Cam Rising threw two touchdown passes in the first quarter before exiting early in the host Utah Utes’ 23-12 victory over the Baylor Bears on Saturday afternoon in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Rising’s two early scores helped build enough of a cushion for the No. 11-ranked Utes (2-0) to build a 23-0 lead in the second quarter that they would ride to the win.
But the bad news for Utah was that Rising needed to leave the game after crashing into the sidelines on a run out of bounds.
Rising, who completed 8 of 14 passes for 92 yards, threw the ball just before he went out of bounds trying to evade pass rusher Treven Ma’ae and went crashing into the Baylor sideline. The seventh-year quarterback was holding his right hand when he stood back up.
Without Rising, Utah’s offense struggled and was shut out in the second half. Backup quarterback Isaac Wilson finished the game in Rising’s place and completed 4 of 9 passes for 30 yards.
The Bears (1-1) didn’t get much offense going until their final drive of the first half which was capped by a 44-yard field goal from Isaiah Hankins.
Baylor then made a game of it in the second half, after another Hankins field goal and a 47-yard touchdown pass from Dequan Finn to Josh Cameron cut the deficit to 23-12 with 53 seconds left in the third quarter.
But the Bears’ final two drives ended with a three-and-out and an advance to the Utes’ 40 before losing the ball on downs when Richard Reese was tackled short of the first down on 4th and 14.
Micah Bernard ran for 118 yards on 19 carries to pace Utah’s running game.
Finn went 9 for 21 for 115 yards and a touchdown for Baylor but was sacked three times including twice by Connor O’Toole.
Utah’s second touchdown was set up by O’Toole’s strip sack of Finn which led to a Rising 2-yard touchdown pass to Bernard. Rising’s first touchdown pass went for 28 yards to Money Parks, who finished with three catches for 80 yards.
–Field Level Media
