Stanford safety Jonathan McGill, left, makes an interception as Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid (86) falls during the first half at Salt Lake City on Sat Nov 12, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Daniel Dullum

Saturday, November 12, 2022

Cameron Rising threw three touchdown passes, Taylon Thomas ran for 180 yards and two scores, and No. 13 Utah dominated Stanford in a 42-7 Pac-12 football win for the Utes at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.

After Stanford (3-7 overall, 1-7 Pac-12) took a 7-0 first quarter lead on a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Tanner McKee, it was all Utah (8-2 overall, 6-1 Pac-12), which used a big third quarter to pull away for good.

A 9-yard touchdown pass from Rising to Devaughn Vele tied the game at 7-7 less than two minutes into the second quarter. At 6:49 of the second quarter, Thomas ran for a 4-yard TD, giving the Utes a 14-7 halftime lead. Thomas’ run was set up by a 28-yard, fourth down catch by Vele.

Utah scored three times within seven minutes in the third quarter to put the game away. Rising connected with Thomas Yassmin for a 14-yard touchdown at 9:21, and threw a 19-yard scoring pass to Micah Bernard at 5:58. Rising has 18 touchdown passes this season.

Nate Johnson, a freshman backup quarterback, completed a 16-yard TD pass to Logan Kendall with 2:20 left in the period. It was Johnson’s first career touchdown pass for Utah.

Thomas finished the scoring with 36-yard touchdown run at 9:28 of the fourth quarter.

Rising completed 20 of 33 passes for 219 yards. He was sacked once and threw an interception. Vele caught six passes for 61 yards, and Dalton Kincaid caught four passes for 35 yards.

McKee, who was sacked seven times, threw 23 passes, completing 11 for 155 yards. Mitch Leigber was the Cardinal’s top rusher, with 40 yards on 12 carries. Elijah Higgins caught seven passes for 105 yards.

Next Saturday, the Cardinal travel to Berkeley for the annual Big Game with California. Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m.