No. 12 Utah kept rolling on Saturday night, and Kansas spent most of the evening chasing the game.
The Utes stayed unbeaten in 2026 and pushed their winning streak to 11 straight with a 41-24 victory over KU at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. Utah is now 5-0 overall and 2-0 in conference play, while the Jayhawks dropped to 2-3 and 0-2.
Wayshawn Parker did major damage on the ground, piling up 171 yards on 16 carries with two touchdowns. Devon Dampier added three passing scores and another on the ground as Utah built an early cushion, took control again after each Kansas push, and finished with 541 total yards. Kansas finished with 391, with Isaiah Marshall leading the way by completing 19 of 37 passes for 333 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for 21 yards and a score on nine carries.
Cam Pickett was Marshall’s top target all night, catching eight passes for 134 yards. Marshall looked his way 14 times.
Utah got out fast, just as it has all season. The Utes opened with a 75-yard march on their first possession, making it the fifth straight game in which they scored a touchdown on the opening drive. Parker finished that series with a 6-yard run.
The next Utah possession was even sharper. A three-play, 66-yard burst ended with Utah up 14-0 after Parker’s early momentum was helped by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Bam Crouch, and Ricky Johnson beat Kansas for a 44-yard catch on the drive.
Kansas, though, found a way to hang around before halftime. Utah led 21-7 late in the second quarter when Lance Leipold was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after running onto the field to check on injured cornerback Syeed Gibbs during a drive that had already included complaints from Leipold and defensive coordinator D.K. McDonald over an interference call.
That sequence helped set up Utah at the KU 6, where Dampier threw a 6-yard touchdown to Noah Bennee for a 21-7 lead with 10:16 left before halftime.
But Kansas closed the half well. Marshall capped a quick response with a 6-yard touchdown run with 0:42 left, and after Jalen Todd intercepted a pass, Martin Connington drilled a 34-yard field goal on the final play of the half. Suddenly, the Jayhawks were within 21-17.
The second half kept turning into a track meet. Kansas had a promising opening possession of the third quarter wiped out by an ineligible receiver downfield penalty.
Utah answered with an 80-yard, 15-play drive that ended on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Dampier to Ricky Johnson. The missed extra point left the score at 27-17.
KU answered right back. Marshall led a nine-play, 75-yard drive and found Nik McMillan on a 29-yard touchdown pass to trim it to 27-24 with 0:27 left in the third. Jalen Dupree’s 4-yard run on fourth-and-2 kept the drive alive.
Utah then delivered one of the biggest plays of the night when 5-foot-11, 320-pound Semi Taulanga caught a 1-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal from the KU 1 to make it 34-24 at 10:25.
Kansas had a chance to answer again. Marshall appeared to hit Carson Bruhn for a 6-yard touchdown, but replay showed the ball never crossed the line. On fourth-and-goal from the 1, Marshall was stopped on a run.
Utah made the Jayhawks pay immediately. Parker ripped off a 90-yard run to stretch the lead to 41-24 with 7:13 left.
KU still had one more shot to make things interesting, but a fourth-down throw from Marshall to a wide-open McMillan was dropped in the end zone. Utah took over with 5:25 remaining and finished off the win.
There were other turning points along the way, too. David Santiago forced a turnover on a third-and-9 play in Utah territory, stripping Dampier and recovering what was ruled a fumble. A facemask penalty afterward gave Kansas the ball at the Utah 7, and the Jayhawks turned that into a 3-yard touchdown pass from Marshall to Dylan Edwards, who lined up in a creative set with three receivers in front of him and used the blocking to score.
Utah’s win also extended its run of dominance since last October. The Utes’ last loss came on Oct. 18, 2025, when BYU beat them 24-21 in Provo. They also beat Kansas 31-21 last year in Lawrence.
In Other News...
Kansas Let A Winnable Utah Game Slip In A Familiar Way
For much of the night, Kansas had reasons to believe it could turn a trip to Utah into something better than a discouraging road loss. The defense showed some real signs of growth, forcing turnovers and limiting the Utes on the ground before the game started to tilt late. For a team searching for traction, those are the kinds of strides that can get overlooked when the final score turns sour.
What kept this from becoming a breakthrough was the same issue that has too often undercut winnable games: self-inflicted mistakes. Kansas was flagged 10 times for 90 yards, and those penalties helped hand Utah extra chances that eventually showed up on the scoreboard. Even with the defensive improvement, the Jayhawks left with a 41-24 loss and the familiar frustration of knowing they were close enough to make the result sting. [Read more 🡒]
Lance Leipold Weighed In On A Costly Kansas Penalty Vs Utah
Kansas game against Utah had its share of frustration before a late explanation added another layer to the night. During a drive that ended in a touchdown, cornerback Syeed Gibbs was flagged twice for pass interference, and the sequence left Lance Leipold clearly annoyed as the flags piled up on a possession that swung the momentum.
Leipold was later penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct after an official believed he was charging toward the referee to argue, when he was actually heading over to check on Gibbs. In his postgame media session, Leipold clarified what happened and said the pass interference calls were difficult ones, a reminder of how quickly confusion can turn an already costly stretch into an even bigger sideline headache. [Read more 🡒]
Lance Leipold Just Got Unexpected Credit For Indianas Biggest Moment
Indianas comeback against Nebraska turned on a fourth-and-1 call that had a distinctly Kansas flavor. Trailing by 11 points in the fourth quarter, the Hoosiers leaned on a scheme they borrowed from Lance Leipolds program, and the play helped spark a 20-17 rally that kept Indiana unbeaten and pushed the season record to 6-0.
Curt Cignetti later credited Kansas and Leipold for the concept, which first surfaced during the Jalon Daniels era in Lawrence. Indiana even had its own name for the call, Burger King, and on this day it became part of the biggest moment of the Hoosiers season so far, one with a familiar Kansas imprint underneath it. [Read more 🡒]