SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Wayshawn Parker ran for 171 yards and two touchdowns to lead No. 12 Utah to a 41-24 victory over Kansas on Saturday night.
Parker eclipsed 170 rushing yards for the second straight game after finishing with a career-high 174 yards against Iowa State two weeks ago.
“I tell (Utah OC Kevin) McGiven every time, ‘You get the ball in my hands and I’m going to make it work.’ And I did,” Parker said.
Devon Dampier threw for 238 yards and
three touchdowns to help the Utes (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) stay undefeated. Dampier also ran for 68 yards and another score. Ricky Johnson had a season-high 104 yards and a touchdown on five catches.
Isaiah Marshall threw for a career-high 333 yards and two touchdowns to lead Kansas. Cam Pickett had a career-high 134 yards on eight catches for the Jayhawks (2-3, 0-2), who surrendered 541 total yards to the Utes.
The Jayhawks never led but cut Utah’s lead to 27-24 on Marshall’s 29-yard pass to Nik McMillan with 27 seconds left in the third quarter.
“A lot of teams play Utah passively and tentatively and try to keep it kind of basic and close,” Kansas coach Lance Leipold said. “We wanted to be aggressive.”
Dampier capped a nine-play drive covering 75 yards with a 1-yard toss to Semi Taulanga to give Utah breathing room. Then, after the Utes got a fourth-down stop at their own 1, Parker raced 90 yards untouched to cap the scoring with 7:13 left.
“It is a game of momentum and when they have it, you’ve got to go steal it back,” Utah coach Morgan Scalley said. “You can’t play the ‘poor me’ game. You have to find ways to get it back.”
Utah played nearly flawless offense on its first two drives. The Utes averaged 10.9 yards per play on those drives and jumped out to a 14-0 lead midway through the first quarter behind a 5-yard run from Parker and a 12-yard run from Dampier.
Kansas forced a pair of turnovers to dramatically shift momentum.
David Santiago forced and recovered a fumble from Dampier at the Utah 14 to set up the Jayhawks’ first touchdown — a 3-yard catch by Dylan Edwards.
Then, after Marshall scored on a 6-yard run, Jalen Todd then snagged an interception from Dampier at the Kansas 36. Martin Connington made a 34-yard field goal on the final play before halftime to cut Utah’s lead to 21-17.
“Bottom line is I thought (Dampier) held onto the ball a little bit too long,” Scalley said. “One of them was a freak deal interception. But I think he cleaned some stuff up in the second half for sure.”
Kansas totaled only 40 yards over its first six drives before the defense forced turnovers and got a fourth-down stop to breathe life into the Jayhawks’ offense.
Dampier struggled with accuracy and ball security in the second quarter, forcing Utah into a rare close battle it hadn’t experienced so far this season.
Kansas went 0 for 2 in the red zone in the fourth quarter. The first stop by Utah ended up being the most critical one. The Jayhawks reached the Utah 1 but turned it over on downs when Marshall couldn’t make a turn at the edge on a fourth-down scramble.
It led to Parker’s 90-yard touchdown run three plays later – effectively ending any comeback hopes for Kansas.
“I feel like that was the game changer,” Marshall said. “I feel like if we score there, then that brings momentum to the defense.
Utah is the only FBS team that’s won every game this season by 14 or more points. The Utes also extended their streak of scoring at least 30 points in each game to 11 straight games dating back to last season.
Kansas: At Kansas State on Saturday.
Utah: At Colorado on Saturday.
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