Utah (3-1, 0-1) at West Virginia (2-2, 0-1)
- Kickoff: Saturday, 1:30 p.m. MDT
- Venue: Milan Puskar Stadium (Morgantown, West Virginia)
- TV: Fox
- Livestream: foxsports.com/live
- Radio: ESPN 700 AM/92.1 FM
- Series: Utah leads, 2-0. The previous two meetings between the two schools both happened during bowl season. The Utes beat West Virginia 32-6 in the 1964 Liberty Bowl. More recently, Utah defeated the Mountaineers 30-14 in the 2017 Heart of Dallas Bowl.
- Weather: Cloudy with temperatures in the mid 70s at kickoff, falling to high 60s by end of game.
The trends
For Utah: The Utes stumbled last week after a 3-0 start, as Texas Tech came to Salt Lake City and handed Utah its first loss of the season.
The Utes’ game at West Virginia will be the last time between now and Nov. 15 (the team’s game at Baylor) that Utah will play outside the Beehive State. The Utes host three games in that stretch and play at BYU as well.
For West Virginia: The Mountaineers have alternated wins and losses over their first four games of the season and are coming off a 41-10 loss at Kansas.
West Virginia is 2-0 at home and 0-2 on the road. The home victories have come against Robert Morris and Pittsburgh.
What to watch for
West Virginia is banged up on offense, and that will be a key storyline in Saturday’s matchup.
The Mountaineers will be forced to start someone new at quarterback, as Nicco Marchiol has already been ruled out for the game with a foot injury, per the Big 12’s player availability report.
Marchiol completed 67.3% of his passes over the Mountaineers’ first four games for 720 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
The most likely candidate to replace Marchiol is senior Jaylen Henderson, who’s seen the most playing time behind Marchiol this season. West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said the team has routinely been giving four to five quarterback reps during the week, according to On3.
West Virginia will be limited at other skill positions as well. Star running back Jahiem White is already out for the season, and lead rusher Tye Edwards is listed as questionable on Thursday’s availability report, while another running back, Cyncir Bowers, is doubtful.
Wide receiver Jared Bray has already been ruled out for the game, and the Mountaineers offensive line is dinged up as well.
West Virginia is currently averaging just 24 points per game, second-worst in the Big 12, and these injuries only complicate matters for the Mountaineers when facing a Utah defense that is giving up just 14.8 points per game.
Key player
Devon Dampier, Utah QB: Dampier is coming off his first game as a Ute where he struggled.
Utah’s starting quarterback missed two practices last week after he hurt his ankle in the win over Wyoming, Kyle Whittingham said, and his mobility was impacted during the loss to Texas Tech.
Dampier completed 25 of 38 passes for 162 yards and two interceptions in the 34-10 setback to the Red Raiders, while also rushing for 27 yards on 11 carries. He’d been averaging 6 yards per carry going into last week’s game, but averaged only 2.5 against Texas Tech.
Unlike its previous three games, all wins, Utah had a hard time establishing the run against the Red Raiders — of which Dampier is a key component — and finished with 101 yards on the ground.
Dampier’s health will be of paramount concern on Saturday, and whether Utah can get its offense back on track against a West Virginia defense that ranks in the bottom half of the Big 12 in nearly every major statistical category.
How will he bounce back this week?
Quotable
“Offensively, they’ve changed a little bit, obviously with the new coordinator, and then the quarterback, they’re a lot more spread. (They) do a lot of different quarterback run stuff, and (are) really creative. Everybody was looking at (Dampier in the transfer portal) because he was a dynamic player last year at New Mexico. He’s helped transform their offense this year as well. Defensively, with Morgan (Scalley) being there they’ve been very similar over the years. … They’re still very big, physical, get-after-you type, so we’ve got to have a good week of practice.” — West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez
“Rich Rodriguez, excellent football coach, known Rich for a lot of years. Really had it going at Arizona there and really good offensive mind, outstanding offensive mind. I got no doubt that he’s going to get that program where he wants to and where he had it before he was there last time around.” — Utah coach Kyle Whittingham
Next up
- Utah: vs. Arizona State
- West Virginia: at BYU