Postgame Notes: No. 11 Utah vs. Baylor
9/7/2024 5:55 PM | Football
Postgame Notes
No. 11 Utah 23, Baylor 12
Salt Lake City, Utah (Rice-Eccles Stadium)
Saturday, September 7, 2024
Kick: 1:36 p.m. MT | End: 4:47 p.m.
Attendance: 52,827 (sellout)
General
Offense
Defense
Special Teams
No. 11 Utah 23, Baylor 12
Salt Lake City, Utah (Rice-Eccles Stadium)
Saturday, September 7, 2024
Kick: 1:36 p.m. MT | End: 4:47 p.m.
Attendance: 52,827 (sellout)
General
- Utah is 2-0 to start the season; it is the 13th such start for the Utes in the Kyle Whittingham era (2005, '08-10, '13-19, '23-24).
- Utah is now 120-37 when playing in Rice-Eccles Stadium (since 1998) and is 92-26 at home during the Kyle Whittingham era. The Utes have won 33 of their last 35 home games.
- Whittingham, the winningest leader in program history, is 164-79 as head coach (since 2005). Including his time as an assistant coach (1994-2004), Whittingham has contributed to 249 wins and coached in 369 games, both the most of any coach in program history.
- The Utes are 2-0 all-time vs. Baylor, with the teams' other matchup coming last season in a 20-13 Utah win in Waco, Texas.
- Today's game marked the 85th consecutive sellout of Rice-Eccles Stadium, dating back to the 2010 season opener vs. Pitt. The attendance figure of 52,827 ranks fifth all-time in the facility.
- It was the 32nd consecutive non-conference home win for Utah; the Utes' last loss in a non-conference home game was vs. Boise State on Sept. 30, 2006.
- The Utes won the time of possession battle, 34:23 to 25:37. Dating back to last season, it is the fifth straight game and ninth game in the last 10 that Utah has had the upper hand in TOP.
- Baylor won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. The Utes defended the North goal to begin the game.
Offense
- Utah's 17 points in the first quarter were the most since Oct. 12, 2019 at Oregon State (21).
- Quarterback Cameron Rising passed 8-of-14 for 92 yards and two touchdowns before exiting the game due to injury. It was Rising's 20th win as starting quarterback which ranks fifth all-time at Utah (Alex Smith is fourth with 21 wins).
- Rising's eight completions bring him to 474 in his career; it ranks sixth in program history (Mike McCoy is fifth with 571 from 1992-94).
- He was relieved by freshman Isaac Wilson, who went 4-of-9 for 30 yards.
- Running back Micah Bernard finished the game with 118 rushing yards for his third career 100-yard game (146 at BYU in 2021; 110 at Stanford in 2021). It is the first 100-yard rushing game by a Ute since Nov. 25, 2023 (Jaylon Glover – 107 at Colorado).
- Bernard caught a two-yard touchdown pass on the Utes' second scoring drive. It was Bernard's first receiving score since the Stanford game in 2022.
- Tight end Brant Kuithe reeled in a five-yard catch in the third quarter; it is Kuithe's 34th straight game appeared with a reception which leads all tight ends in FBS.
- Fellow tight end Dallen Bentley made a career-long 12-yard reception and finished with two catches for 15 yards on the day. All were career-highs for Bentley; he entered the game with one career catch for five yards in the 2023 Las Vegas Bowl.
- Wide receiver Money Parks had a 28-yard touchdown reception on some trickery in the first quarter. It marks Parks' 26th consecutive game played with a reception.
- Parks' 80 receiving yards were his most since the 2022 Pac-12 Championship vs. USC (88).
Defense
- As a defense, the Utes combined for 8.0 TFL, tying for the most since Sept. 29, 2023 vs. Oregon State (13).
- During the first half, the Utes' defense held Baylor to 48 total yards of offense (19 rushing). It included minus 10 yards total in the first quarter.
- Utah stopped Baylor on its first eight third-down conversion attempts; during the third quarter the Bears converted on their ninth attempt.
- Safety Nate Ritchie reset his career-high with a team-leading nine tackles, surpassing a pair of seven-tackle performances for Ritchie. He also tied his career-best with 1.0 TFL on the day.
- Safety Tao Johnson contributed a career-high seven tackles, resetting a five-tackle performance at Arizona in 2023. Johnson's 2.0 TFL were also a career-best and were his first since the Arizona game in 2023.
- Linebacker Sione Fotu tied his career-high with seven stops in the win.
- Defensive end Connor O'Toole had a strip-sack in the first quarter among his 2.0 sacks. It was a career-best sacks for O'Toole and his seven total tackles tied a career-high. The strip-sack was his first since the Colorado game in 2023.
- On O'Toole's strip-sack, linebacker Karene Reid came up with the fumble recovery; it was Reid's first recovery since the Oregon game in 2022.
- Defensive end Van Fillinger came up with 2.0 TFL, including a sack, among Fillinger's five total tackles. It is his first career back-to-back 2.0 TFL performances.
Special Teams
- Tao Johnson returned a blocked field goal 77 yards for a touchdown; it is...
- the fifth known blocked FG touchdown in program history
- the first since Nov. 6, 1999 vs. Wyoming (Jay Hill, 58 yards)
- the longest since Sept. 8, 1990 at Minnesota (LaVon Edwards, 91 yards as time expired to win the game)
- Overall, it was Van Fillinger's first career blocked FG and first for Utah since the Arizona game in 2023 (Connor O'Toole).
- Kicker Cole Becker's first PAT of the game counted as his 200th career point scored (including his time at both Colorado and Utah).
- Today's game was the fifth career outing for punter Jack Bouwmeester with multiple 50-yard punts (he finished with three).
- Bouwmeester's 23 career punts of 50-plus yards ties him for eighth in program history, alongside Dan Marrelli (1972-73).
- Bouwmeester's career punting average of 43.4 yards ranks sixth in program history.
Players Mentioned
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