Heart of Dallas Bowl: Utah runs past West Virginia, 30-14 - Los Angeles Times
Advertisement

Heart of Dallas Bowl: Utah runs past West Virginia, 30-14

West Virgnia's Chris Chugunov (5) is sacked by Utah's Lowell Lotulelei (93) in the second quarter during Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl on Tuesday.
(Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
Share via

Zach Moss ran for 150 yards with a career-long 58-yard run for a touchdown, Tyler Huntley scored twice on 2-yard keepers and Utah got its fifth consecutive bowl victory, a 30-14 win over West Virginia in the Heart of Dallas Bowl on Tuesday.

On a drizzly and chilly day in Cotton Bowl Stadium, the Utes (7-6) led for good after Moss took a third-and-1 handoff, quickly burst into the open field and went all the way to the end zone to cap their opening drive.

Utah improved to 11-1 in bowl games under Kyle Whittingham, the former defensive coordinator whose 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 Whittingham had been promoted to head coach. With the win, Whittingham tied Alabama’s Nick Saban for most bowl wins by an active coach.

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement