Saturday, September 27
Morgantown, W.Va.
3:30 p.m.
West Virginia University
2-3 , 0-2
14
vs
48
Utah
4-1 , 1-1
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Utah
14
14
10
10
48
West Virginia
0
0
7
7
14
Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
West Virginia Drops Big 12 Home Opener to Utah
September 27, 2025 06:55 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Utah scored touchdowns on four of its five first-half possessions in rolling to a 48-14 victory over West Virginia on Saturday afternoon at Milan Puskar Stadium.
The Utes, playing only their fourth game in the Eastern time zone since 2014, had little trouble with the time change or the 1,900-mile trip from Salt Lake City to Morgantown.
Quarterback Devon Dampier completed 21 of 26 passes for 237 yards and four touchdowns before giving way to backup Byrd Ficklin in the fourth quarter.
Ryan Davis led all receivers with seven catches for 107 yards and a touchdown.
Utah made 30 first downs, accumulated 532 yards of offense and never punted the entire game.
"It's embarrassing how we just failed to execute, and we really didn't have anything that was really good," West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said. "Honestly, they didn't ever even have to punt."
Utah (4-1, 1-1) deferred the opening kickoff, forced West Virginia to punt, and then marched 73 yards in 12 plays, culminating with Dampier's 7-yard touchdown pass to JJ Buchanan.
Another empty possession by the Mountaineers preceded the Utes' second sustained drive, which began at their 35 and again ended up in West Virginia's end zone. Utah got 55 yards on the ground this time, capped by Dampier's 7-yard touchdown run.
Utah's third score came early in the second quarter when Dampier found Davis behind the Mountaineer secondary for a 32-yard touchdown.
Utah's final touchdown of the opening half came with just 13 seconds remaining when Dampier flipped a 2-yard pass to a wide-open Dallen Bentley in the back of the end zone. That drive began at the Utah 6 and consisted of 15 plays.
The Utes' only unsuccessful possession of the first half was the result of an interception when Dampier underthrew Buchanan, and Nick Taylor picked it off at the Mountaineer 20.
The Utes, converting 61% of their third-down attempts coming into today's game, were eight-for-eight on third down in the first half with their longest try being just 7 yards.
For the game, Utah was 8 for 13 on third down and was successful on both of its fourth-down tries.
"I knew, coming in, we didn't have a big margin for error because we're a little nicked up and stuff like that, so I don't want to say we had to play perfectly, but you certainly have to play better than what we did today to beat a good Utah team," Rodriguez said.
Utah began the third quarter with the ball at its 37 and needed 10 plays to score. Following passes of 21 yards to Bentley and 17 yards to Davis, a scrambling Dampier flipped an 11-yard touchdown pass to Wayshawn Parker.
It was initially ruled a penalty for illegal touching on the field, but the replay official overruled the call and awarded the touchdown.
Jaylen Henderson got the start at quarterback in place of injured Nicco Marchiol but struggled to move the team. West Virginia's five first-half possessions netted only five first downs and 90 total yards before redshirt freshman Khalil Wilkins replaced Henderson in the third quarter.
Wilkins, getting his most substantial game action of the season, responded.
He scrambled 17 yards for a first down to the WVU 47, ran for 10 more on fourth and 7 to the Utah 40, and two plays later, hooked up with Cam Vaughn for a 39-yard touchdown pass. Vaughn outfought a pair of Utah defenders for the football, came down with it inside the 10 and scooted into the end zone.
Utah answered with Dillon Curtis' 33-yard field with 5:18 left in the third. Parker's 40-yard run down the far sideline set up the field goal.
Wilkins had the Mountaineers moving again, helped by Diore Hubbard's 29-yard run to the Utah 41. His keeper for 3 yards on fourth and 2 gave West Virginia a new set of downs at the 33, but unsuccessful passes downfield to Jeff Weimer, Rodney Gallagher III and Ryan Ward turned the ball over on downs at the 24.
Wilkins, under heavy pressure, missed Weimer open down the middle and his underthrown pass to Gallagher was completed for a 28-yard touchdown. However, Gallagher was called for offensive pass interference, which moved the ball back to the 43.
Wilkins then completed a 19-yard pass to Gallagher, making it fourth and 4, but on the next play Ward was unable to come up with Wilkins' low throw down the middle. Had he caught it in stride, it would have been a walk-in touchdown.
"I thought he competed well for a young guy, getting his first (significant) action," Rodriguez said of his freshman quarterback. "I thought he ran hard. (He) had a couple of throws probably he would have liked to have back - we missed a couple of easy ones there - but I was proud of the way he competed."
Utah got more points when Curtis kicked his second field goal of the afternoon, this one coming from 33 yards out.
