Game Preview: West Virginia football vs. Utah

West Virginia will host Utah in a Big 12 Conference matchup, and WVSports.com breaks down some of the key items of the matchup in our preview.

Kickoff: 3:30 PM ET.
Series: Utah 2-0
Last Meeting: 2017: WVU 14 Utah 30
Television Information: FOX, Jason Benetti (PBP), Robert Griffin III (analyst)
Odds: Utah -12.5 — U/0 48.5 (BetMGM)

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Head Coaches Information:

West Virginia		Utah
Rich Rodriguez		Kyle Whittingham
Record at West Virginia:	62-28	Record at Utah:	170-87
Overall Record:	192-131-2	Overall Record:	170-87
2025 Record:	2-2	2025 Record:	3-1

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Numbers of Note:

–The 2025 season marks West Virginia’s 133rd season of football. The Mountaineers are the winningest program in the Big 12 Conference and No. 15 in college football.

–West Virginia Football Coach Rich Rodriguez has 192 career victories, ranking No. 5 among active FBS coaches.

–WVU is 12-3 in games played on Sept. 27, including 10-1 at home. The last time WVU played on that date was against Marshall in 2008 in Morgantown (W/27-3)

–West Virginia is 0-2 all-time against Utah.

–Rodriguez is 6-1 in conference home openers at West Virginia

–West Virginia has surpassed at least 140 rushing yards in 36 of the last 42 games (since 2022)

–The Mountaineers are tied for No. 1 nationally in red zone offense and No. 33 in rushing offense

–WVU is 104-16 since 2002 when winning the turnover battle.

–On first down, the Mountaineers have run 129 plays and gained 766 yards for a 6.0 average. On second down, the Mountaineers have run 101 plays for 586 yards and a 5.8 average. On third down, the Mountaineers have run 56 plays for 272 yards and a 4.9 average gain. West Virginia has run eight plays on fourth down for nine yards and a 1.1 average

–WVU’s touchdowns have come seven times on first down (6 rush/1 pass), three times on second down (2 rush/1 pass), two times on third down (2 rush/0 pass) and zero times on fourth down (0 rush/0 pass).

–Breaking down the West Virginia offensive numbers for the 2025 season shows that the Mountaineers have run 294 plays, 180 on the ground and 114 through the air.

–The rushing game has totaled 821 yards, an average of 4.6 yards per carry and 10 touchdowns. The passing attack has totaled 812 yards, two touchdowns and an average of 11.3 yards per completion. Combine the two and the Mountaineers have turned in 1,633 yards of total offense, 12 touchdowns, an average of 5.6 yards per play and an average of 24.0 points per game.

–Deeper analysis shows that the Mountaineer offense has gained 46 first downs by the run and 30 via the pass. On average, West Virginia has totaled 205.3 yards per game on the ground, 203.0 yards per game passing and 408.3 yards per game of total offense.

–West Virginia has gone to a bowl game in 20 of the last 23 years.

–The Mountaineers added 79 new players to the roster in 2025, including 39 on offense, 37 on defense and three on special teams.

–The 2025 roster consists of 124 players from 23 different states, Washington D.C. and three foreign countries: Australia (1), Finland (1) and Liberia (1).

–The FOX broadcast of the WVU-Utah football game on Sept. 27 marks the 340th national television game for WVU. All-time, the Mountaineers are 177-161-1 in nationally televised games.

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Utah

Utah has started the season 3-1 and is coming off a surprising 34-10 home loss in the Big 12 Conference opener at home to Texas Tech. The Utes boast a complete football team rankings 39th nationally in scoring offense and 25th in scoring defense. The Utah offense is led by quarterback Devon Dampier who has thrown for 790 yards and 7 touchdowns while rushing for 225 yards and a score. Both of those marks lead the team through the first four games of the season.

This Utah football team relies on the run with just under 250 yards per game and Wayshawn Parker has rushed for 214 yards and 3 scores along with NaQuari Rogers with 189 yards and 4 scores.

The Utah receiving group is led by Ray Davis with 29 catches for 241 yards and a score and tight end Dallen Bentley with 17 grabs for 187 yards and 2 scores.

The Utah defense is a tough unit to crack allowing just 14.8 points per game even after surrendering 34 to Texas Tech in the previous game. The unit ranks inside the top 45 in both rush and pass defense.

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National Statistical Rankings

Statistic	West Virginia	Utah
Scoring Offense	91 (24.0)	39 (36.8)
Scoring Defense	60 (21.3)	25 (14.8)
Rushing Offense	33 (205.3)	17 (242.8)
Rushing Defense	59 (130.8)	44 (110.8)
Passing Offense	87 (203.0)	82 (210.8)
Total Offense	62 (408.3)	32 (453.5)
Pass Defense	56 (191.5)	39 (178.3)
Total Defense	52 (322.3)	33 (289.0)
Third Down Conversions	130 (26.8)	7 (61.0)
Opponent Third Down	27 (28.3)	41 (32.1)
Penalties	106 (28)	59 (22)

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Coaching Staff Assignments:

