Wayshawn Parker ran for 171 yards and two touchdowns to lead No. 12 Utah to a 41-24 victory over Kansas on Saturday night in Salt Lake City.
It marked Parker’s second straight game finishing with more than 170 rushing yards after he posted a career-high 174 yards on the ground in a 31-17 win at Iowa State on Sept. 26.
Devon Dampier completed 23 of 30 passes for 238 yards and three touchdowns to help the Utes (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) keep their record unblemished. Dampier added 68 yards and a score on the ground. Ricky Johnson led the Utah receivers with a season-high 104 yards and a touchdown on five catches. Johnson’s previous best this season was 43 yards.
Isaiah Marshall was 19 of 37 for 333 passing yards and two touchdowns to lead Kansas. Cam Pickett, in his third game, tallied a season-high 134 yards on eight catches for the Jayhawks (2-3, 0-2).
Utah finished with 541 total yards — 258 through the air and 283 on the ground. Kansas passed for 333 and rushed for 58.
The Jayhawks trailed throughout but still cut Utah’s lead to 27-24 when Marshall connected with Nik McMillan on a 29-yard pass with 27 seconds left in the third quarter.
Dampier capped a nine-play 75-yard drive with a 1-yard toss to Semi Taulanga on fourth down to give Utah breathing room at 34-24 with 10:45 left in regulation.
After the Utes stopped Kansas on fourth down at the Utah 1-yard line, Parker raced 90 yards for a touchdown to extend the lead to 41-24 with 7:13 remaining.
Utah looked flawless on offense during its first two drives. Parker took a direct snap 5 yards to put the Utes on the board. Dampier then made it 14-0 after faking a handoff to Daniel Bray and sprinting 12 yards untouched across the goal line.
Kansas took advantage of two Utah turnovers to shift momentum in the second quarter.
David Santiago forced and recovered a fumble from Dampier at the Utah 14 to set up a 3-yard catch by Dylan Edwards for the Jayhawks’ first touchdown and a 14-7 deficit.
Later in the quarter, Marshall scored on a 6-yard run to complete a five-play drive after Dampier got sacked on fourth down at the Kansas 33.
Then, Jalen Todd snagged an interception from Dampier at the Kansas 36 to set up Martin Connington’s 34-yard field goal that cut the deficit to 21-17 going into halftime.
The Jayhawks generated 35 total yards over their first six drives before coming to life just before the half. Kansas totaled 114 yards on 10 plays over the back-to-back scoring drives before halftime.