‘I couldn’t be more proud of the football team’: No. 24 Utah turns the tide in 3rd quarter to blow out No. 17 Cincinnati

Cincinnati, trailing 24-7 at halftime Saturday on the road against Utah, came out of the second-half gates hot.

The Bearcats forced a punt on the Utes’ first drive of the third quarter, then Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby connected with Cyrus Allen for an 88-yard touchdown.

Utah blitzed, Allen got behind cornerback Smith Snowden and Sorsby threw a perfect pass.

With the touchdown, Cincinnati closed the gap to 10 points, and suddenly, the Bearcats had significant momentum — especially when Ute quarterback Devon Dampier threw an interception deep in Cincinnati territory on the ensuing drive.

Dampier had all day on third-and-19, but instead of throwing it away, he forced a throw and was picked off.

The black-clad fans at Rice-Eccles Stadium, who were energetic and loud from the opening snap, fell silent.

There was a palpable nervousness. After seeing their fair share of letdowns in big games, including two this year, there had to be some Utah fans thinking, “not again.”

But Utah’s defense came onto the field for the biggest series of the game and delivered with a three-and-out and Dampier ended the next drive with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Creed Whittemore, who muscled his way into the end zone for his first touchdown as a Ute.

“That was huge to swing the momentum back in our favor. They did come out and score, cut the margin and we needed to answer and we did with the defensive stop and then the offense got in gear again,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.

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A Cincinnati three-and-out later, and the Bearcats were forced to punt again.

Mana Carvalho, who already had a 23-yard punt return earlier in the game, fielded the punt, made a Bearcat defender miss around the 40-yard line and was off to the races.

Punter Max Fletcher was one of the last lines of defense, and Carvalho sped right by him. Bearcat cornerback Kye Stokes got his hands on Carvalho around the five-yard line, but the freshman punt returner would not be denied, dragging Stokes with him into the end zone.

Two games after a costly fumble against BYU, Carvalho found redemption — a 75-yard punt return touchdown to put Utah up 38-14.

Utah didn’t shrink when Cincinnati was threatening down 10. The No. 24 Utes rose to the occasion, went on a 14-0 run and delivered a 45-14 win over No. 17 Cincinnati.

After missing last week’s game against Colorado, Dampier was back under center for the Utes, leading the team out of the tunnel, a moment that meant more to him this week.

“Being out last week, it just made me kind of realize when I ran out that tunnel today, just seeing everybody, it was great. I felt it a little bit more today,” Dampier said.

“You go by so many of those memories so fast you don’t really think about them, but yeah, it gave me a lot of realization and I’m happy to be a Ute. They showed out tonight, the blackout was there and yeah, I’m happy we delivered,”

Almost as if to prove that Dampier was ready to roll, offensive coordinator Jason Beck called a quarterback run on the Utes’ first play of the game.

The junior signal-caller threw for 213 yards, two touchdowns and an interception on 52% completion and added 78 yards rushing.

Dampier had four passes of 20 or more yards, the most impressive of which was a 46-yard pass to Ryan Davis.

Utah snapped the ball to running back Wayshawn Parker, who handed the ball off to Dampier, who then stepped back and launched the ball to an open Davis.

“It was that trick play, so I had to shuffle, kind of give a block look … Supposed to slip the safety outside, that’s what it usually is, but he was kind of flatfooted so I just stuck my foot in the ground, beat him inside and I just prayed that (when) I turned around, the ball was in the air,” Davis said.

“It was, and yeah, I just saw it in the air, and so I told myself I have to come down with it and did and yeah, that was a good play. I’m very excited we called it, finally,” Davis said.

As he has been all season, Davis was Dampier’s go-to target Saturday. With 132 yards and a touchdown on eight catches, it was Davis’ best game as a Ute.

“He has been so valuable to us this year. He catches everything. You throw it in his general direction, he’s going to come down with it,” Whittingham said.

“He’s also good running after the catch. He gets tough yards after the catch and such a savvy, crafty receiver. He’s as smart of a receiver as I’ve ever been around, knows how to get open, knows how to work the zones and space.”

Parker also was key in a dominant Utah performance — the Utes gained 480 total yards — with 104 yards and a touchdown.

Parker has emerged as the Utes’ RB1, and Utah rewarded him with 17 carries.

“He’s starting to separate himself. It was a concerted effort on our part to get him more touches because when you look his production, he deserves more,” Whittingham said.

While Sorsby had his moments of brilliance on Saturday, he was largely contained by the Utes’ defense. His 33% completion rate was his lowest of the season by 19 percentage points, and he threw his first interception since Aug. 28.

There were a few coverage lapses, but overall, the Utes’ secondary did a good job of covering Cincinnati’s talented receivers. Cornerback Don Saunders had two pass breakups, and Scooby Davis, Snowden and Blake Cotton all had timely pass deflections.

“Secondary did an outstanding job. They did get a few things on us here and there, but for the most part we were in position on just about every deep ball and pass,” Whittingham said.

The Utes had to rebuild their cornerbacks room after losing nearly every player to graduation or the transfer portal, and they have reloaded with the additions of Cotton and Saunders.

“I think we really hit the jackpot in the portal with those corners that we took,” Whittingham said.

Two key stops by the Utes’ defense deep in their own territory were the difference in the first half. After Cincinnati easily drove down the field on pitches to running back Manny Covey, Sorsby faked the pitch on Utah’s 22-yard line and kept it, running untouched to the end zone to tie the game at seven.

The Bearcats exploited weakness in the Utes’ run defense on the next two drives to get to the red zone, and Utah’s defense bent but didn’t break.

Down 14-7, Cincinnati’s Tawee Walker rushed for a 41-yard gain at the end of the first quarter to get the Bearcats to the Utah 23-yard line, but John Henry Daley stuffed Chance Williams on first down and the Utes forced two Sorsby incompletions.

Kicker Stephen Rusnak missed the 42-yard field goal, but the Utes couldn’t do anything with the ensuing possession.

When Cincinnati got the ball back, Sorsby — who started out 1 for 8 —dropped a 45-yard pass right in the bucket for Cyrus Allen to get into the Utah red zone.

On the next play, though, linebacker Johnathan Hall jarred the ball loose on a Sorsby keeper.

There were some shaky moments from Utah’s defense in the first half, but after saving those 10 points, Scalley’s unit locked the Bearcats down, forcing a punt and then picking off Sorsby, though Smith Snowden fumbled the ball after the interception.

The Utes’ offense capitalized on the defensive stops, scoring a field goal and a touchdown to take a 24-7 lead into halftime. Dampier connected with Davis on a 46-yard deep shot and the Utes finished off the drive with a NaQuari Rogers touchdown run.

Saturday’s game was an absolute must-win for the Utes. In a big-time game on a national stage with “College GameDay” broadcasting live from Salt Lake City, Kyle Whittingham’s team turned in a statement victory.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the football team, coaching staff, just the whole building,” Whittingham said. “We’re starting to get some momentum now and just love coaching these guys, love being around them and leadership is tremendous and just got to keep it going.”

They’ll need help, but the Utes are very much alive in the Big 12 championship race with three games to go and is playing like a championship-caliber team.

“There’s still a way for us to get to the championship. That’s still on our mind. That’s been our goal since the beginning,” Dampier said.”... We know we got to win out from here on out.

“One game at a time, that’s how we take it, and then this was the game that we had to come out and win.”