Jackson Bennee extends 22-year pick-6 streak as Utah dominates FCS Cal Poly

SALT LAKE CITY — Jackson Bennee saw his chance.

The former walk-on defensive back jumped the route and picked off Cal Poly quarterback Ty Dieffenbach in stride — and only had green grass in front of him. The Holladay native went untouched for a 46-yard pick-six score, extending a longtime Utah streak.

With the touchdown, Utah took a 14-0 lead with 7:17 left in the first quarter and checked off the yearly pick-six record for the 22nd season in a row — the longest known streak in FBS history. Bennee's touchdown became the 49th pick six for Utah during those 22 seasons.

"It was super fun, not gonna lie," Bennee said. "Just kind of in the right spot at the right time. When he threw it, I was kind of in disbelief; but as I caught it, I just didn't look back — just decided to run as fast I could. But I'm just glad at the opportunities I'm getting out here, it's really fun to play with the boys."

It was just one of many scores for the Utes Saturday in a 63-9 win over FCS Cal Poly.

Bennee wasn't done for the day, though, and narrowly missed another pick-six opportunity amid a standout defensive performance in which he finished with five tackles — four solo — and three pass breakups, which was one short of tying a Utah individual game record.

Johnathan Hall added another interception and was a yard short of adding another team pick six to the score sheet Saturday night for a defense that limited Cal Poly to 223 total yards.

And for as good as Bennee and the defense was, running back Wayshawn Parker had an equally efficient night on the offensive side of the ball. The sophomore transfer from Washington State caught a short pass from Devon Dampier on the first series of the game and took it 52 yards to the end zone for the first score of the night.

It's the second week in a row that Parker has started off the scoring for the Utes.

Parker added to his tally midway through the third quarter when he ran through a gaping hole created by the offensive line and took it another 43 yards for his second score of the night. He finished with 102 all-purpose yards and was the team's leader in rushing yards (50).

"I know I scored, but I feel like the whole team scored on that," Parker said. "So when I got that first touchdown in the Rice-Eccles Stadium, it felt real nice — like, for real. Looking at the crowd, it's really super nice."

But Parker was far from the only playmaker on offense.

Offensive coordinator Jason Beck continued to move around the ball with various personnel groupings, which included nine different players rushing the ball and nine different players recording a catch in the game. He also had a handful of players in the Wildcat, with Dampier flexed out, to provide some variety in the play-calling.

"I think that it's really to my liking, I can tell you that — the structure of it, the way Jason has put it together, his creativity, his play-calling," head coach Kyle Whittingham said of Beck's offense. "We're so far — it's only two games — but exactly as we had hoped."

Dampier finished his night in just over two quarters of action throwing for 192 yards and three touchdowns — a career high — on 17-of-23 passing. He also added 25 yards on the ground on four carries before being replaced by true freshman Byrd Ficklin.

The freshman QB added his own touchdown to the scoreboard on a 38-yard run down the sideline, which featured a little stiff arm to beat the Cal Poly defender en route to the end zone. He finished his night as the backup throwing for 53 yards on a perfect 4-of-4 passing, while adding another rushing touchdown late in the fourth.

"Byrd Ficklin looked really good when he came in," Whittingham said. "He's an athlete, he's cool under pressure, and true freshman just right out of high school. And I thought he handled his opportunity really well."

"I thought Byrd was electric," Dampier added. "We've all seen him — especially in spring ball and fall camp — he showcased that he can get on that field and ball. I'm just happy he was able to showcase that to the world."

Despite the high score, Utah's offense wasn't as clean as a week prior and managed seven penalties for 65 yards. But the penalties were just a blip on an otherwise dominant night in the home opener at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

"I thought we were there just physically," Dampier said. "I thought no one was low on effort. Obviously, the mental issues we've just gotta clean up. Obviously, that's going to happen with every game. And just to have those early to learn from and go into the next week a little bit tighter."

Whittingham said the offense wasn't "in sync" to the same capacity it was in the UCLA game, but "there were some real bright spots and good things that happened."

"We just didn't get in that rhythm," he said. "We didn't come out as — I'm not going to say we weren't ready, because we were ready to play — but we just didn't come out executing as well as we did last week. Sometimes that happens."

Utah now turns its attention to a road game at Wyoming next week to closeout the nonconference schedule.

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