A 68-yard run by Jarod Bowie on a reverse to the Utah 7 put West Virginia in great position to score its second touchdown. That eventually came six plays later when Hubbard got in from the 1. A pass interference penalty on Utah's JC Hart on third and 12 set up the score by giving WVU a first and goal at the 2.
Utah's final touchdown came with Ficklin in the game when the backup completed a fourth-and-goal pass to Bryce Duke for a 2-yard score.
Max Brown and true freshman Scotty Fox Jr. got into the game at quarterback on the game's final possession for West Virginia (2-3, 0-2).
The Mountaineers, wearing 1965 throwback uniforms today, got 256 yards of offense in the second half, most of it coming with Wilkins in the game.
He completed 3 of his 6 passes for 63 yards and also ran nine times for 39 yards. Hubbard contributed 61 yards on 10 attempts.
Today's announced attendance was 53,965.
It was Utah's first-ever visit to Morgantown. The Utes claimed bowl-game victories over the Mountaineers in 1964 and 2017 - the only prior meetings between the two schools.
West Virginia has a road game at BYU next Friday night before finally getting on open date after beginning the season with six straight games.
"We have a short week," Rodriguez said of his team's cross-country trip looming six days from now in Provo, Utah. "I don't think anyone in that locker room will lay down or quit or anything like that, and it's my job to make sure that we get this going in a better direction in the next four days."
Utah faces Arizona State two weeks from today at home on Saturday, Oct. 11.
The Utes, playing only their fourth game in the Eastern time zone since 2014, had little trouble with the time change or the 1,900-mile trip from Salt Lake City to Morgantown.
Quarterback Devon Dampier completed 21 of 26 passes for 237 yards and four touchdowns before giving way to backup Byrd Ficklin in the fourth quarter.
Ryan Davis led all receivers with seven catches for 107 yards and a touchdown.
Utah made 30 first downs, accumulated 532 yards of offense and never punted the entire game.
"It's embarrassing how we just failed to execute, and we really didn't have anything that was really good," West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said. "Honestly, they didn't ever even have to punt."
Utah (4-1, 1-1) deferred the opening kickoff, forced West Virginia to punt, and then marched 73 yards in 12 plays, culminating with Dampier's 7-yard touchdown pass to JJ Buchanan.
Another empty possession by the Mountaineers preceded the Utes' second sustained drive, which began at their 35 and again ended up in West Virginia's end zone. Utah got 55 yards on the ground this time, capped by Dampier's 7-yard touchdown run.
Utah's third score came early in the second quarter when Dampier found Davis behind the Mountaineer secondary for a 32-yard touchdown.
Utah's final touchdown of the opening half came with just 13 seconds remaining when Dampier flipped a 2-yard pass to a wide-open Dallen Bentley in the back of the end zone. That drive began at the Utah 6 and consisted of 15 plays.
The Utes' only unsuccessful possession of the first half was the result of an interception when Dampier underthrew Buchanan, and Nick Taylor picked it off at the Mountaineer 20.
The Utes, converting 61% of their third-down attempts coming into today's game, were eight-for-eight on third down in the first half with their longest try being just 7 yards.
For the game, Utah was 8 for 13 on third down and was successful on both of its fourth-down tries.
"I knew, coming in, we didn't have a big margin for error because we're a little nicked up and stuff like that, so I don't want to say we had to play perfectly, but you certainly have to play better than what we did today to beat a good Utah team," Rodriguez said.
Utah began the third quarter with the ball at its 37 and needed 10 plays to score. Following passes of 21 yards to Bentley and 17 yards to Davis, a scrambling Dampier flipped an 11-yard touchdown pass to Wayshawn Parker.
It was initially ruled a penalty for illegal touching on the field, but the replay official overruled the call and awarded the touchdown.
Jaylen Henderson got the start at quarterback in place of injured Nicco Marchiol but struggled to move the team. West Virginia's five first-half possessions netted only five first downs and 90 total yards before redshirt freshman Khalil Wilkins replaced Henderson in the third quarter.
Wilkins, getting his most substantial game action of the season, responded.
He scrambled 17 yards for a first down to the WVU 47, ran for 10 more on fourth and 7 to the Utah 40, and two plays later, hooked up with Cam Vaughn for a 39-yard touchdown pass. Vaughn outfought a pair of Utah defenders for the football, came down with it inside the 10 and scooted into the end zone.
Utah answered with Dillon Curtis' 33-yard field with 5:18 left in the third. Parker's 40-yard run down the far sideline set up the field goal.
Wilkins had the Mountaineers moving again, helped by Diore Hubbard's 29-yard run to the Utah 41. His keeper for 3 yards on fourth and 2 gave West Virginia a new set of downs at the 33, but unsuccessful passes downfield to Jeff Weimer, Rodney Gallagher III and Ryan Ward turned the ball over on downs at the 24.
Wilkins, under heavy pressure, missed Weimer open down the middle and his underthrown pass to Gallagher was completed for a 28-yard touchdown. However, Gallagher was called for offensive pass interference, which moved the ball back to the 43.
Wilkins then completed a 19-yard pass to Gallagher, making it fourth and 4, but on the next play Ward was unable to come up with Wilkins' low throw down the middle. Had he caught it in stride, it would have been a walk-in touchdown.
"I thought he competed well for a young guy, getting his first (significant) action," Rodriguez said of his freshman quarterback. "I thought he ran hard. (He) had a couple of throws probably he would have liked to have back - we missed a couple of easy ones there - but I was proud of the way he competed."
Utah got more points when Curtis kicked his second field goal of the afternoon, this one coming from 33 yards out.
A 68-yard run by Jarod Bowie on a reverse to the Utah 7 put West Virginia in great position to score its second touchdown. That eventually came six plays later when Hubbard got in from the 1. A pass interference penalty on Utah's JC Hart on third and 12 set up the score by giving WVU a first and goal at the 2.
Utah's final touchdown came with Ficklin in the game when the backup completed a fourth-and-goal pass to Bryce Duke for a 2-yard score.
Max Brown and true freshman Scotty Fox Jr. got into the game at quarterback on the game's final possession for West Virginia (2-3, 0-2).
The Mountaineers, wearing 1965 throwback uniforms today, got 256 yards of offense in the second half, most of it coming with Wilkins in the game.
He completed 3 of his 6 passes for 63 yards and also ran nine times for 39 yards. Hubbard contributed 61 yards on 10 attempts.
Today's announced attendance was 53,965.
It was Utah's first-ever visit to Morgantown. The Utes claimed bowl-game victories over the Mountaineers in 1964 and 2017 - the only prior meetings between the two schools.
West Virginia has a road game at BYU next Friday night before finally getting on open date after beginning the season with six straight games.
"We have a short week," Rodriguez said of his team's cross-country trip looming six days from now in Provo, Utah. "I don't think anyone in that locker room will lay down or quit or anything like that, and it's my job to make sure that we get this going in a better direction in the next four days."
Utah faces Arizona State two weeks from today at home on Saturday, Oct. 11.
Team Stats
UTA
WVU
Total Yards
532
346
Pass Yards
290
85
Rushing Yards
242
261
Penalty Yards
43
70
1st Downs
33
14
3rd Downs
8
4
4th Downs
3
4
TOP
34:45
25:15
1st Quarter
UTA 7, WVU 0
UTA - Buchanan,JJ 7 yd pass from Dampier,Devon (Curtis,Dillon kick) 12 plays, 73 yards, TOP 04:40
UTA 14, WVU 0
UTA - Dampier,Devon 7 yd run (Curtis,Dillon kick), 11 plays, 65 yards, TOP 04:34
2nd Quarter
UTA 21, WVU 0
UTA - Davis,Ryan 32 yd pass from Dampier,Devon (Curtis,Dillon kick) 6 plays, 58 yards, TOP 02:43
UTA 28, WVU 0
UTA - Bentley,Dallen 2 yd pass from Dampier,Devon (Curtis,Dillon kick) 15 plays, 94 yards, TOP 04:43
3rd Quarter
UTA 35, WVU 0
UTA - Parker,Wayshawn 11 yd pass from Dampier,Devon (Curtis,Dillon kick) 10 plays, 63 yards, TOP 04:15
UTA 35, WVU 7
WVU - Vaughn,Cam 39 yd pass from Wilkins,Khalil (Hensley,Kade kick) 8 plays, 75 yards, TOP 03:14
UTA 38, WVU 7
UTA - Curtis,Dillon 33 yd field goal 5 plays, 60 yards, TOP 02:10
4th Quarter
UTA 41, WVU 7
UTA - Curtis,Dillon 33 yd field goal 9 plays, 61 yards, TOP 05:28
UTA 41, WVU 14
WVU - Hubbard,Diore 1 yd run (Hensley,Kade kick), 5 plays, 75 yards, TOP 02:47
UTA 48, WVU 14
UTA - Duke,Bryce 2 yd pass from Ficklin,Byrd (Curtis,Dillon kick) 10 plays, 75 yards, TOP 06:03
Game Leaders
CMP
3
TD
1
YDS
63
INT
0
CMP
3
TD
0
YDS
22
INT
0
Players Mentioned
WR
/ Football
QB
/ Football
WR
/ FootballQB
/ Football
RB
/ Football
QB
/ Football
DB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
WR
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