Zac Alley (AHC-DC-LB/Field)
Travis Trickett (Senior Offensive Assistant/Press Box)
Jack Bicknell Jr. (OL/Field)
Jeff Casteel (Bandits/Field)
Logan Bradley (IR/Field)
Gabe Franklin (S/Field)
Ryan Garrett (WR/Field)
William Green (DL/Field)
Pat Kirkland (STC-Defensive Assistant/Field)
Michael Nysewander (TE/Field)
Larry Porter (RB/Field)
Rhett Rodriguez (QB/Press Box)
Rod West (CB/Field)
Derek Dressler (Assistant OL/Press Box)
Henry Weinreich (Nickels-Sams/Field)
Pat White (Assistant QB/Field)
Jake Casteel (Asst. Defensive Coach/Press Box)
Ryan Nehlen (Asstant WR/Press Box)
Andrew Warwick (Assistant Defensive Coach/Press Box)

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Depth Chart:

OFFENSE:

QB:

No.	Name	Ht	Wt	Class
8	Nicco Marchiol	6-2	226	r-Jr.
-or-
13	Jaylen Henderson	6-3	223	r-Sr.
-or-
6	Max Brown	6-2	223	r-Jr.
-or-
15	Scotty Fox	6-2	213	Fr.
-or-
14	Khalil Wilkins	6-3	204	r-Fr.

RB:

No.	Name	Ht	Wt	Class
27	Clay Ash	5-9	196	So.
-or-
23	Cyncir Bowers	5-10	191	So.
-or-
2	Tye Edwards	6-2	225	r-Sr.

WR X:

No.	Name	Ht	Wt	Class
4	Cam Vaughn	6-2	185	r-So.
11	Justin Smith-Brown	5-11	190	r-Sr.
-or-
16	Jeff Weimer	6-1	209	r-Sr.

WR Y:

No.	Name	Ht	Wt	Class
24	Rodney Gallagher	5-10	180	Jr.
-or-
3	Oran Singleton	5-9	159	Sr.
-or-
7	Jarod Bowie	5-9	162	Sr.

WR Z:

No.	Name	Ht	Wt	Class
29	Preston Fox	5-10	181	r-Sr.
86	Cyrus Traugh	6-0	188	r-So.
-or-
88	Jordan McCants	5-11	178	r-Jr.

TE:

No.	Name	Ht	Wt	Class
80	80 Grayson Barnes	6-4	222	Sr.
-or-
81	Jacob Barrick	6-3	231	Sr.

LT:

No.	Name	Ht	Wt	Class
52	Nick Krahe	6-6	305	r-So.
79	Mickel Clay	6-4	300	Sr.

LG:

No.	Name	Ht	Wt	Class
54	Walter Young Bear	6-3	306	r-Sr.
57	Donovan Haslam	6-3	341	r-Jr.

C:

No.	Name	Ht	Wt	Class
67	Landen Livingston	6-4	294	r-Jr.
55	Carson Lee	6-2	327	r-Sr.

RG:

No.	Name	Ht	Wt	Class
56	Kimo Makane’ole	6-4	300	r-Sr.
59	Josh Aisosa	6-3	321	r-So.

RT:

No.	Name	Ht	Wt	Class
74	Ty’Kieast Crawford	6-5	305	r-Sr.
65	Malik Agbo	6-4	280	r-Jr.

DEFENSE:

DE:

No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Class
1	Eddie Kelly	6-5	286	Sr.
91	Devin Grant	6-2	267	r-Sr.

DT:

No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Class
96	Edward Vesterinen	6-3	284	r-Sr.
92	Asani Redwood	6-3	294	r-Jr.

NG:

No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Class
99	Hammond Russell	6-3	308	r-Sr.
69	Nate Gabriel	6-3	315	So.

BANDIT:

No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Class
10	Braden Siders	6-2	243	r-Sr.
18	Curtis Jones	6-4	231	So.

MIKE:

No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Class
35	Reid Carrico	6-2	229	r-Sr.
32	Ben Bogle	6-1	225	r-Jr.
-or-
33	Ashton Woods	6-3	226	r-Fr.

WILL:

No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Class
30	Chase Wilson	6-1	230	r-Sr.
15	Ben Cutter	6-0	225	Jr.

NICKEL:

No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Class
5	Fred Perry	5-9	206	Sr.
34	Chris Fileppo	6-2	211	Fr.

FS:

No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Class
14	Kekoura Tarnue	6-0	199	Sr.
7	Israel Boyce	5-11	192	So.
-or-
13	Derek Carter	5-10	181	r-Sr.

BS:

No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Class
24	Darrian Lewis	5-9	198	r-Sr.
8	Justin Harrington	6-3	217	r-Sr.
-or-
4	Jordan Walker	6-0	194	r-Sr.

LCB:

No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Class
3	Michael Coats	5-11	183	Sr.
6	Jordan Scruggs	5-10	172	r-Sr.

RCB:

No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Class
23	Jason Chambers	5-11	193	Sr.
16	Ty Crutcher	5-8	176	Sr.

SPECIAL TEAMS:

K:

No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Class
25	Kade Hensley	5-10	190	r-Sr.
99	Ethan Head	6-1	185	So.

KO:

No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Class
99	Ethan Head	6-1	185	So.
48	Nate Flower	6-2	184	r-So.

H:

No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Class
41	Oliver Straw	6-2	215	Sr.
42	RJ Kocan	5-10	233	r-Jr.

P:

No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Class
41	Oliver Straw	6-2	215	Sr.
47	Aidan Stire	6-0	198	Fr.

LS:

No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Class
38	Macguire Moss	6-1	225	r-Jr.
53	Kaden Seller	6-2	256	r-Fr.

KR/PR:

No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Class
29	Preston Fox	5-10	188	r-Sr.
7	Jarod Bowie	5-8	164	r-Sr.

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