Dampier sends No. 15 Utah out with 11th win in Las Vegas Bowl blowout over Nebraska

LAS VEGAS (KSL.com) — The New Year’s Eve fireworks started hours earlier Wednesday afternoon during the Las Vegas Bowl.

And what a way to usher in the Morgan Scalley era of Utah football.

Utah starting quarterback Devon Dampier rushed for three touchdowns and threw two others — a 20-yard toss to JJ Buchanan in the end zone and a 17-yard pass to Dallen Bentley — to lift the No. 15 Utes to a 44-22 win over Nebraska in the Las Vegas Bowl.

The win put an end to the 2025 season and gave Utah its 11th win of the year — the fourth all time in school history — a season after a disappointing 5-7 campaign. The bowl victory also gave Scalley his first official win as head coach of the Utes.

“It was the players really holding it together,” Scalley said. “I was swimming, trying to keep my head above water with the new assignment as head football coach. And so I’m so grateful for them.”

Under his leadership, Utah’s offense put up 535 total yards — including 310 yards through the air — and managed an impressive 7.0 yards per play in front of 38,879 fans in Allegiant Stadium, the largest for a Las Vegas Bowl since moving to the venue in 2019.

In the win, Utah also broke two school records, including rushing yards for the season (3,462) and rushing touchdowns (41).

Dampier finished the game throwing for 310 yards and a touchdown on 19-of-31 passing, while adding a team-high 148 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries. For his effort, Dampier was named the bowl’s most valuable player of the game.

“I’ve not looked at the stats, but I know you did amazing,” Scalley said, turning to Dampier after the game at the postgame press conference.

Bentley led the team with 106 receiving yards and a score on six catches, while Las Vegas native Buchanan finished with 76 yards and a score on four catches.

In total, Utah put up 37 unanswered points before Nebraska found the end zone late in the fourth quarter on a 7-yard run by Nebraska quarterback TJ Lateef, who finished the game throwing for 182 yards, one touchdown and an interception on 15-of-27 passing.

“There have been so many distractions for these players, and the game is all about them,” Scalley said. “And so they’re the ones that don’t deserve all the distractions, right? They worked their tails off. … So credit goes to the seniors, the leadership of this football team, so grateful that they held it together.”

On the defensive end, after allowing two consecutive scores on the first two Nebraska (7-6) drives, Utah’s defense settled in and limited the Cornhuskers’ offense to five straight three-and-out series. During that time, Utah’s offense put up the points en route to a 24-point lead at the end of the third quarter.

Nebraska started out the game going the length of the field, establishing a strong ground game that left Utah reeling at times, to get the first points of the game on a 38-yard rushing touchdown. The team followed that up with a similar drive as Nebraska maintain the momentum in the first quarter.

But as Utah settled into its defense, there was little Nebraska could do to and Utah flipped the script.

“In those first couple series, there was mistakes made on almost every single play where they were able to make big gains,” Utah linebacker Lander Barton said. “We were kind of just settling in and just had to play fundamental and technique football. I mean, that’s all it is. … We just had to settle in and adjust a little bit.”

By then, Utah’s offense was humming along to send Utah out with its 11th win of the season.