Devon Dampier, Passing Game Answers Headline Takeaways In Utah’s 48-14 Win Over West Virginia
Sep 28, 2025, 11:09 AM | Updated: 12:48 pm
Sep 27, 2025; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; Utah Utes quarterback Devon Dampier (4) celebrates with teammates after throwing for a touchdown during the second quarter against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images
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Morgantown, WV— Kyle Whittingham and Utah football got exactly what it needed in Morgantown — a resounding 38–7 bounce-back victory that sets the stage heading into the bye week.
The Utes needed a performance that re-established identity and confidence heading into a bye week. And for four quarters in Morgantown, they delivered.
Here are five takeaways from the Utes’ first-ever trip to West Virginia:
Utah, Dampier provide some answers in the passing attack
Quarterback Devon Dampier made his fifth start at Utah and had a 21-of-26 passing line for 237 yards and a career-high four touchdowns. Dampier was never sacked and had one interception. It was his third 200-yard passing game since coming to Utah.
Dampier went 10-of-14 on throws of at least 10 air yards, piling up 149 yards on those attempts alone. That’s astronomical efficiency — nearly 15 yards per completion and over 10 yards per attempt. That’s a significant uptick from last week.
Devon Dampier was in his bag
🎒 21-26
🎒 237 Pass YDS
🎒 5 Total TDs#Big12FB | @Utah_Football pic.twitter.com/oFRSOJ1hVE— Big 12 Studios (@big12studios) September 27, 2025
Even better: Dampier acknowledged that there was an increased emphasis and throwing downfield. He credited improved the protection he got from the offensive line. As he said postgame, “they hold a lot of time for me… I was able to make more plays just sitting in the pocket.”
That kind of downfield success forces defenses to respect Utah’s ability to strike deep, which opens up everything else — run game, play-action, misdirection.
For Utah to sustain success in Big 12 play, Dampier being able to reliably hurt you through the air is a non-negotiable.
Utah’s one-two pass catching combo
Ryan Davis caught all seven of his targets for a season-best 107 yards. It included a season-long 32-yard reception that went for a touchdown.
Tight end Dallen Bentley also had a perfect 5-for-5 line on catching his targets, racking up 59 yards. His two-yard touchdown just before halftime gives Bentley three receiving touchdowns in his Utah career—all in the last five games.
LET HIM COOK👨🍳#GoUtes | 📺 @CFBONFOX pic.twitter.com/unuRl471kp
— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) September 27, 2025
The two accounted for 166 yards on 12 receptions from 12 targets — yes, every time the ball came their way, they made something happen.
Their consistency and reliability gave the Utes rhythm and balance. When those two are clicking, Dampier’s job becomes infinitely easier.
10 different players caught a pass today, and just missed on a couple other opportunities. Again, Utah needed to get the passing game, and did just that.
Utah’s defense restricted WVU’s overall success, but bugaboo lingers
Utah’s defensive front deserves MVPs of its own. They made West Virginia’s ground game a non-factor, forced stops in short-yardage, and held swaths of territory without surrender.
One of the most telling sequences: in the first half, WVU tried to muscle Utah with jumbo, under-center options on 3rd down and 4th down, only to be stuffed back-to-back. Those back-to-back stops were a statement moment and killed hope for West Virginia’s offense.
Lander Barton was a menace for the Utes. He not only led the team with 8 tackles, he notched a sack on a late blitz. Johnathan Hall nearly had an interception, and finished the game with 7 tackles.
The Utes held WVU to 95 total yards (22 passing, 73 rushing) in the first half in contrast to 278 for the Utes.
Defensive end Lance Holtzclaw set career-bests in both tackles (5) and tackles for loss (2). Defensive tackle Jonah Lea’ea reset his career-high with eight tackles, tying for the most by a Utah player in the game.
John Henry Daley totaled seven stops (1.0 TFL, 0.5 sack). Daley has had at least an assisted sack in every game this season, bringing his season total to 6.5 sacks.
That physicality up front rippled through the entire defense, giving Utah freedom to tee off on passing downs and not constantly worry about being gashed underneath.
However, Utah’s bugaboo all season has been missed tackles, and that continued to be an issue Saturday.
In total, Utah finished with 10 more missed tackles, a couple of which allowed WVU to move the chains. The secondary is where the biggest issues lie, as the five different defensive backs had a missed tackle.
Coach Whittingham acknowledged the issue and emphasized that it will be something they work on diligently over the next two weeks. Utah has to be better tacklers and limit those mistakes to single digits in the upcoming games.
Utah freshmen made an impact
Utah’s JJ Buchanan made a big time touchdown grab, his second of the season. He looks like a capable contributor now after five games.
This week's @Lexus Play of the Game is brought to you by, @Devonddampier & @_JJBuchanan_ , as the two connect in the redzone for the opening TD of the game for the Utes!#GoUtes | #yougotmossed pic.twitter.com/PLptZ3c6av
— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) September 28, 2025
Unfortunately, there were some injuries that forced a couple of freshmen into action. And fortunately, those two players responded in a big way.
Safety Nate Tilmon and defensive tackle Pupu Sepulona had their fair share of ups and downs in the game, but all in all, they were both positive impact players.
Tilmon registered 7 tackles, and was in on the 3rd down stop referenced above. However, he also had a blown opportunity in coverage, as he was in position to make a big play but whiffed. Whittingham reiterated their belief in him and his future, and that it was the type of play that Tilmon will learn from and eventually make the interception he missed out on.
As for Sepulona, he had to fill in for Dallas Vakalahi. The true freshman with three tackles, and all three were stops that kept the WVU offense behind the chains.
As the 4th quarter began, Utah made mass substitutions and two other freshmen shined in their opportunities.
Quarterback, Byrd Ficklin took the reigns from Dampier and led Utah on two more scoring drives. Running back Daniel Bray took a handful of handoffs and his speed immediately popped and impressed.
Ficklin ended 4-of-4 for 53 yards and a touchdown, connecting with running back Bryce Duke for the score. Bray finished with 32 yards and three carries.
Having depth matters in a conference war. Having young players that can provide glimpses of promise is sometimes just as necessary in the big picture.
O-Block re-established dominance in the trenches
Utah’s line play was the engine. In the second quarter especially, Utah’s O-line gradually imposed its will, establishing downhill push that made the running game cleaner and pass protection steadier.
There were multiple instances of Utah’s physicality simply overwhelming the Mountaineers. Utah’s ground game consistently gained positive yardage.
The Mountaineers don’t have the talent of other programs, but were more of a schematic test. West Virginia’s 3-3-5 scheme creates a lot of different looks for lines to account for. It’s largely the reason they came into the game with the second most pressures, behind only Texas Tech.
Yet, Utah’s offensive line provided good protection throughout the day, not perfect, but plenty for Dampier to execute.
Utah took care of business against the Mountaineers. That’s big for the psyche and should help the Utes move forward into the next phase of their schedule.
The team seemed to have regained some confidence, earned a quality road win, and heads into the bye week showing the kind of performance that can carry you deep in this league.
