alt=Jeff CallNo. 14 Utah did what it needed to against hapless Colorado — and then some — to earn a spot in next week’s Pac-12 championship game in Las Vegas.
But the Utes needed some help.
And then, simultaneously, Utes got that help they needed from No. 21 Oregon State, which upset No. 9 Oregon Saturday afternoon.
The Ducks squandered a 31-10 second-half lead, and the Beavers shocked their arch-rivals in Corvallis, 38-34.
Now, Utah (9-3, 8-2) needs No. 13 Washington to beat Washington State late Saturday night to punch its ticket to Las Vegas and take on USC in the Pac-12 title game.
Meanwhile, at Folsom Field Saturday, the Utes removed any doubt about the outcome of this one in a hurry, going up 42-zip at halftime and ultimately won, 63-21.
Too bad there’s no mercy rule in the Pac-12.
“Really, a dominating performance by our guys,” said coach Kyle Whittingham. “Very proud of the way they came out and played.
“Really good teams finish things the right way, and we definitely finished the regular season the right way.”
What was Utah’s mindset going into this game?
“Finish strong,” said quarterback Cam Rising. “This is the last game of the regular season. We wanted to come out and just do what we do and what we train for, and that’s to finish in the games and finish in the season.”
The Utes were 30-point favorites against Colorado (1-11, 1-8), which saw its miserable season come to an end.
Rising, coming off a rough performance in last week’s loss at Oregon, was nearly flawless against Colorado. He completed 17 of 19 passes for 234 yards and three touchdowns.
Rising ran once for 13 yards.
“Cam was lights-out in the first half. He was as sharp as he’s ever been,” Whittingham said. “He’s our leader … As Cam goes, so goes the offense. He was extremely sharp in that first half.
“He did a great job taking care of the football. We put a lot on his plate as far as on the line of scrimmage, checks, getting us in and out of the right plays, depending on the defensive looks … He does an outstanding job with that.”
With running back Tavion Thomas having declared for the NFL draft Friday, the Utes relied on Ja’Quinden Jackson, Micah Bernard and Jaylon Glover.
Jackson ran 10 times for 117 yards, and three touchdowns, including a 66-yard TD run in the second half.
“A big, 225-pound back that can run,” Whittingham said about Jackson. “You saw him break away on that long one. He has great speed. It’s a huge positive for us to have him emerge like he is.”
But Jackson wasn’t satisfied with his performance.
“I’m never satisfied,” he said. “I feel like I could have done better in some areas. It was an OK game from me.”
The Utes accumulated 383 yards on the ground.
Whittingham said one of the things that pleased him the most about Saturday’s performance was “the physicality in the run game. We ran the football with a lot of purpose and violence and anger.
“The backs were hitting it up in there … Great job by the O-line tonight, blocking things up in the run game.”
Bernard had 12 carries for 91 yards and a touchdown, and Glover ran 13 times for 62 yards and a touchdown.
As a team, Utah rolled up 662 yards of total offense and the Utes held Colorado to 185 yards of total offense.
The Buffaloes converted just 1 of 12 on third-down opportunities.
“The last few weeks, the defense has been playing really good,” said linebacker Lander Barton. “We just wanted to finish strong and hopefully carry it into next week.”
In the second half, Whittingham emptied his bench to allow the defensive backups get some experience.
“The defense played outstanding,” Whittingham said. “It was good to the twos and the threes in there. They played the vast majority of the second half.”
Rising played so well that backup Bryson Barnes started the second half. On his first series, Barnes was intercepted by Nikko Reed and returned 57 yards.
The Buffaloes scored a few plays later to get on the scoreboard.
Barnes completed 4 of 5 passes for 45 yards and a touchdown.
From the outset, Utah completely dominated Colorado.
The Buffaloes had zero yards of total offense at the end of the first quarter and they weren’t positive in that category until the 12-minute mark of the second quarter.
That wasn’t a surprise, considering Colorado entered the game averaging 15.1 points and 291.1 yards of total offense per game. On top of that, the Buffaloes started freshman quarterback Maddox Kopp, who made his first career start Saturday.
Kopp — Colorado’s fifth-string QB — completed 15 of 28 passes for 128 yards and a touchdown.
Meanwhile, the Ute offense had a couple of explosive passing plays, highlighted by a couple of spectacular touchdown catches by the tight ends.
With 4:43 left in the second quarter, Rising threw a pass to Thomas Yassmin in the flat, hurdled a Buffalo defender, then dodged and rumbled his way into the end zone to put Utah up 28-0.
Later, with three seconds left in the half, Dalton Kincaid caught a leaping, over-the-shoulder catch with a defender draped over him and landed hard on the turf. Kincaid injured himself on the play and remained on the turf in the end zone for several minutes, and was attended to by team trainers before heading to the locker room.
Kincaid finished with five receptions for 102 yards and the TD.
“Hopefully he’ll be all right,” Whittingham said about Kincaid. “It’s too early to tell. So far, all the diagnoses don’t reveal anything that appears to be serious, but something like this, you’ve got to wait a few days and see where it goes.”
Whittingham said Kincaid did not re-injure his shoulder.
At intermission, the Utes had 379 yards of total offense. The Buffaloes had 18. Utah had three scoring drives in the first half that took less than two minutes.
In the second half, the reserves on both teams gained some experience. But most of the Utes’ eyes were on the Oregon-Oregon State game, which, ultimately went their way.
And Utah put last week’s loss to the Ducks behind it.
“Last week left a sour taste in our mouths,” Jackson said. “We had to come out and right our wrongs this week. That’s what we did.”