Devon Dampier bumped his way through the sea of red that had taken over the field at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

The Utah quarterback knew what the crowd wanted.

Dampier climbed onto an equipment stand, turning it into a makeshift stage, and made a U with his hands.

Cue mass hysteria.

“One thing I took personally last year was I felt like I didn’t show up in some of our big games, and that was a big mentality this year,” Dampier said after his performance.

He showed up on Saturday in Utah’s 28-20 win over BYU.

Dampier played a part in all four of the Utes’ touchdowns against the Cougars. The Utes shot out of the gate, scoring two touchdowns on their opening two possessions.

Then, when BYU punched back, Dampier led two masterful touchdown drives in the second half to secure Utah’s first win over the Cougars since 2019.

He had a team-high 87 yards rushing, threw for 177 yards and hauled in a 29-yard reception for good measure.

That performance against the ninth-ranked Cougars had at least some in the Utah athletic department thinking Heisman. Moments after the game, a Utah football social media account posted a graphic of Dampier with the hashtag #SPID4HEISMAN.

After Saturday, why not dare to dream?

“Certainly people will know about him now,” his longtime quarterback coach Mike Giovando told The Salt Lake Tribune.

“If they go 12-0, he better be mentioned. He better be. He better be in the top five of the Heisman race.”

That, however, is the farthest thing from Dampier’s mind.

You can ask him about his personal accolades all you want, but he always goes back to the same things he’s said all season: He cares about the team winning.

But you could tell — especially if you remember the dejected look the quarterback had on his face after last year’s rivalry loss — that this one meant something for the star signal-caller.

“I don’t win games on my own,” Dampier said with a grin. “This is a whole team win for sure.”

But a team that Dampier put on his back.

“I definitely felt some type of way about last year,” Dampier said. “Just me not being at my healthiest, me not being able to show up when my team needed me — I feel like that’s why I play quarterback. I feel like I’m in a position where I can level up my team and allow them to feel the way I play.”

Devon wasn’t the only Dampier caught up in the sea of people following the win.

A fan came up to Dampier’s father, Curtis, and said, “Get on my shoulders!”

Soon the elder Dampier was pumping his fist and riding along with the hundreds of fans storming the field.

“I got on his shoulders, and they screamed ‘This is Dampier’s dad!’” Curtis told The Salt Lake Tribune. “These kids are amazing, man. He had me up there for like a whole minute.”

After he was let down, Curtis immediately started looking for his son. He found Utah defensive end Lance Holtzclaw, a fellow Arizona native, and as the two dapped up, Curtis heard, “Dad!”

Curtis turned around, and the father and son shared a celebratory embrace.

“That moment was a lifetime moment for me,” Curtis said. “For Devon to find me out of thousands of people, that was amazing. I’ve never had this feeling before in my life, man.”

As for Devon’s mother, well, Kesha Dampier decided to ditch the chaos and watch the scene from the emptying stands.

“I just let the tears fall,” Kesha told The Tribune. “It’s not the biggest game that we want. But this one — this just means a lot.”

Kesha has shared in Devon’s biggest triumphs and stood by him through his toughest moments. When the Ute quarterback struggled to walk last season as he recovered from two sports hernias and an ankle injury, his mom drove him to and from doctor’s appointments. She did the same for his football practices.

And she was there as her son agonized over what to do after nearly the entire Utah offensive coaching staff left last offseason.

A decision that ultimately came down to one man: Utah head coach Morgan Scalley.

“I think sometimes in college football, people forget it’s about the players, and when you have coaching changes, and you have stuff happen, it can be a difficult thing to deal with,” Scalley said.

“I just went to tell him, ‘Brother, first, I’m sorry. Sorry this is happening. I’m sorry this has happened, but I want to make this a fairy-tale ending for you.’”

Saturday sure felt a bit like a fairy-tale for the Utes and Dampier.

But it’s not the ending.

Could a Heisman bid be coming? Could a Big 12 title be on the horizon? What about a run to the College Football Playoff?

After beating BYU, everything is in play for the 9-0 Utes. And Dampier and his family are certain of one thing: He made the right decision to stay.

“At the end of the day, it worked out for him,” Kesha said. “So being here now, it’s a confirmation. He made the right call.”

Curtis added: “Every quarterback we go against every week, they’re choosing them over Dev. Period. So yes, he has a chip on his shoulder every week.”

And now the quarterback is blossoming into a better playmaker and leader. He may just emerge into a bona fide Heisman contender, too.

“All I know is I love him. He’s a competitor. He’s a warrior. He wins us football games,” Scalley said. “He is leading now.”

When all the chaos and commotion died down outside of Rice-Eccles Stadium, Devon Dampier found his family one more time.

He hugged his mother, grabbed his brother, Dominic, and shared one more embrace with his father.

“Man, I can’t believe it, Devon,” Curtis told him.

Plenty are starting, too.

“I always say things work out the way they’re supposed to,” Curtis said. “He’s worked for this, and no one can ever take that from him.”