On a cold day at the Texas State Fairgrounds, West Virginia football did not get the desired result against the Utah Utes in the Heart of Dallas Bowl.
West Virginia football entered the 2017 Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl looking to finish off the 2017 campaign on a positive note, despite missing star quarterback Will Grier due to a finger injury. Grier injured his finger while diving for the goal line in an eventual home loss to the Texas Longhorns.
The Mountaineers faced the Utah Utes, out of the Pac-12, at the original Cotton Bowl stadium in Dallas, TX. Utah finished the regular season with six wins, barely getting bowl eligible. It took a win in the Rumble in the Rockies, over the Colorado Buffaloes, for the Utes to get that sixth victory.
This postseason matchup did not get off to the start that West Virginia would have liked to. Utah’s ground game came out firing, as running back Zack Moss scampered for a 58 yard touchdown in the first half. West Virginia struggled to get a grasp on Utah’s rushing attack, especially early in the contest.
Without Grier in the lineup, the Mountaineers did not look the same on offense. The defense, which gave up a lot of points during the regular season, had to hold strong against a quality Utes attack. Utah quarterback Tyler Huntley spearheaded an offense that made life tough for the Mountaineers defense.
Chugunov did finally lead a scoring drive for West Virginia, which put points on the board with less than two minutes left in the game. At least he got some of the better receivers on the team involved in some way. Yet, that would cap the scoring off with a 30-14 win for the Utes.
What many expected to be a high-scoring affair, turned into a defensive struggle most of the way. Utah and West Virginia combined for only three points in the third quarter. Nonetheless, this was a big victory for the Utes to give the program its seventh win of the year.
Here are three takeaways from the loss for the West Virginia Mountaineers against the Utah Utes in the 2017 Heart of Dallas Bowl.