What Kyle Whittingham said after Utah's blowout win over West Virginia

Utah moves to 4-1 after crushing West Virginia, 48-14, on Saturday

Sep 27, 2025; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; Utah Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham talks to several officials during the third quarter against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Milan Puskar Stadium. | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

The Utah Utes made the lengthy trip out to Morgantown and came away with a dominant 48-14 victory over the West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday, giving the team momentum heading into the bye week.

"Proud of our team for the response from last week," coach Kyle Whittingham said postgame. "Tough loss last week, disappointing loss. And talk 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. I think they did exactly that."

Devon Dampier threw for a career-high four touchdown passes, three of which came in the first half as the Utes coasted to a 28-0 halftime lead. Dampier led multiple methodical, time-consuming drives that left Utah's defense well-rested and able to thump West Virginia all game long.

The win gives Utah a 4-1 record on the year heading into the bye, before a matchup with Arizona State in Week 6.

Here are more highlights from coach Whittingham's postgame presser:

On establishing the passing game early

"We know that that was something that hurt us last week, and we needed to be able to push the ball down the field better. We did that this week. Receivers stepped up, answered the challenge. I thought we had a good scheme going in and, you know, 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. The other, Ryan Davis, has been good every game, and so yeah, the throw game really was in much higher gear this week than weeks past."

Sep 27, 2025; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; Utah Utes tight end JJ Buchanan (81) catches a pass for a touchdown during the first quarter against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Milan Puskar Stadium. | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

On Devon Dampier's pocket presence

"The offensive line did a really good job in their run blocking and their pass protection. And also he buys himself a lot of time, you know, with his escapability and ability to extend the play. And so between our offensive line being very solid and him having the pocket presence that he has gives him extra time to find guys downfield. He does a good job. When he is on the move of keeping his eyes downfield, he doesn’t necessarily just tuck and run right away. He’s looking for every possible outlet that he can get the ball down the field before he goes ahead and tucks it."

Sep 27, 2025; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; Utah Utes quarterback Devon Dampier (4) runs the ball for a touchdown during the first quarter against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Milan Puskar Stadium. | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

On getting a win going into a bye week

"You don’t want to sit on a loss ever, but to sit on it for two weeks is double the torture. And so it’s really big to be able to end that, what, first half, almost first half of the season on a positive and get some guys healed up hopefully, and gives us momentum into the next contest."

Sep 27, 2025; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; Utah Utes players celebrate after defeating the West Virginia Mountaineers at Milan Puskar Stadium. | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

On Utah's tackling issues

"We're certainly going to work on tackling, I can tell you that. And it's a matter of coming to balance and breaking down. We're in bad body position too often, and we got to get that corrected, and we will. You're never going to be perfect in tackling. You know, we're playing against scholarship guys, you know, that are really good, so they're going to make you miss on occasion. But as of late, we've just been missing too many tackles, so that will definitely be a point of emphasis."

Sep 27, 2025; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers wide receiver Cam Vaughn (4) jumps over Utah Utes cornerback Elijah Davis (9) during the first quarter at Milan Puskar Stadium. | Ben Queen-Imagn Images