MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Rain drizzled for much of the game during Utah’s first-ever trip to Morgantown, and the Utes’ offense poured on the points in a 48-14 win over West Virginia Saturday.
After a dismal offensive showing a week ago against a Texas Tech team that looks like the class of the Big 12 Conference, quarterback Devon Dampier and the Utes looked more like they did in the first weeks of the season against West Virginia.
Dampier threw for 237 yards and a career-high four touchdowns with an interception in Utah’s blowout win, the Utes’ first conference victory of the season.
“I would say just my pocket movement, our (offensive) line, we got the best in the country, so they hold a lot of time for me and instead of taking those running lanes, I was able to make a lot more plays just sitting in the pocket today,” Dampier said of the downfield passing game.
“So that was a little bit of emphasis, but yeah, we play whatever the defense gives.”
As usual, receiver Ryan Davis was Dampier’s go-to target, hauling in seven receptions for 107 yards and a touchdown. Tight end Dallen Bentley added 59 yards and a score in the win.
“Proud of our team for the response from last week,” Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. “Tough loss last week. Disappointing loss, and (we) talked about not letting that be a detractor for this week and being able to flush it and move on and not have a hangover, so to speak, and I think they did exactly just that.”
After being stifled last Saturday, Utah’s rushing attack was back to its usual efficacy against the Mountaineers, rushing for 242 yards behind the one-two punch of Wayshawn Parker and NaQuari Rogers.
The Utes were powered by an offensive line that looked much better, providing Dampier with ample time in the pocket and clearing lanes for Utah’s running backs.
The success in the ground game helped key success for Dampier in the passing game.
“When we’re running the ball like we were capable of, that’s when things open up for us,” Whittingham said.
Dampier was never sacked by West Virginia.
From the very start of the game, Utah’s offense looked night-and-day different from last Saturday’s performance. The Utes scored touchdowns on four of five first-half drives, essentially putting the game to bed at halftime.
The first completed pass of the contest, to tight end Dallen Bentley, went for 20 yards. The Utes didn’t have a completed pass of 15 or more yards against Texas Tech, but had six against West Virginia.
“We know that that was something that hurt us in the last week and we needed to be able to push the ball down the field better,” Whittingham said.
“We did that this week. Receivers stepped up, answered the challenge. I thought we had a good scheme going in and the right dose of run and pass, play action off the run game and tight ends were a factor. Again, Dallen Bentley continues to play good football for us. JJ Buchanan had a really nice touchdown grab, that first one. Ryan Davis has been good every game, and so yeah, the throw game really was in much higher gear this week than weeks past.”
Utah was able to get into a rhythm from the first drive — something it never did against Texas Tech — and go uptempo more often, which worked to success against the Mountaineers.
But they were also able to slow down the tempo when needed, something that Whittingham says makes the offense less predictable.
“I think it’s good to mix it in. I don’t think it’s going to be a staple of ours ever where we’re uptempo constantly, and as a defensive coordinator, I know that it’s tougher when you play a team that mixes up tempos,” Whittingham said.
“If they always go slow or always go fast, that’s the easiest guys to defend. Those teams that mix it up are the ones that are more difficult to defend.”
Both teams were snakebitten by injuries. The Utes had previously lost receiver Daidren Zipperer, tight end Hunter Andrews and safety Rabbit Evans for the season, and defensive end Paul Fitzgerald and starting defensive tackle Aliki Vimahi were out for the West Virginia game.
During the win, safety Nate Ritchie suffered an injury and left the stadium on crutches, while two-way player Jackson Bennee and defensive tackle Dallas Vakalahi left the game with injuries.
Meanwhile, the Mountaineers were missing starting quarterback Nicco Marchiol, their top two rushers (Tye Edwards and Jahiem White) and contributing receiver Jaden Bray.
WVU’s backup quarterback, Jaylen Henderson, never posed a threat through the air, passing for just 22 yards before being replaced by Khalil Wilkins in the early third quarter.
Utah knew West Virginia was going to run and bottled up the Mountaineers, allowing just 73 first-half rushing yards before softening up a little bit in the second half.
“Defense had a really good effort,” Whittingham said.
The Mountaineers were simply outmatched by Utah, though they assured there would not be a home shutout with a 39-yard touchdown pass from Wilkins to Cam Vaughn in the third quarter.
With a 1-1 record in Big 12 play — playing perhaps the best and worst teams in the conference in their first two games — there’s still lots to learn about this Utah team.
The Utes did well to bounce back and take care of business with a dominant victory over West Virginia, but Whittingham won’t let his team get too high after the victory over the injury-ridden, rebuilding Mountaineers.
The Utes get a very well-timed bye week to rest and then prepare for a key conference showdown against Arizona State.
“You don’t want to sit on a loss ever, but to sit on it for two weeks is double the torture. It’s really big to be able to end that almost first half of the season on a positive and get some guys healed up hopefully and gives us momentum into the next contest,” Whittingham said.
From Utah’s first series of the game, it was clear that this game was going to go much differently than the last one.
Dampier’s passes were on target and Utah’s run game was rolling on the Utes’ first drive.
The uptempo offense was on display on Utah’s 12-play, 73-yard opening series, which was capped off by a seven-yard JJ Buchanan touchdown.
Dampier’s ball placement was good, but Buchanan’s grab was even better, even with a Mountaineer defender committing defensive pass interference.
The next two drives for the Utes ended in the end zone, too. NaQuari Rogers and Jackson Bennee both had big runs on the second series of the game, and Dampier got into the end zone on a seven-yard keeper that featured some good blocking.
Utah went up 21-0 on a 32-yard touchdown pass from Dampier to Davis. Dampier had plenty of time in the pocket, went through his progressions and found an open Davis for the Utes’ third score of the day.
Perhaps the most impressive drive of the afternoon was the final one of the first half. Backed up to their own three-yard line, Utah went 97 yards in 15 plays, converting three third downs along the way.
Dampier went six for seven on the drive, which culminated in a two-yard pass to Bentley in the end zone.
At halftime, it was 28-0 Utah, and the West Virginia student section headed for the exits.
The only negative for the Utes in the first half — aside from the rash of injuries — was an interception thrown by Dampier. The Ute quarterback looked to have Tobias Merriweather open, but the ball hung in the air too long and it was easily intercepted by cornerback Nick Taylor.
Utah will enjoy the bye week before hosting Arizona State at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Oct. 11.