Tavion Thomas rushed for a career-high 180 yards and scored two touchdowns to lead No. 13 Utah to a convincing 42-7 victory over visiting Stanford in Pac-12 play on Saturday night at Salt Lake City.
Cameron Rising completed 20 of 33 passes for 219 yards, three touchdowns and one interception as the Utes (8-2, 6-1 Pac-12) scored the game’s final 42 points. Utah has won four straight games and stands a half-game behind first-place Southern California, which it defeated last month.
Devaughn Vele, Micah Bernard, Thomas Yassmin and Logan Kendall caught touchdown passes for Utah, which finished its home slate with a 6-0 record. Simote Pepa had two of the Utes’ seven sacks.
Tanner McKee completed 11 of 23 passes for 155 yards and rushed for a touchdown for Stanford (3-7, 1-7), which clinched a losing campaign for the third time in four seasons. Elijah Higgins caught seven passes for 105 yards.
The Utes outgained the Cardinal 514 to 177 and had a 29-9 edge in first downs. Utah controlled the ball for 34 minutes, 31 seconds while winning for the 25th time in its past 26 home games.
Thomas’ previous career high was last season, when he rushed for 177 yards and four touchdowns against Stanford.
The Utes began to pull away with three touchdowns in the third quarter.
Rising tossed a 14-yard touchdown pass to Yassmin to give Utah a 21-7 lead with 8:49 left in the third quarter. Rising also threw a 19-yard scoring pass to Bernard with 5:14 to play in the period.
Nate Johnson subbed in for Rising during the ensuing possession and he connected with Kendall on a 16-yard scoring pass to make it 35-7 with 1:37 remaining.
Thomas capped his big outing with a 36-yard scoring run with 8:32 left in the contest.
Utah outgained Stanford 239 to 91 in the first half and held a 14-7 advantage.
The Cardinal struck first on McKee’s 1-yard keeper with 3:40 left in the first quarter.
The Utes tied the score on Rising’s 9-yard pass to Vele with 12:49 left in the second quarter and took the lead six-plus minutes later when Thomas scored on a 4-yard run.
–Field Level Media
