After a poor showing resulting in a 41-10 road loss to the Kansas Jayhawks, the West Virginia Mountaineers will be looking to right the ship in their Big 12 home opener against Utah. Let’s have some fun with a few overs and unders to watch for in the matchup with the Utah Utes in their first-ever trip to Morgantown.
2.5 WVU Quarterback Take a Snap
By the looks of it, the quarterback competition is officially back on for the Mountaineers. Heading into the season, Coach Rodriguez spoke highly of all the quarterbacks on the roster while refusing to name a starter. Through the ups and downs of West Virginia’s season thus far, Nicco Marchiol has started all 4 games. However Marchol struggled once again in the blowout loss in the Big 12 opener, and was deemed questionable this week by Rich Rodriguez due to a foot injury.
Jaylen Henderson lead the Mountaineers to their only touchdown drive last week in relief of Marchiol, but Khalil Wilkins also saw some action. Scotty Fox Jr. was the second signal caller to see action against Pitt, and Max Brown is still waiting in the wings. How many quarterbacks do we see? The line is set at 2.5, and each of the last two weeks (Pitt, Kansas), West Virginia has gone over that mark. However, we'll take the under here, particularly if it's a close game – but it's hard to tell who we'll see.
260 Total Yards of Offense for Devon Dampier
Yet again, West Virginia will be facing a dual-threat quarterback this weekend. Devon Dampier of Utah led the Utes to a solid 3-0 start and a ranking of 16th in the AP Poll prior to their blowout loss at home to the Red Raiders of Texas Tech. Dampier is a transfer from New Mexico, where he posted strikingly similar numbers to Parker Navarro of Ohio, who the Mountaineers lost to in week 2.
Devon Dampier in 2024 (New Mexico)
2,768 passing yards, 12 touchdowns, 12 interceptions
1,166 rush yards, 19 touchdowns, 7.5 yards per carry
Parker Navarro in 2024
2,423 passing yards, 13 touchdowns, 11 interceptions
1,054 rushing yards, 18 touchdowns, 6.6 yards per carry
Through four games with Utah, Dampier is averaging just shy of 200 yards passing and 60 yards rushing per contest. Will he reach those numbers on the road in Morgantown? While the Mountaineer faithful may hope not, the safer play is to take the over here, as a talented Utah team will come to West Virginia looking to right their own ship against WVU.
1.5 Turnovers Forced by West Virginia
This was the same line we set for West Virginia’s matchup with Kansas last week. While WVU turned the ball over twice, Zac Alley’s defense did not force a turnover for the first time in a game this season. Similar to Jalon Daniels, Dampier has been turnover-prone throughout his career. Playing in front of the home crowd, expect the Mountaineer defense to get back to producing turnovers and take the over here. If West Virginia wants any chance to pull out a win as a home underdog, they will have to make big-time plays defensively to help out this struggling, injury-riddled offense.