SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Cam Rising threw for 92 yards and two touchdowns before leaving the game due to an injury to his throwing hand as No. 11 Utah beat Baylor 23-12 on Saturday.
Rising scrambled and released the ball just before being driven out of bounds and was shoved into the water coolers on the Baylor sideline with 1:55 left in the second quarter and went to the locker room for X-rays.
Rising returned to the sidelines in street clothes with the middle fingers of his right hand taped together.
The team did not provide additional information about the quarterback's injury and Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said after the game only that Rising's injury is “not real serious.”
Backup quarterback Isaac Wilson led the Utes’ offense after halftime for a second straight game. Utah had only 95 yards in the second half with Wilson leading the offense.
“Certainly, when Cam left the game that was a downer for us,” Whittingham said. “But the world can’t stop turning when Cam exits a game. We got to keep playing, which we did, but we got to be productive, which we were not real productive on offense.”
Micah Bernard rushed for 118 yards to lead Utah (2-0).
Dequan Finn threw for 115 yards and a touchdown in his second start for Baylor (1-1). Finn struggled against Utah’s defense, losing a fumble and getting sacked three times.
“I think he got caught up and wanted to prove people wrong and wanted to make the play and do all these things,” Baylor coach Dave Aranda said. “And I think we’re still fighting that.”
Utah controlled play on both sides of the ball in the first half.
The Utes got on the board midway through the first quarter when Money Parks caught a short pass and turned it into a 28-yard reverse. Rising faked a handoff to Dijon Stanley before flipping the ball to Parks, who scored untouched.
Utah extended its lead to 14-0 on a 2-yard catch by Micah Bernard 20 seconds later. Connor O’ Toole forced Finn to fumble on a blindside hit and Karene Reid recovered the ball at the Baylor 3, setting up the Utes’ second touchdown.
Baylor had minus-10 yards on 10 plays in the first quarter.
Tao Johnson grabbed the ball on a blocked 50-yard field goal attempt and then raced 77 yards down the sideline to extend Utah’s lead to 23-0 with 5:21 left in the second quarter. Johnson was the first Utah player to score a touchdown off a blocked field goal since Jay Hill in 1999 against Wyoming.
It was also just the fifth touchdown off a blocked field goal in school history.
“I was debating on getting out of the way or catching it,” Johnson said. “And I was like, ‘Screw it, I’m gonna catch it.’ So I caught it, took off, and it was just green grass.”
THE TAKEAWAY
Baylor: The Bears had a nightmarish start on offense and never fully recovered. Baylor did not gain a first down until midway through the second quarter and totaled 48 yards by halftime.
Utah: Another dominant performance for the Utes came at a price. Rising suffered an apparent injury to his throwing hand and an extended absence could affect the trajectory of Utah’s season.
GETTING THE CALL
Wilson struggled to move the chains in his second career college game. The true freshman completed 4 of 9 passes for 30 yards. But he will start for Utah against in-state rival Utah State if Rising is unable to return to the lineup.
Whittingham expressed confidence in Wilson to get the job done if he ends up being the team's No. 1 quarterback for an indefinite period.
“He just needs to accrue reps,” Whittingham said. “He is taking steps forward. He’s our guy. He’s the no. 2 guy clearly right now. That’s where we’re at with Isaac.”
Wilson is eager to take a big step forward if he does get his first career start.
“I came into that situation out of nowhere but I got to be ready,” Wilson said. “I got to be there for my teammates. There’s a lot of plays I could have had back and we’re going to go into the film room and we’re going to evaluate that.”
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Utah should move into the top 10 in the next AP Poll on Sunday following the victory.
UP NEXT
Baylor: Hosts Air Force on Saturday.
Utah: At Utah State on Saturday.
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
Utah quarterback Cameron Rising (7) throws against Baylor in the first half during an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Utah quarterback Cameron Rising (7) tcarries the ball; against Baylor in the first half during an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Utah quarterback Cameron Rising (7) runs past Baylor linebacker Keaton Thomas (11) in the first half during an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump claimed without evidence Monday that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' comments that he is a threat to democracy had inspired the latest apparent attempt on his life, despite his own long history of inflammatory campaign rhetoric and advocacy for jailing or prosecuting his political enemies.
With the election now just 50 days away and early ballots already being mailed out in some places, this year’s presidential campaign was among the most turbulent in American history even before Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt. Trump was safe after the incident in Florida and praised the Secret Service for protecting him but didn't shy away from blaming his opponents.
“Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out,” Trump said in comments to Fox News Digital.
