Devon Dampier and a Jackson Bennee Strip Sack Lift No. 10 Utah Past No. 14 Houston 21-13

For 30 minutes on Saturday night, everything that could go wrong for Utah did. A missed chip-shot field goal. An interception in scoring range. Zero points on the board, with College GameDay in town and a sold-out Rice-Eccles Stadium waiting for something to cheer about.

Then Devon Dampier decided to run, and Jackson Bennee decided to blitz. No. 10 Utah erased a 10-point second-half deficit and beat No. 14 Houston 21-13 in front of 51,864, the program's 100th straight sellout at Rice-Eccles. The Utes are 7-0 and 4-0 in the Big 12. Houston fell to 6-2 and 3-2.

It was Utah's first 7-0 start since 2010, according to the Deseret News, and it stretched the longest active winning streak in college football to 13 games.

A first half to forget

Utah hosted GameDay for the second straight season and the third time in four years, according to the school's official recap (opens in a new tab). The Utes then spent the first half doing almost nothing with the attention.

It was not for lack of yards. Utah actually outgained Houston 194-188 in the first half, per the Deseret News. But Kentrell Webb intercepted Dampier in the second quarter with the Utes in scoring range, and Dillon Curtis missed a 34-yard field goal after a bad snap and hold. Houston twice drove inside the Utah 10 before the break and came away with only a Jonathan Dimas 24-yard field goal with 3:44 left in the second quarter. James Chenault Jr. broke up a fourth-down pass in the end zone to keep it that close.

Houston led 3-0 at halftime, and it was the first time Utah had been held scoreless in a first half since a 13-7 loss to TCU in October 2024.

Utah coach Morgan Scalley liked what happened in the locker room anyway. "I was really proud of Kevin and those guys at halftime talking through it," Scalley said. "I've seen locker rooms where there's panic and people start freaking out at each other and it was awesome."

Houston lands the first punch

The Cougars opened the third quarter like a team that wanted to end the conversation. They put together a 15-play, 75-yard drive that took 8:14 off the clock, and Makhi Hughes punched it in from 2 yards out with 6:46 left in the third. Houston 10, Utah 0.

That is when Dampier took over. The Utes answered with a five-play, 75-yard drive, and Dampier scrambled 22 yards for a touchdown at the 4:25 mark. Dimas responded with a 47-yard field goal for a 13-7 Houston lead, but the momentum had clearly shifted.

"Today was one of those games where I think my legs were needed," Dampier said, according to the Deseret News.

Parker's direct snap puts Utah in front

Utah's go-ahead drive was its most complete of the night. The Utes went 80 yards in 10 plays, and Wayshawn Parker took a direct snap and scored from 5 yards out with 11:57 left. Utah 14, Houston 13.

It still got tense. On Utah's next possession, Latreveon McCutchin picked off a Dampier pass intended for Parker, the second interception of the night for the Houston defense. A one-point lead with Conner Weigman on the other sideline is not exactly a comfortable cushion.

The Utah defense made sure it did not matter. Jireh Moe sacked Weigman to force one punt, and the Utes stopped two straight Houston drives before the Cougars got the ball back at their own 20 with 2:20 left.

The turning point: one blitz, one play

On the first snap of that drive, Bennee came through the line untouched on a safety blitz and drilled Weigman, forcing a fumble that Moe recovered at the Houston 9. One play later, Dampier ran in from 9 yards out to make it 21-13.

Scalley's review of the call was short and sweet. "Jackson, heck of a blitz," Scalley said. "It was very timely. It's something that we haven't dialed up in a little bit."

Houston still had one more chance, but Utah forced four straight incompletions to close it out, including a fourth-down throw that fell harmlessly to the turf.

The stars

Dampier finished with a season-high 150 rushing yards and two touchdowns and completed 18 of 26 passes for 204 yards. Those 354 total yards came with two interceptions, but the legs more than made up for it. According to Utah, it was the senior's third 100-yard rushing game as a Ute, and the 1,183 rushing yards Dampier has piled up over two seasons at Utah trail only Travis Wilson's 1,225 for the most by a quarterback in recorded program history. Noah Bennee led all Utah receivers with a season-high five catches for 42 yards, according to the official recap.

On defense, Trey Reynolds led Utah with nine tackles, Cyrus Polu had a career-high seven, and Bennee added eight stops, including a career-first sack. That sack happened to be the biggest play of the game.

For Houston, Amare Thomas was a problem all night, catching five passes for 133 yards. Weigman threw for 282 yards and hit three passes of 41 yards or more, per the Deseret News, but the rest of the night was a grind. Hughes, the Houston running back, was held to 52 rushing yards.

The numbers that matter

Houston came in averaging 481.8 total yards and 230 rushing yards per game. Utah held the Cougars to 368 and 86, both season lows, according to the box score (opens in a new tab) and the official recap.

It was also the first game this season in which Weigman neither threw nor ran for a touchdown. The Houston quarterback came in with a Big 12-leading passing efficiency rating of 174.1 and left with a 122.0.

Meanwhile, Utah ran for 226 yards and finished with 430 total yards and a 24-17 edge in first downs. The Utes won that battle up front even on a night when the scoreboard took a while to agree.

"We always take what the defense gives us," Dampier said, before crediting the other side of the ball. "Defense came to our side, they're letting us know they got our back regardless."

What it means

The win made Utah the last unbeaten team in the Big 12, and with No. 2 BYU and No. 8 Texas Tech both losing on Saturday, the Utes sit alone atop the league. Utah rose to No. 6 in the AP poll that followed, while Houston slid to No. 18.

Scalley, though, was already warning against getting comfortable. "A reminder: it's hard to win in college football," Scalley said. "The two turnovers, again, we got to learn from that."

The next test arrived quickly. Next on the schedule was a Halloween trip to Cincinnati. The Bearcats were 5-2 and had just beaten No. 8 Texas Tech 37-24, which is why nobody in Salt Lake City was calling it a trap game. After that, No. 8 BYU comes to Rice-Eccles on Nov. 7.

Houston gets a chance to regroup before hosting Cincinnati on Nov. 7. The Cougars still have a dangerous quarterback and a receiver in Thomas who can flip a game in one snap. They just could not finish this one.

The last word

Dampier summed up a season that keeps getting bigger. "We believed we were going to be here since spring ball," Dampier said.

Scalley put it in perspective. "This is a great one, but it's one, and we can only celebrate for so long," Scalley said. Utah needed one half to wake up, one blitz to break Houston and one quarterback to carry the rest. Seven games in, the Utes keep finding a way.

Sources: Utah Athletics recap and box score, The Associated Press, Deseret News, Field Level Media and ClutchPoints. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Utah Athletics.