MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Devon Dampier threw a career-high four touchdown passes and ran for another score to lead Utah to a 48-14 win over West Virginia on Saturday.
Dampier bounced back from a lopsided home loss to Texas Tech last week in which he didn't thrown a touchdown pass, was intercepted twice, fumbled the ball away once and the Utes were held to 263 total yards.
Utah (4-1, 1-1 Big 12) gained yards in chunks against the Mountaineers, scored on its first three drives and was never challenged by a West Virginia offense that was missing several key players, including quarterback Nicco Marchiol.
Dampier scored on a 7-yard run. He threw TD tosses of 7 yards to freshman tight end JJ Buchanan, 32 yards to Ryan Davis, 2 yards to tight end Dallen Bentley and 11 yards to running back Wayshawn Parker. By then, Utah led 35-0 early in the third quarter.
Dampier completed 21 of 26 passes for 237 yards in three quarters of play. He was intercepted once.
Jaylen Henderson got the start in Marchiol’s place but was ineffective and replaced after halftime. The Mountaineers (2-3, 0-2) turned the ball over on downs twice in the first half and were outgained 532-346 for the game.
Redshirt freshman Khalil Wilkins, one of five West Virginia quarterbacks, showed some promise in Henderson's place. He had runs of 17 and 10 yards before throwing a 39-yard TD pass to Cam Vaughn in the third quarter.
It was West Virginia's worst home loss since a 41-point setback to Kansas State in 2012.
The takeaway
Utah: Dampier had plenty of time to work and showed why he's one of the nation's leaders in accuracy. He's completing nearly 73% of his passes this season.
West Virginia: The Mountaineers have been outscored 89-24 in two Big 12 games and will be challenged to be competitive given their long injury list and with three of their next four games on the road.
Up next
Utah is idle next Saturday and hosts Arizona State on Oct. 11.
West Virginia plays at No. 25 BYU on Friday night.
