SALT LAKE CITY — On the game’s opening drive, Utah junior quarterback Devon Dampier lined up in an empty backfield on fourth-and-2 at No. 21 Arizona State’s 12-yard line. With rain pouring down at Rice-Eccles Stadium, the Phoenix native motioned a receiver across the formation and ran it in untouched to give the Utes a 7-0 lead.
Dampier found the end zone two more times on the ground, finishing with 120 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns, as Utah upended Arizona State, 42-10. The 224-yard signal-caller also converted both of the Utes’ fourth-and-2 situations with his legs.
“So that leaves me in a one-on-one situation, when everybody blocks, and again everybody blocked, and gives me that one-on-one chance,” Dampier said of his team’s read-option play designs. “And I let my team make somebody miss, and let’s go score.”
The 2022 Ed Doherty Award recipient, given to the best Arizona high school football player, played at Saguaro High School in Scottsdale.
“I think just every game I go into, there’s always a chip on my shoulder,” Dampier said when asked if the Arizona ties provided any extra motivation. “I had a long journey to get to the point I’m at right now. Every game, I got something to prove every time I’m out there.”
ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham said he should have recruited the hometown duel-threat quarterback harder early in the week leading up to Saturday night’s 32-point defeat.
Dampier did it all for Utah. He extended plays using his legs, created several ASU missed tackles, and connected on a 56-yard pass to senior wide receiver Ryan Davis–His longest pass of the day, which set up the Utes to widen their lead to 25 points at the 11-minute mark of the third quarter.
On the other sideline, without their duel-threat signal caller of their own, the Maroon and Gold turned to senior quarterback Jeff Sims.
“I thought he played pretty well,” Dillingham said of the 176-yard getter. “I think there’s a few throws obviously he would like back, like every quarterback. But he extended plays, extended some third down and some fourth downs for first downs.”
Sims continued the Sun Devils’ drives twice on fourth down. The first came when he connected with junior wide receiver Jordyn Tyson over the middle on fourth-and-7 on the team’s opening drive. Later, the former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket and Nebraska Cornhusker legged a first-down run on fourth-and-four in the fourth quarter.
Even on third and long, Sims stepped up. In the third quarter, he evaded pressure and tip-toed down the left sideline for a 20-yard gain on third-and-14. This opened the door for Sparky’s lone trip for six–a Tyson three-yard jet sweep score.
Despite Sims’ bright moments, the Utes sacked him five times–the most sacks allowed by the Sun Devils in a game this season.
“The game plan stayed the same,” defensive lineman John Henry Daley said about Utah’s approach after sophomore quarterback Sam Leavitt was ruled out late due to injury. “We want to control the pass lanes, make sure that he (Sims) couldn’t scramble out and extend plays and be able to make some of those throws further downfield. Obviously, it was a bummer that Sam (Leavitt) wasn’t there, but we played the exact same way that we would have if he was playing.”
With Leavitt in a boot on his right foot, Arizona State hopes to have its starting quarterback return next week when it hosts No. 9 Texas Tech on Saturday at 1 p.m. AZT.
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