This past Saturday marked the second straight week that the West Virginia Mountaineers have been blown out in a loss – after last week's loss at Kansas ended with a final score of 41-10, WVU lost at home by a final score of 48-14 at the hands of the Utah Utes on Saturday.
Coming into this game, it was widely predicted that the Utes’ mobile quarterback, Devon Dampier, was going to find a way to pick apart the WVU defense, either with his arm or with his legs. Dampier finished with 237 passing yards, four passing touchdowns, 35 rushing yards, and a rushing touchdown.
Despite there being very little that went right, at least one offensive and one defensive player did produce some good film on Saturday. Let's take a look at WVU's standout players against Utah.
Offensive Standout: Diore Hubbard
After losing their top three running backs for this contest (Jahiem White, Tye Edwards, and Cyncir Bowers), it was a wonder who might fill in and what effect they might have on this game. One running back shone a little brighter than his other counterparts on Saturday. Diore Hubbard took good advantage of the extra playing time that he got because of all the injuries. The Gahanna, Ohio, native was the recipient of 10 carries on Saturday.
Hubbard finished with 61 rushing yards on those carries and crossed the goal line with a one-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter to score WVU’s second and last touchdown on the night. Averaging 6.1 rushing yards per attempt, Hubbard was the most consistent and effective runners for the Mountaineers on Saturday.
Defensive Standout: Nick Taylor
Giving up 48 points against the Utes, I know that some might be thinking, 'how is there a defensive standout player in this awful performance from the Mountaineer defense?' And I get it, it is hard to call someone a standout when their unit gave up 48 points and could have given up more if the Utes did not bring in their backup quarterback. But one player did his job and had a nice game, showing that he was not afraid to play in the run game as a secondary player. Sophomore Nick Taylor had his best game in a WVU uniform by far after transferring in from Appalachian State.
Taylor racked up eight total tackles (four solo tackles) and one interception. One of his tackles came in the third quarter, where the transfer from Appalachian State laid some serious lumber on Utah’s running back Wayshawn Parker, keeping Parker from getting past the line of scrimmage. Taylor’s hit on Parker was a loud hit that was clearly heard on the broadcast and even garnered the attention of the Fox commentators, including Baylor legend Robert Griffin III. Taylor had not seen much action before the game against Utah, but one can only imagine that he has earned more reps in the secondary after his game on Saturday.