No. 10 Utah holds off No. 14 Houston to remain Big 12's last undefeated

The Utah Utes came into Saturday night with a golden opportunity. A win would make them the last undefeated team in the Big 12 conference. They took care of business against No. 14 Houston with a 21-13 win in Salt Lake City.

Devon Dampier ran for 150 yards and two touchdowns to keep the Utes trending in the right direction. He also completed 18 of 26 passes for 204 yards with two interceptions. The game wasn't pretty in the slightest, but he kept everything moving. The biggest plays came on the ground due to the strength of Houston's secondary.

The Cougars found ways to stop Utah's running game early until Dampier took matters into his own hands. "I'm never scared to tote the rock," Dampier said. "If that's what I got to do to win the game for my team."

Utah (7-0, 4-0 Big 12) maintains the longest active winning streak in college football at 13 games. The Utes came back from an early deficit to pull ahead in the fourth quarter.

Morgan Scalley put confidence behind Dampier and it paid off. “He's our guy," Scalley said after the game. "I'm so proud of his fight in the second half.” Even when the Utes were behind, there was no quit in the team, and they remained focused on playing their style of football.

“We were down, but he's just got all the confidence in the world and that's what you want,” Scalley added.

The Utes' defense stood tall when it mattered the most. Jackson Bennee had a strip sack on Conner Weigman, and Jireh Moe recovered on the Houston 9 with 2:15 remaining. One play later, Dampier got into the end zone to take the lead. From there, Utah held Houston in the closing moments.

Weigman went 19 for 35 with 282 yards passing. “Left too many plays out there,” he said.

Utah joins Miami and UCLA as the only teams without a loss in college football.

The Cougars stood toe-to-toe with Utah until the fourth quarter. No fault of their own, but Dampier was just too much. The fumble by Weigman was Houston's only turnover of the game. However, it happened at the worst time. Houston is just a few plays away from the top of the Big 12. Now they're a two-loss team and need help.

As for the Utes, the 100th straight sellout at Rice-Eccles was electric. Utah took a bit to get going, but they'll likely be the Big 12's top ranked team on Sunday.

Utah heads to Cincinnati next Saturday. The Bearcats are coming off a 37-24 upset over No. 8 Texas Tech.