SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Cam Rising made his return with a career-high five touchdown passes - three to Brant Kuithe - to power No. 12 Utah to a 49-0 win over Southern Utah on Thursday night.

Rising, a seventh-year senior quarterback, shined in his first game action since tearing multiple knee ligaments in the Utes’ Rose Bowl loss to Penn State on Jan. 2, 2023, going 10 of 15 for 254 yards and 25 rushing yards as the 84th consecutive sellout crowd at Rice-Eccles Stadium held its collective breath on each rush. He left the game in the second quarter with Utah up 35-0 after leading five consecutive scoring drives.

“I just looked out into the kind of stands and took a second to just take it in and breathe, but that feeling kind of goes out of the out of the way once the coin toss really happens, and then you’re just focused on winning the game,” said Rising, who missed the entire 2023 season.

Kuithe, who also missed last season and most of the 2022 campaign, caught three touchdown passes - all in the second quarter. He caught a 29-yard toss for a score on the first play of the quarter before an 18-yarder three minutes later. With 1:08 to play in the half, Kuithe fought off three defenders on his way into the end zone on an 11-yard grab.

“It’s nice and easy when you got a guy like this,” Rising said, nodding to Kuithe. “Grown man."

Rising’s barrage marked the first time Utah had five passing TDs in a half since Brian Johnson against San Diego State in 2008, the last season Utah went undefeated.

In their first game as a member of the Big 12 Conference, the Utes churned 513 yards of total offense in their 15th straight win over FCS opponents. Utah only reached the 500-yard mark once in 2023, against Arizona State.

“I hope we didn’t do (Rising) a disservice. We didn’t cover anybody," Southern Utah coach DeLane Fitzgerald said. "We didn’t make the windows very tight. We didn’t make him have to be very accurate on the throws,”

Kuithe wrote his way into the Big 12 record book as the first tight end to ever have three touchdown receptions in a half.

“Been preparing for two years, and just feels good to know I can still do it,” Kuithe said.

The Utes have opened the year at home 15 times under coach Kyle Whittingham and are 14-1 in those games. They didn’t leave any doubt in this one as Rising found Dijon Stanley on a wheel route for a 64-yard score on Utah’s first possession.

Stanley outran the defense on a similar play for a 79-yard TD catch in the second quarter and ended up with 150 yards on three receptions while leading the team in rushing with 34 yards.

“Anywhere that they could use me, I feel like I have a special skill set,” Stanley said. “That TD was like the biggest moment of my life, almost.”

Starting cornerback Kenan Johnson, a transfer from Georgia Tech, left in the first quarter with an apparent leg injury. Cornerback is Utah’s thinnest position, according to coaches coming into the season.

TAKEAWAY

Southern Utah: Though overwhelmed in size and speed, the Thunderbirds were able to pop a few nice runs and QB scrambles. But their defense looked unprepared for wheel routes and some of the multiple tight end sets the Utes showed and were unable to withstand Utah’s push at the line of scrimmage.

Utah: Alongside the welcome return of Kuithe and Rising, Utah may have found another big-play threat in Stanley. He seldom played last season, but coaches had promised a “special package” of plays for the speedster despite him being listed as the fourth-string running back. “That package will expand,” Whittingham said. On defense, Van Fillinger had two sacks and Elijah Davis nabbed an interception.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Utah may rise if more upsets take place in the Top 10 on the first full weekend of college football.

UP NEXT

Southern Utah: At UTEP on Sept. 7.

Utah: Hosts Baylor on Sept. 7 in a nonconference game that was scheduled before Utah joined the Big 12.

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