SALT LAKE CITY — Cameron Rising returned to the game with a personal-best five touchdown passes, three of which went to Brant Kuithe, to lead No. 12 Utah to a 49-0 win over Southern Utah on Thursday night.

Rising, a seventh-year quarterback, shined in his first game since torn 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 breath on every rush. He left the game in the second quarter with Utah up 35-0 after leading five consecutive scoring drives.

“I looked up at the stands and took a moment to take it all in and breathe, but that feeling goes away as soon as the coin is flipped. 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 catching an 18-yarder three minutes later. With 1:08 left in the half, Kuithe held off three defenders on his way to the end zone with an 11-yard grab.

“It’s fun and easy when you have a guy like that,” 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 had 513 yards of total offense in their 15th straight win over FCS opponents. Utah has topped the 500-yard mark just 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 real tight. We didn’t let him be real accurate with the throws,”

Kuithe entered the Big 12 record book as the first tight end ever to score three touchdowns in a single half of the season.

“I’ve been preparing for two years and it feels good to know that I can still do it,” said Kuithe.

The Utes have started the year at home 15 times under coach Kyle Whittingham and are 14-1 in those games. They left no doubt in this one when Rising Dijon found 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 touchdown catch in the second quarter and finished with 150 yards on three receptions, while leading the team in rushing with 34 yards.

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

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 entering the season.