Utah routs West Virginia in Heart of Dallas Bowl
DALLAS — Zack Moss took a third-down handoff and burst through the line into an opening in the middle of the field. Utah was off and running to another bowl victory.
Moss ran for 150 yards, including a career-long 58-yard run for a touchdown on the Utes’ opening drive in the Heart of Dallas Bowl, and they went on to a 30-14 win over West Virginia on Tuesday. Utah is now 11-1 in postseason games under Kyle Whittingham, who matched Alabama’s Nick Saban for the most bowl wins by an active coach.
“He knows how to coach the team, and he always caps the year off right,” Utah sophomore quarterback Tyler Huntley said.
Huntley scored twice on 2-yard keepers, but the Utes led for good in their fifth straight bowl victory after Moss broke free early on a drizzly and chilly day in Cotton Bowl Stadium.
“It was very important for us to come out of the gates with a big play early on and set the tone,” said Moss, who like Huntley still has two seasons left with the Utes (7-6).
West Virginia (7-6) finished the season with its third straight loss. The Mountaineers had only 153 total yards without junior quarterback Will Grier, who broke a finger Nov. 18, and 1,000-yard rusher Justin Crawford, a senior who bypassed the bowl game in advance of the NFL draft.
“It was a pretty disappointing loss to end a pretty disappointing season,” coach Dana Holgorsen said. “You never hear me use it as an excuse. If you lose guys, you need guys to step in and play at a high level, and that is the bottom line.”
Whittingham’s debut as head coach was a Fiesta Bowl win at the end of the 2004 season. He co-coached that game with Urban Meyer, who had taken the Florida job three weeks earlier but returned to be part of Utah’s postseason win over Pittsburgh after his defensive coordinator had been promoted to head coach.
Under Whittingham, the Utes prepare for bowl games like regular-season games, often in full pads and with continuing conditioning work. There is also a little bit of peer pressure.
“We’ve got a group of guys and have had several groups of guys come here that take a lot of pride in their bowl performance and the bowl record that we have,” Whittingham said. “This group was no different. Each subsequent group doesn’t want to be the group that lets the previous groups down. They want to keep that bowl prowess alive.”
Both of Huntley’s TDs came after West Virginia miscues. The first came after a muffed punt return set Utah up at the Mountaineers’ 13, and the second came after an offside penalty on a short punt gave the Utes a second chance on fourth down. Huntley then completed a 25-yard pass on the fourth-and-3 play before scoring on another short run.
KaRaun White’s 18-yard TD catch with two minutes left for West Virginia put him over 1,000 yards receiving this season, along with teammate Gary Jennings. But David Sills V, who had 18 TD catches, had no receptions Tuesday and finished 20 yards shy of giving the Mountaineers three 1,000yard receivers.
› Duke 36, Northern Illinois 14 DETROIT — Daniel Jones threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as Duke handily won the Quick Lane Bowl.
Jones finished with 338 yards of offense and Shaun Wilson and Brittain Brown added touchdowns for Duke (7-6).
Marcus Childers threw for 234 yards and a score for Northern Illinois (8-5).
The Blue Devils took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, sandwiching rushing touchdowns around a failed Northern Illinois fake punt on fourth-and-18 from its own 11.
The Huskies had only two first downs and 46 yards in the quarter but tied the game with two scores in the first 2:38 of the second. Duke, though, moved back into a 26-14 lead with two touchdowns before halftime.
Jones fumbled on the first possession of the second half, but Northern Illinois turned the ball back over after a failed fake field goal.
Other than the start of the second quarter, where they lost defensive focus on back-to-back possessions, the Blue Devils were in complete control.
By winning their final three games, including David Cutcliffe’s second bowl victory in 10 seasons coaching at Duke, the Devils take some momentum into the offseason. At 4-6 after a loss to Army on Nov. 11, they were in danger of missing out on a bowl for the second year in a row, but they beat Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Northern Illinois.
“We’ve got a group of guys and have had several groups of guys come here that take a lot of pride in their bowl performance and the bowl record that we have ... They want to keep that bowl prowess alive.” – KYLE WHITTINGHAM