Analysis: It looked like old times for Cam Rising and Brant Kuithe in No. 12 Utah’s 49-0 win over Southern Utah

Just about everything went according to plan for Cam Rising in his first action since Jan. 2, 2023.

Before the game, he took a little time to take in the moment and look at the crowd, but once the coin toss happened it was time for a mindset shift.

“It was special, but all that focus kind of goes out of the way once I say, ‘set, go’ and just really get the game going and just focused on winning,” Rising said.

There was a standing ovation from the 52,210 on hand at Rice-Eccles Stadium and “Bad Moon Rising” was pumping through the speakers.

Here came Rising.

He took a deep breath, went through his cadence, and took his first snap.

For the first time in 606 days, Utah’s leader was back under center.

Rising’s first pass was incomplete, but after that, just about everything — aside from an errant pass that should have been picked off by Southern Utah and an overthrow of Mycah Pittman that could have been a touchdown — reminded Utah fans how well the veteran quarterback fits in Andy Ludwig’s offense.

Through a little less than one half of play, Rising completed 10 of 15 passes for 254 yards and five touchdowns — setting his career high for touchdown tosses — as the No. 12 Utes beat the Thunderbirds 49-0 on Thursday night.

Three of those touchdowns were to tight end Brant Kuithe, himself returning to the field for the first time since Sept. 24, 2022. The two have been close friends since Kuithe hosted Rising back in 2019 on his official visit to Utah while in the transfer portal, and have formed a special connection on the field as well. That chemistry was evident on Thursday night.

“It’s nice and easy when you got a guy like this. It’s going to go and kind of make your job easy,” Rising said.

Kuithe’s first score was a great play design by Ludwig, who put four tight ends on the field. Everyone on the field blocked as Rising faked the handoff to Mike Mitchell, and Kuithe was the only person downfield. The veteran Utah tight end had no one around him as he caught Rising’s 29-yard pass and hit paydirt for the first time in 713 days.

Kuithe’s second touchdown, an 18-yard score, was similarly open but his third score of the night quelled any remaining worries anyone may have have about how he would look in his return to the field. Kuithe just refused to be denied, barreling his way through no less than four Southern Utah players for the touchdown.

“It feels good, but I’ve been preparing for two years and just feels good to know I can still do it,” Kuithe said.

Kyle Whittingham said on Monday that Dijon Stanley would have a package of plays for him, and that was the case. Though Stanley didn’t break fall camp as part of the “first tier” of running backs, his speed was clearly too much to keep off of the field.

Stanley — not Kuithe or Dorian Singer — led the Utes in receiving yards, with 150, and took two of his three receptions to the end zone.

Stanley opened scoring on Thursday night on a wheel route that the Thunderbirds never saw coming. The sophomore running back was completely uncovered down the right sideline, and Rising dropped the ball in his hands for a 64-yard touchdown.

“It felt excellent. That was my first collegiate touchdown and not only that, it was my first touchdown in red … That was the biggest moment of my life almost. It felt really nice to score today and that being my first of my career, it was excellent,” Stanley said.

In the second quarter, Stanley struck again on the wheel route as Rising’s 50th career passing touchdown went to the uncovered California native for a 79-yard score.

It’s safe to say that Stanley is going to figure in heavily in Utah’s forthcoming game plans.

“Great stuff, you saw the little railroad out of the backfield a couple times. Big plays, made some nice runs too. Got to the edge two or three times. He’s an explosive guy,” Whittingham said. “... He’s quick, he’s fast, he’s tough and he’s very smooth. He’s so athletic.”

Sure, it helped that Southern Utah’s defense left Utah’s pass-catchers wide-open on the majority of the scores, but the Utes’ much-talked-about offense impressed in its first opportunity of the season.

“... I hope we didn’t do (Rising) a disservice. We didn’t cover anybody. We didn’t make the windows very tight, we didn’t make him have to be very accurate on throws,” Southern Utah coach DeLane Fitzgerald said.

Against an FCS team like Southern Utah, the playbook is generally kept very vanilla, and if that’s what Ludwig’s “vanilla” play sheet looks like, Utah fans should be very excited about what’s to come against more competitive opponents.

Defensively, it’s hard to argue against a shutout — even vs. a team like Southern Utah.

The Utes held the Thunderbirds to only 150 total yards and tackled Southern Utah for loss eight times, with five of those being sacks. SUU never entered the red zone, and the closest the Thunderbirds got to scoring was when kicker Danny King missed a 48-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter.

“We really controlled the game with our defense. They got up a couple runs out on us but never really gave up any sustained drive and of course didn’t give up a score. So very positive,” Whittingham said.

Van Fillinger, who struggled with injury last year, was glad to be fully healthy entering the season, and he made his presence known, with two sacks and a pass breakup.

