Takeaways from Utah football’s 41-24 win over Kansas

Utah had a week off before facing Kansas on Saturday.

The Utes certainly showed signs of both rust and rest.

There were highs and lows all night for head coach Morgan Scalley’s program on both offense and defense.

No. 12 Utah (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) still did enough to earn a 41-24 win over Kansas (2-3, 0-2) Saturday in Salt Lake City.

Scalley put it best postgame.

“There’s a lot that happened in that game, holy cow,” he said after the win.

Senior quarterback Devon Dampier had 238 passing yards and two touchdowns, along with 71 rushing yards, while Wayshawn Parker had 171 rushing yards and two touchdowns to lead the Utes.

Clearly Utah has a lot to clean up moving forward, and Utah’s head coach knows it. But a win is a win nonetheless.

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

Here are three takeaways from the game:

Kansas scores 10 unanswered, and Utah has another offensive lull

Instead of Utah’s offensive lull coming in the third quarter this week, it came just before halftime.

The Utes went up 21-7 with 10:17 remaining in the second quarter. But the game flipped on its head after the Utes punted, turned the ball over on downs and Dampier threw an interception.

Kansas turned Utah’s offensive miscues into a 10-point swing, bringing the score to 21-17 at halftime.

All 17 of Kansas’ first-half points came in the second quarter.

“Our inability to convert on fourth down, and then all of a sudden the chunk yardage [from them],” Scalley said when asked what flipped the momentum at the end of the second quarter.

“It is a game of momentum. And when they have it, you have to go steal it back. You can’t play the ‘poor me’ game. You have to find ways to get it back.”

Kansas clearly used those miscues to its advantage.

After Utah didn’t convert on a fourth-and-3, Kansas quarterback Isaiah Marshall found Cam Pickett for a 32-yard gain. On the very next play, he powered it in for an 8-yard touchdown.

Searching for a “steal it back” moment, Dampier tried to push the ball down the field the next drive.

That didn’t go Utah’s way. Instead, Dampier was picked off on an underthrown ball for receiver Braden Pegan. Kansas, once again, quickly drove down the field to convert a field goal, cutting the Utes’ lead to 4.

Utah’s offense has had its fair share of lulls this season, especially in the last three games. Against Iowa State, it came in the third quarter, when the Utes allowed the Cyclones to get within four points.

At times, the Utes seem to get in their own way.

Sometimes offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven simply feeds it to the player with the hot hand. Other times, he tries to spread it around to all of Utah’s playmakers.

Does that push Utah away from what works best?

For example, Parker had five touches in the first quarter, but only three in the second, as Utah worked through Dampier and the passing game.

Parker finished with 16 carries and two receptions.

“If there’s a thought that I’ve got about something that I want to see, I’ll let him know,” Scalley said of McGiven’s offense and its multiplicity.

“My job is trusting him, and the fact that we’re not predictable allows for the chunk plays that we see. Sometimes that’s also going to mean that Wayshawn doesn’t just get the ball every down.”

Devon Dampier overcomes two early turnovers

Dampier had two turnovers in the first half.

The first came on a strip-sack. The other was the underthrown ball over the middle, resulting in his second interception of the season.

Kansas scored two touchdowns off his miscues. After the game, Scalley said his starting quarterback “held onto the ball too long” in the second quarter, which led to the negative plays.

But those mistakes didn’t linger.

Dampier led Utah’s offense to a big-time showing in the third and fourth quarters. The Phoenix native said after his two turnovers, his teammates had a pep talk ready for him: “Dev, we know what you’re capable of. Settle in.”

That helped him steady himself.

“I think we just needed to execute more plays on all cylinders,” Dampier said. “All 11 of us needed to play better football. Shout out to my entire team. They could tell I was frustrated — I hold myself to a high standard.”

He had two passing touchdowns in the second half, one of which was a 1-yard touchdown pass to “rhino” offensive lineman Semi Taulanga.

That wasn’t the last time Taulanga made a mark, either. On the next Utah possession, Taulanga helped spring Parker for a 90-yard touchdown run.

“I have to go out there and humble them, not with my mouth, but with my game,” Parker said of his game-clinching run.

“Every time they give me the ball, I’m gonna knock it out across the offensive line.”

Utah’s passing defense struggles

Marshall started the game 4-for-10 against the Utes’ secondary.

He finished the night with 333 passing yards and two touchdowns, catching fire in the second and third quarters against Utah’s man-to-man coverage.

That helped Kansas hang around into the fourth quarter.

Scalley said he’d have to watch the film to fully identify the breakdowns, but he suspected a large part of it had to do with defensive coordinator Colton Swan trying to contain Marshall in the pocket.

“I thought Colton did a really good job of mixing it up,” Scalley said. “Bottom line, that guy is elusive, and he’s made a lot of people look silly. We’ll face some more of those quarterbacks, and we’ll look at the film and find out exactly where the breakdowns were.

“I think a couple of those [breakdowns] were just losing contain when you’ve got contained responsibility. He’s a dang good athlete.”

Utah’s defensive unit did come up with a key stop with 8:31 remaining in the fourth quarter, stopping Marshall short of the goal line on fourth down.

Ute safety Rabbit Evans got to him as Marshall tried to get the edge.

“We had to fight against adversity — and a lot of stuff was happening that game — but we pushed through; we fought as together as a team, as a family,” Evans said. “That’s what you want to see. I’m just proud of us, how we fought through it all.”

Soon after, Parker broke free for his game-clinching 90-yard touchdown run.

“When we get the fourth-down stop and [we] go down to score, that’s just amazing to see,” Evans said. “That’s kind of what our culture is about — keep fighting and keep being hungry.”

Next up: Utah will travel to Boulder to take on Colorado (2-3, 0-2) at 8:15 p.m. MDT next Saturday.