened up the second half with a heavy dose of Hunter Andrews — and it worked.
Andrews caught a 14-yard pass, then rushed for a 15-yard gain. Later in the drive, Dampier converted on a third-and-7 with a nifty 23-yard gain to set the Utes up on the goal line, where Rogers cashed in.
Utah faced third down just once on the drive and looked more like the offense on display in the first two games.
The next drive, which firmly established the Utes’ grip on the game, was a 19-play, 80-yard series.
Utah had been wanting more explosive plays, and it got them. Ryan Davis, who finished the night with 91 yards on 10 receptions, picked up a 15-yard chunk on a pass from Dampier. After two holding penalties backed the Utes up to second-and-28, Dampier got a little back on a pass to Davis, then found a wide-open Dallen Bentley on third-and-21.
Dampier capped the lengthy drive with one of the most unique plays of the season.
As Dampier pulled his arm back to pass, the ball slipped out, and instead of diving on it, Utah’s quarterback picked it up, thanks to an offensive line that prevented the Wyoming front from breaking through.
Dampier then surveyed the field and threw a laser into a tight window to Larry Simmons, who made the grab for his first touchdown in a Utah uniform.
“I was looking for a receiver. It kind of just slipped out. I trust my O-line that they’re holding up and they were, so I was able to pick the ball up without having to dive on it and just seeing Larry in the back of the end zone and he got wide open for me,” Dampier said.
The wild play made it 17-0 Utah entering the fourth quarter.
After an interception from Jackson Bennee, who nearly took it to the house before getting tripped up on the 20-yard line, JJ Buchanan made a great catch for a touchdown. Utah led 24-0 and would get out of Laramie with a win.
As Utah’s offense floundered, especially in the first half, the Utes’ defense kept giving the offense chances.
“Defense, conversely, was good the entire game. Thought they played well. Got a little soft against the run there towards the end, but did a nice job. Came away with two takeaways. We had the strip sack and the interception, so a couple takeaways. Almost scored on the Jackson Bennee pick,” Whittingham said.
Wyoming didn’t enter the red zone, or score a touchdown, until the game was in hand in the late fourth quarter. Utah limited the Cowboys to 229 yards of total offense and forced two turnovers.
“The fact that we were able to make our struggles on offense and just to know that there’s a defense that’s going to play hard,” Dampier said. “Even in the locker room, halftime, they told us, ‘We got y’all back, y’all going to get it clicking.’ Just to hear the positive feedback from them and the way they finished the game, huge kudos to them.”
Utah outgained Wyoming 267-78 in the first half, but was haunted by the color yellow at War Memorial Stadium — not Wyoming’s uniforms, but the penalty flags flying from the hands of the officials.
The Utes were flagged six times for 63 yards in the opening 30 minutes, hurting a few drives. The worst offender was on a 49-yard Raysahwn Glover punt return near the end of the half that looked to set the Utes up in prime Wyoming territory, but it was walked back after a Ute hold.
Smith Snowden had a 16-yard run to the Wyoming 14-yard line in the early second quarter that was erased by a hold on offensive lineman Solatoa Moeai. That put Utah behind the sticks and would later result in a missed field goal.
When the Utes weren’t hurting themselves with penalties, they were missing chances to put points on the scoreboard. Freshman Dillon Curtis made his first field goal of the evening from 43 yards to put the Utes up 3-0, but couldn’t convert on his next three opportunities.
His next attempt from 45 yards was wide. In the second quarter, Curtis’s 45-yard attempt smacked off the upright and his 46-yarder at the end of the first half was blocked by Wyoming.
“He’s got a strong leg. You saw what he does for us on kickoffs and he’ll be back. He’s just a freshman and he’ll learn from this and I think he’s tough enough mentally to get himself right and hopefully he makes some big kicks for us down the road,” Whittingham said.
Of course, Utah was only attempting field goals because of some poor finishing on offense.
The Utes entered Saturday as the No. 1 third-down offense in the nation, converting 76.7% of their third-down attempts. In the first half against Wyoming, Utah was just 4 of 10 on the key down.
Wyoming seemed to sense Dampier’s keepers were coming on third down and stonewalled him twice. In the second half, Utah was perfect on third downs and also didn’t face a lot, converting all five.
“I mean, if you get behind the chains, it’s tough to overcome that,” Whittingham said. “But if we can be productive on first and second down and set up manageable third downs, that’s ideal...that’s what we did in that second half.”
After a John Henry Daley strip sack set Utah up at the Wyoming 46-yard line with 3:19 left in the half, the Utes’ offense clicked into gear momentarily, aided by a 11-yard Wayhshawn Parker run and a 10-yard pass from Dampier to Davis. Nate Johnson took the handoff and flew 16 yards, but fumbled the ball at the Wyoming 7-yard line.
On the final drive of the first half, tight end Dallen Bentley slipped behind the Wyoming secondary. Dampier underthrew him, and though the play resulted in a Cowboys pass interference penalty, with a little bit more on the ball, it could have been a touchdown.
Utah’s drive stalled out at the Wyoming 29-yard line and Curtis’s field goal was blocked.
Everything that could go wrong was going wrong for the Utes, at least offensively.
Defensively, Utah held the Cowboys to zero points and 78 total yards over the first two quarters. Wyoming never entered the red zone in the first half and didn’t even have an opportunity to attempt a field goal.
Daley continued his excellent play, sacking Cowboy quarterback for a loss of 15 on Wyoming’s second drive to knock the Cowboys out of field-goal range. In the second quarter, Daley added a strip sack that ended a Wyoming drive in Utah territory.
With nonconference play in the books, Utah now turns its attention toward Big 12 play, where a huge opener awaits.
No. 20 Utah will next play No. 21 Texas Tech on Fox’s premier “Big Noon Kickoff” time slot at 10 a.m. MT on Saturday. Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff” pregame show will be on campus and it’s a chance for the university and program to have some national exposure.
The Utes will have plenty to fix this week, starting with penalties and finishing drives, to get a win over the Red Raiders.
“We got to be up for the occasion,” Whittingham said. “It’s at our place and our fans will be there in full force and the MUSS and the band and it’ll be a great environment for us. … The degree of difficulty is getting higher and that’s what you’d expect, and we’re excited about the challenge."