Wayshawn Parker rushes for 171 yards as No. 12 Utah stays undefeated in win over Kansas

SALT LAKE CITY — Coming off its bye week, No. 12 Utah made easy work of Kansas in the opening quarter in the team's return to Rice-Eccles Stadium, jumping out to a 14-0 lead.

But that fast start quickly changed after a rough second quarter for the Utes, who saw a double-digit lead evaporate to Kansas. Devon Dampier looked rushed and couldn't connect with his receivers, while the defense let Kansas move down the field with ease in the final two minutes of the half.

Utah answered back to start the second half with a defensive stop and then a score — a 2-yard receiving touchdown to Ricky Johnson — but Kansas refused to go down without a fight.

On the ensuing Jayhawks possession, quarterback Isaiah Marshall marched Kansas down the field and answered with a 29-yard touchdown toss to make it a 3-point game.

Utah, though, had enough in the tank — which included a touchdown pass to Semi Taulanga — to fight off the Kansas upset. The Utes escaped with a 41-24 win on their home turf to stay undefeated on the season. But Kansas gave Utah all it could handle for the full 60 minutes on Saturday night.

"Not a clean game by any stretch, but it's tough to win in college football, and we're 5-0 right now," Utah head coach Morgan Scalley said. "I'm proud of the guys. I think we're really resilient. Stuff happens, and they're able to bounce back.

"I told our guys in the locker room, you have to enjoy this," he added. "It is hard to win in college football. You look at the teams that got upset today, and don't ever take a win for granted. Now there's a lot to clean up; there's a lot to learn from in this one."

Dampier finished the night throwing for 238 yards, three touchdowns and an interception on 23-of-30 passing, as Utah (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) gutted out the win. He added 68 rushing yards and a touchdown in the win for a nice bounce-back performance in the second half after a rough second quarter.

"They had a very good defensive line," Scalley said. "I thought he held onto the ball a little bit too long. I'm not sure if it was a drop eight where you're only rushing three, but bottom line is I think he held onto the ball a little bit too long."

"They could tell I was frustrated," Dampier said of his teammates. "I hold myself to a high standard, and just the fact I had every single teammate just come up to me, 'Dev, we know what you're capable of, we're good, settle in, like we got you.' And just to hear that from so many of my teammates — we preach running off of love, we preach full team bonding, and it definitely showed at halftime. And I think that's why I was able to come out the way I did in the second half."

Though Dampier had a nice turnaround in the second half, it was Wayshawn Parker who emerged as the star of the night as he rushed for 171 yards and two touchdowns — including a 90-yard touchdown run late in the game in which he topped 21.3 mph on the run.

The star running back, who debuted his pink cleats for the first time this season, added 36 receiving yards to finish with 207 all-purpose yards.

"We walked through it in practice, so when it gets to that game time, I already know what the deal is," Parker said of his long touchdown run. "They put the trust with the ball in my hands, so I tell coach McGiven every time, 'You get the ball in my hands, I'm gonna make it work.' That's what I did."

But Parker wasn't alone in his standout performance for the Utes on the offensive side of the ball. Mississippi State transfer Ricky Johnson had a career night for the Utes and led the receivers with 104 yards and a touchdown — his first at Utah — on five catches.

"Ricky's proven himself since he got here," Dampier said. "I wouldn't say Ricky was a solidified starter when he got here, and just the way he worked this whole entire time to get to this point. I love that our offense is so everybody gets the ball, just because you get to see everyone share this victory.

"It feels like everyone contributed and everyone gets that love, so big shout out to Ricky — more to come."

For the first part of the game, Utah looked like the clear favorite on both sides of the ball and limited Kansas (2-3, 0-2 Big 12_ to just 30 total yards of offense in the first quarter. But the Jayhawks quickly made up for that in the following three quarters to finish with 391 total yards.

The most telling stat, according to Scalley, though, was Kansas' ability to average 17.5 yards per completion.

"We were not good enough in pass defense," he said. "They were 17.5 per completion — definitely not good enough there. But the tell of the tape for the defense really that saved our bacon was the the red zone stops. They were 2-of-5 in terms of touchdowns in the red zone, and that was huge."

Marshall ended the game with 333 yards, two touchdowns and an interception on 19-of-37 passing for Kansas. He nearly got in the end zone again in the fourth quarter, but was stopped 2 yards short of the goal line on fourth down to give Utah the ball back.

And that's when Parker broke loose for his long touchdown to ice the game.

Marshall found a favorite target in senior receiver Cam Pickett, who had 134 receiving yards on eight catches, drawing the praise of Scalley for his performance against the Utes.

"Cam Pickett, their wide receiver, my gosh, just everything that was thrown his way, it seemed like he caught," Scalley said.

Utah remains undefeated with a 5-0 record — the first such start since the 2015 season — while carrying on a 11-game win streak and scoring 30+ points in each victory this season, which is the first time Utah has done that since the 1994 season.

"Everyone tries to predict who's going to win a football game, who's not, based off what we're rank, but winning college football games are hard, man," Dampier said. "In our conference, being considered a top team, guys are going to put their best foot against us and come out strong."

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