3 takeaways from Utah’s dominant win over fellow top 25 team Cincinnati

Utah had an all-day celebration Saturday, starting with “College GameDay” visiting the University of Utah campus, then ending with the No. 24 Utes bulldozing No. 17 Cincinnati 45-14 at Rice-Eccles Stadium under the lights.

Utah handed Cincinnati its first Big 12 Conference loss in dominant fashion while also helping its own push to stay in the league race with the win.

Here are three takeaways from the complete-game victory that improved the Utes to 7-2 on the season and 4-2 in Big 12 play.

Utah’s offense was mostly unstoppable

Plenty of opponents have shrunk this season when trying to slow down an efficient Utah offense.

Count the Bearcats among those who couldn’t get it done.

All seven of Utah’s victories have come in blowout form, and like those before Saturday night, the Utes controlled the tempo with their offense.

Utah scored on four of its five first-half possessions, including three touchdowns, to go into halftime leading 24-7.

The Utes’ rush game was dominant, as Utah rolled up 267 yards on the ground on a night when it had 480 yards of total offense.

Wayshawn Parker ran for 104 yards and a touchdown, a 39-yard score on third down late in the first quarter, while Devon Dampier added 78 rushing yards and Daniel Bray 43.

NaQuari Rogers and Byrd Ficklin both scored on short touchdown runs.

The pass game had a few flaws, including an ill-advised pass that turned into an interception, but also had several big plays.

That included a 34-yard touchdown catch by Ryan Davis to get the scoring started, as well as a hard-fought 11-yard touchdown catch for Creed Whittemore for his first score as a Ute.

The latter touchdown gave Utah some breathing room late in the third quarter.

Davis ended up with eight receptions for 132 yards and the one touchdown. He had half of Dampier’s 16 completions on 31 attempts for 213 yards.

While the Utes didn’t score as often offensively in the second half, they didn’t need to and simply kept themselves from making too many mistakes in putting away Cincinnati.

Utah converted 7 of 15 third-down attempts, helping it extend drives, and was 2 of 2 on fourth down. Both fourth-down attempts came on the Utes’ first possession of the game, which ended in the end zone and set the tone.

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Utah’s defense frustrated Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby

Going into the night, Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby had been one of the hotter signal callers in college football.

He had thrown just one interception all year to 20 touchdowns, and led all Big 12 quarterbacks in ESPN’s QBR ratings.

It’s safe to say Utah got to him, both physically and mentally.

Sorsby constantly looked frustrated on a forgettable night in which he completed just 11 of 33 passes for 221 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Outside of an 88-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter, Sorsby only threw for 133 yards the rest of the game. He also started the night slow, completing just 1 of 8 passes for 9 yards over Cincinnati’s first three possessions.

When the game was still in reach, the Bearcats had back-to-back possessions that ended with a missed field goal and a Sorsby fumble.

Utah won the turnover battle three to two, and Cincinnati’s were overall more costly.

The Bearcats also had more penalties — they ended up with eight for 60 yards, while Utah had five for 30 — and it all added up to an inefficient night for Cincinnati on a night it surpassed 400 yards of total offense, with 427.

Utah’s special teams delivered the knockout blow

Cincinnati had some hope just a few minutes into the third quarter after getting a stop and scoring on an 88-yard Cyrus Allen touchdown catch to make it 24-14.

Utah’s ensuing possession reached Cincinnati territory, but Dampier threw an interception over the middle on third and long to end the possession.

Utah’s defense forced a three and out off that turnover, though, and over the next few minutes, freshman punt returner Mana Carvalho came up huge for the Utes.

First, he had a 23-yard return that set up a 52-yard scoring drive for Utah to push the Utes’ lead out to 31-14.

Then, after the Utah defense came up with another stop, Carvalho fielded a deep punt at the Utah 25 and sped his way down field for an electrifying 75-yard touchdown.

It was the first punt return for a touchdown for the Utes since Britain Covey did it against Oregon in 2021.

Cincinnati hung its hat on solid special teams coming into the contest, but the Bearcats struggled in that part of the game.

Stephen Rusnak missed a 42-yard field goal attempt in the first half when Cincinnati could have made it a 14-10 game. It was his first miss after 22 straight makes.

On a night when one or two things being executed could have at least kept the game competitive, the field goal miss and special teams struggles for Cincinnati only magnified how things snowballed in Salt Lake City.