Dampier scores late, Barton secures pick as Utah claims improbable win over K-State

SALT LAKE CITY — Kansas State's Joe Jackson is still running somewhere.

The Wildcats running back left Rice-Eccles Stadium speechless Saturday (when the fans weren't booing their own defense) in the most lopsided opposing team rushing performance in the Kyle Whittingham tenure.

The sophomore had 236 rushing yards and two touchdowns — including a 66-yard run and an 80-yard run — to help Kansas State to 348 first-half rushing yards and a 31-21 lead over No. 12 Utah on senior day.

The second half didn't get much better for a Utah team on the cusp of a potential Big 12 championship appearance and a possible spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff ... until the end.

Utah safety Tao Johnson picked off a pass in the end zone on a Kansas State 2-point try, and took it the distance for a rare pick-two score. It was the play that completely changed the momentum for the Utes, and one that led No. 12 Utah to an improbable 51-47 win in the final game at Rice-Eccles Stadium of the season.

"Yeah, those 2 points matter," Utah quarterback Devon Dampier said. "You look at the game totally different — what we gotta do on offense and what defense has to hold them to, so that's a credit to the whole entire defense who was out there.

"He needed blocks to get there, and, man, for our team to still be locked in, that's a game of what I was talking about, just being locked in till that clock said zero. It was one of those moments, for sure."

With 2:25 left to play and Utah trailing by 3 points, Dampier escaped for a 59-yard run to set up Utah (9-2, 6-2 Big 12) inside the 5-yard line. A couple plays later, Dampier found pay dirt to erase a one-time 10-point Kansas State lead with seven minutes left to play.

On the ensuing Kansas State possession, senior Lander Barton picked off Avery Johnson to seal the win.

"What a fitting way for Lander Barton to finish his career here at Rice-Eccles," Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. "But for him to seal the victory off that pick, he's done so much for this program through the years, just a tremendous competitor."

All of it was a bit of a miracle for a Utah team that had just a 3% chance of winning late, according to ESPN.

Whittingham, who got emotional when talking about the game in what is believed to be his last at Rice-Eccles Stadium, said "there's 3% there for us."

That glimmer of hope in an otherwise adversity-filled game was all Utah needed.

"Everyone on the sideline never stopped believing," Whittingham said. "Nobody threw the towel, they had that belief — that unwavering belief that you need to have — and they continued to persevere."

"Just one of those games where stuff happens and you can't script it, you couldn't make that up," he added.

It was certainly one for the record books as Utah's defense gave up 574 total yards in the game, including 472 rushing yards — the most rushing yards put up against Utah in school history. Of the near 500 yards rushing, Jackson finished with 293 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries.

"I mean, we were kind of flat a little bit in the first half, and we were missing gaps — just simple things that just kept snowballing and snowballing until just a big avalanche there, just breaking open the runs," Barton said. "At the end of the day, we just had to clean up our assignments — gap sound defense."

Whittingham said he "lit into the defense pretty good" in the halftime break as he pointed to that type of effort being uncharacteristic for a Utah defense. His players (and coaches) got the message, he said and "they responded, they didn't flinch, they didn't hang their head. They got the message loud and clear."

The effort was just enough — especially late when Utah needed a defensive stop after Dampier hit Larry Simmons for a 20-yard touchdown pass with 2:47 left to play to cut into the Kansas State 10-point lead.

The defense recorded a sack, stopped Jackson for a 2-yard gain and then held Kansas State to a pass behind the sticks to force a three-and-out series and a chance to make an all-time comeback.

The rest was history.

Dampier finished throwing for 259 yards and two touchdowns — and an additional two rushing touchdowns — on 18-of-33 passing. The veteran quarterback who continued to fight through a season-long injury fumbled late in the game deep in Utah territory to set up another Kansas State score.

He redeemed himself, however, on the ensuing drive when he connected with Simmons in the end zone.

Freshman quarterback Byrd Ficklin added three rushing touchdowns and 54 rushing yards on seven carries in occasional replacement duty for Dampier in the first half. But Dampier finished strong in the second half to ultimately lead Utah to a win.

"I thank my coach for putting the ball in my hands, and, man, O-line, they blocked — they block like that all the time, so we ran that play a lot, and it hit; it hit for sure,' Dampier said. "And just to finish that drive, again, that's adversity that we're finally able to hit a game-winning drive, no errors."

Wayshawn Parker led the team in rushing with 100 yards in what was his fourth consecutive time eclipsing the 100-yard mark this season.

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