An old rivalry will be renewed on Saturday when No. 20 Utah travels to Laramie to face Wyoming.
The Utes and the Cowboys were conference rivals in the Mountain West for 12 years until Utah left to join the Pac-12 in 2011. Saturday’s game will mark their 84th meeting overall, but the first since 2010 when the Utes won 30-6.
Through two games, Utah (2-0) has looked radically different from the team that struggled in its Big 12 debut a season ago. The Utes have combined a suddenly potent offense with their usual stifling defense to stake an early claim as a Big 12 title contender.
One key catalyst sparking Utah’s offensive resurgence is the progression of New Mexico transfer Devon Dampier.
Dampier battled inconsistency as a starting quarterback with the Lobos last season. He completed only 58 percent of his pass attempts while tossing 12 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
It’s a different story this season. Dampier’s 79.2 completion percentage leads the Big 12 Conference and is second in the FBS. He completed 21 of 25 passes against UCLA and 17 of 23 against Cal Poly. And, notably, he has zero interceptions while throwing five touchdown passes through two games.
“Devon has made a concerted effort to turn those weaknesses that were there last year into strengths, and so I think it’s just a natural progression of a quarterback getting better,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.
The only quibble with the offense to this point, for Whittingham, is that Utah isn’t producing many chunk plays in the passing game. Much of the offensive production for the Utes has been on the ground.
“We haven’t had a lot of explosive plays in the throw game,” Whittingham said. “We’ve got to continue to push the ball up the field more often.”
Wyoming has already witnessed Dampier’s playmaking abilities firsthand.
Dampier ran for a career-high 207 yards and three touchdowns on 12 carries against the Cowboys last season. While New Mexico ultimately lost 49-45, he left a lasting impression on the Wyoming coaches.
“They’ve got a quarterback in Devon Dampier that I don’t think we’ve stopped, ever, so we’ve gotta try to figure out a way to do that,” Wyoming coach Jay Sawvel said.
Wyoming will get starting quarterback Kaden Anderson back for Saturday, which is welcome news as the Cowboys try to find a way to move the ball on one of the nation’s toughest defenses. Anderson exited during the third quarter of last week’s 31-7 victory over Northern Iowa with an upper body injury and did not return.
“I would anticipate him playing for sure,” Sawvel said. “Kaden Anderson is fine. We’re all very fortunate that it wasn’t anything more than what that was. The expectation would be that he’ll be starting this Saturday.”
Utah has won four straight games in the series and 10 of the last 11 overall. The Utes hold a 51-31-1 lead in the series with the Cowboys.
