SALT LAKE CITY — Freshman returner Mana Carvalho had Rice-Eccles Stadium rocking late in the third quarter Saturday night.
After No. 24 Utah's defense forced one of six three-and-out series against No. 17 Cincinnati, Carvalho split the defenders and got into a foot race to the north end zone before stretching his arms out at the end of the run as Cincinnati attempted to stop the return short of the end zone.
But Carvalho couldn't be denied in his 78-yard run and went the distance, giving Utah a 38-14 lead with 1:36 left in the third quarter of a pivotal Big 12 matchup — one in which Utah needed to stay alive in the conference title race.
Carvalho became the first Utah player to return a punt for a touchdown since former Utah receiver Britain Covey did it against Oregon in 2021.
"It was just amazing," Carvalho said. "I seen everything that was, like, basically scripted, and it was just perfect. So all I had to do was just run. That was about it. Just run."
Utah (7-2, 4-2 Big 12) left no doubt on the field in the end and pulled away for a 45-14 win over Cincinnati (7-2, 5-1 Big 12), who dropped its first conference game of the season Saturday.
"That was really good football team to beat, I can tell you that; they're well coached," Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. "(The) quarterback is a special player, got a good supporting cast, they play extremely hard, and so I've got a lot of respect for what they're doing. We played outstanding tonight — all phases.
"We've got seven wins now, and just about everyone's been in dominating fashion," he added. "We have the two disappointing losses, but guys responded, bounced back and didn't miss a beat. So, yeah, lot of good things going on, so we've just gotta keep things rolling."
Receiver Ryan Davis led the Utes with 132 receiving yards and one touchdown — including a 46-yard catch — to help Utah to 480 total yards of offense in the win. Whittingham described Davis as being "so valuable to us this year."
"He catches everything," he said. "If you throw it in his general direction, he's going to come down with it. He's also good with run after catch, and he gets tough yards after the catch."
He was joined by running back Wayshawn Parker, who led the ground game Saturday with 104 yards — his second straight 100-yard rushing game — and a touchdown, a 40-yard explosion downfield after receiving the direct snap in Wildcat.
Quarterback Devon Dampier, who returned back to the starting lineup after a week off due to an ankle injury, finished the game throwing for 213 yards, two touchdown and an interception on 16-of-31 passing, while adding 71 rushing yards.
His counterpart, Brendan Sorsby, on Cincinnati finished with one of his worst performances of the season, throwing for 221 yards, one touchdown and an interception on 11-of-33 passing. Sorsby has been one of the best quarterbacks in the Big 12 this season, but Utah's defense continued to put pressure on the future NFL quarterback.
Defensive tackle Jonah Lea'ea, who had one pass breakups and four tackles, credited defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley for another strong game plan, in which Utah dialed up the pressure and blitzed on several down, leaving the secondary on an island to contain Sorsby's passing attempts.
"Coach Scally is a genius, to be honest," Lea'ea said. "I think we just did a really good job at scheming them. That was a really good offense, and I just think we wanted it more honestly at the end of the day."
To that point, Whittingham credited the secondary as doing "an outstanding job" in coverage with the heavy dose of pressure that was "smothering all night long."
"They did get a few things on us here and there, but for the most part, we were in position on just about every deep ball," Whittingham said.
Utah started the night affair off with a quick defensive stop on the opening Cincinnati drive, and then a 16-play, 94-yard drive on offense that was capped off with a quick strike from Dampier to Davis, who took it 34 yards for an opening drive score for the Utes.
But Cincinnati bounced back with a scoring drive of its own on the ensuing possession, with Sorsby utilizing back-to-back pitch plays that went for big yards. Sorsby pulled off a fake pitch on the third attempt, of which Utah bit on, and then took it untouched into the end zone for a 22-yard score to even the score.
Utah broke through, though, when Cincinnati was stopped deep in Utah territory early and missed a 42-yard field goal — the first miss of the season for Stephan Rusnak and first in multiple seasons for the placekicker — and then when Sorsby fumbled on a promising later drive in the first half and Utah recovered.
The Utes then went 66 yards, and Dillon Curtis ended the drive with a laser a 33-yard field goal before a NaQuari Rogers bullied his way through for a 1-yard rushing touchdown on the ensuing possession to give Utah a 24-7 lead going into the halftime break.
Cincinnati made a push early in the third quarter, scoring on an deep pass from Sorsby to receiver Cyrus Allen, who went 88 yards for the touchdown to make it a 10-point game for the Utes.
But Utah buckled down and extended the lead on offense, while the defense continued to put Sorsby in a difficult spot. Sorsby fumbled the ball a second time late in the fourth quarter, setting up Utah deep in Cincinnati territory.
A few plays later, backup quarterback Byrd Ficklin, who replaced Dampier in the fourth quarter, bullied his way into the end zone on a 2-yard score for the convincing margin.
Despite the lopsided score, Cincinnati finished with 427 total yards of offense, and averaged 6.8 yards per play — beating out Utah's 5.7 yards on the night. But the Bearcats ultimately couldn't score in the red zone after being one of the best in the country entering Saturday's game.
"I think we were firing on all cylinders," Davis said. "And, I mean, yeah, we whooped their ass, to put it short."