“I felt healthy, felt great, feel very grateful now since I had to play last year not healthy. How it feels to play healthy, it’s just a blessing. So it was great to be out there and just to really see how good I can do when I’m at my full potential,” Fillinger said.

After starting cornerback Kenan Johnson suffered an injury early in the first quarter (more on that below), sophomore cornerback Elijah Davis finished the game and delivered Utah’s first takeaway of the game, an interception.

“I thought he held down the fort, did a nice job, came off coverage once. Fortunately it was the holding call so he didn’t end up hurting us,” Whittingham said. “... He had an interception so I thought he did a good job, but we’re going to have to take a hard look at what our best configuration is for next week.”

Whittingham also highlighted nickelback Smith Snowden, who is poised to take a big jump forward in his sophomore season. Snowden had four tackles and two tackles for loss to lead the Utes.

Other takeaways from Utah’s 49-0 win over Southern Utah:

Whittingham touted how relatively healthy his team emerged from fall practices, with “70% less injuries” after modifications to fall camp, and every starter arrived to Thursday’s opener healthy.

Once the game started, though, things took a turn for the worse. There’s always injuries for every team in every football season, but the Utes’ already thin cornerback room took a hit after Georgia Tech transfer Kenan Johnson went down. Johnson had to be helped off of the field by Utah’s athletic trainers and couldn’t put much weight on his leg. He was later seen on crutches and wearing a knee brace.

Senior defensive tackle Aliki Vimahi also went to the ground with what appeared to be a leg injury, and had to be helped to the sideline.

Postgame, Whittingham said that it “didn’t look good for either of them.”

If Kenan Johnson’s injury keeps him out long-term, Whittingham said that Tao Johnson, who started at nickel last season and moved to free safety this year, would be the “first answer.”

“We don’t want to have to do that, we’ll see, but if we have to do it, that’s one answer right there,” Whittingham said.

Michigan transfer freshman Cameron Calhoun, who had offseason surgery, is expected to be back with the team ahead of next week’s game against Baylor and is another option, along with Davis.

Time after time this offseason, both Whittingham and Ludwig highlighted the importance of keeping Rising healthy. A big part of that plan was to limit his running and reduce the number of hits he takes per game.

There would be very few, if any, designed quarterback runs for Rising — especially through non-conference play — and an emphasis on limiting his scrambling whenever possible.

“He is going to be very judicious in his running and we’ve had ad nauseam talks about that. He’s going to be a guy that really picks his spots and is going to be not trying to fight for that extra yard,” Whittingham said on Monday.

Well, that went out the window four plays into the game, when Rising scrambled for 11 yards and a first down. The quarterback ran the ball four times — all of his own volition — and took a couple of hits instead of sliding.

“It’s football, you got to do stuff,” Rising said postgame.

It felt like the stadium was holding its collective breath every time Rising tucked the ball and ran, but he emerged healthy from the game.

Rising certainly didn’t need to run that much, especially in a game against SUU that Utah had well under control. But when the lights are on, it’s hard to go against your instincts. Running has been a huge part of Rising’s game — he’s rushed for over 800 yards in his career — and if the SUU game is any indication, he’s going to continue to utilize it.

“It was good to see him moving quick and being able to cut and do his thing, but a little too much contact tonight. We’ll try to reinforce that more if we possibly can, but he’s so competitive and that’s just his nature, but a little more contact than we would’ve liked,” Whittingham said.

Utah entered Thursday’s game without a clear lead running back, and it’s leaving without a clear lead running back.

Whittingham said postgame that Stanley’s package of plays will expand after Thursday night’s performance, which included six carries for 34 yards.

Micah Bernard got the first carries of the game and finished with 33 yards on five totes, including a 16-yard run — the longest run of the night for any of the running backs.

Jaylon Glover had four carries for 15 yards — 14 of those came on one run.

Mike Mitchell impressed with a fourth-and-1 conversion, and later scored a four-yard touchdown. Late in the first quarter, he burst through a hole, showcasing his explosiveness, but fumbled the ball before recovering it. He finished with 21 yards on six carries.

As promised, the reps were divvied up pretty evenly. Each running back showed flashes, but no one stood out enough for Whittingham to declare an RB1 postgame.

“I think exactly what we anticipated going into the game would be by committee, we wouldn’t really have an RB1, and right now we’re in the same boat, which is not a bad thing,” Whittingham said.

More on this tomorrow, but Thursday was the first game action for former Corner Canyon quarterback Isaac Wilson, who was inserted with 21 seconds left in the second quarter and played the vast majority of the second half.

Wilson finished the night 7 for 11 for 74 yards. He threw a touchdown to former BYU basketball player Caleb Lohner and had two interceptions, also adding a 22-yard run. There were some mistakes, as expected for a freshman quarterback in his first game action, and some glimpses of what his potential could eventually be at Utah, like his 20-yard touchdown pass to Lohner and a 19-yard completion to Daidren Zipperer on fourth-and-3.