The Republican former president's statements are a sharp departure from how he reacted after an assassination attempt in July during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in which a bullet grazed his ear.
Then, Trump called for national unity, saying in a social media post that “it is more important than ever that we stand United.” A few days later, though, the former president returned to his usual commentary where he has sharply criticizes Democrats and relishes political bombast.
While authorities continue to investigate the motives of both the gunman in Pennsylvania and the person arrested Sunday in Florida, Trump has made clear that he sees attempts on his life as politically motivated — and blames his rivals for them.
That's despite Trump himself drawing repeated criticism for his rhetoric. He has talked about prosecuting his political rivals and alleged without evidence that Democrats have brought the felony cases against him for political reasons.
In a post on his social media site on Monday, Trump again claimed that he had been the target of politically motivated attacks, writing that the left “has taken politics in our Country to a whole new level of Hatred, Abuse, and Distrust.” He said “it will only get worse” and then veered into comments about immigration, even though there is no evidence the person arrested in connection with the apparent assassination attempt was an immigrant.
That follows the former president during last week's debate and in the days after it amplifying false rumors that Haitian immigrants in Ohio are abducting and eating pets. The community days later evacuated schools and government buildings amid bomb threats, adding to the sense of an especially unstable and tense moment in America even before Sunday’s stunning development.
Biden, by contrast, sought to steer clear of politics. He decried the apparent assassination attempt and said on Monday that America must work to stop the scourge of political violence.
“America has suffered too many times the tragedy of an assassin’s bullet,” Biden said at the start of an address to the National HBCU Week Conference in Philadelphia. “It solves nothing. It just tears the country apart. We must do everything we can to prevent it and never give it any oxygen.”
Biden in his speech added that Ronald Rowe, the acting director of the Secret Service, was in Florida “assessing what happened and determining whether any further adjustments need to be made to ensure” Trump’s safety.
After Trump's shooting in Pennsylvania, Biden initially called on the nation to lower the political temperature, though he, too, eventually pivoted back to criticizing Trump as a threat to the nation's founding principles.
Rice University historian Douglas Brinkley said Sunday's “deeply troublesome” event coming on top of an already dramatic year with an election looming has created “a kind of uncertainty across the land.”
Brinkley said, “2024 has just unspooled in a chaotic and frightful fashion. It’s impossible for anybody to get footing in their daily lives with a news cycle that is so constantly grim and absurd.”
Trump had already been scheduled to spend Monday at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, according to a person familiar with his schedule. That now includes a briefing in person from Rowe, who is leading the Secret Service after its director resigned following the Pennsylvania shooting, according to the person, who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Rowe arrived in West Palm Beach on Monday morning.
On Monday night, Trump is expected to speak about cryptocurrency live on the social media site X for the launch of his sons’ crypto platform, followed by an expected return to the campaign trail on Tuesday for a town hall in Flint, Michigan. He has appearances later in the week in New York, Washington and North Carolina.
Harris, meanwhile, was meeting with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters at the 1.3 million-member group’s headquarters in Washington as the Democratic presidential nominee hopes to lock yet another labor union’s endorsement. She was scheduled on Tuesday to campaign in swing-state Pennsylvania and planned later in the week to speak in Washington, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Harris' husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, was planning to attend campaign receptions in Washington and New York on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Their returns to the campaign trail are likely to be overshadowed by questions about the armed man engaged by Secret Service agents at the former president’s Florida golf course. The FBI was leading the investigation and working to determine any motive.
Beyond the first attempt on Trump’s life when he was grazed by a bullet at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, the campaign was whipsawed over the past six months by Trump’s historic criminal trial and conviction; the crisis and eventual end of Biden’s reelection campaign after his floundering debate performance; and Harris taking his place, fundamentally shifting the race.
In August, Trump’s campaign disclosed it had been hacked and said Iranian actors had stolen and distributed sensitive internal documents. The Justice Department is preparing criminal charges in connection with the hack.
Trump's blaming the Democrats for saying he is a threat to American democracy is a theme his allies have also picked up on, seeking to link those arguments to Sunday's detention of a suspect. Investigators have not commented on the suspect's potential motives.
Republican strategist David Urban, a Trump ally, said it was too soon to know how that might affect the days and weeks ahead in the campaign, but in his conversations with those in Trump’s orbit, he was picking up a deep sense of shock and uncertainty.
“We’ve said unprecedented so many times this year," Urban said. “I don’t know if we can even say the word anymore.”
Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Ayanna Alexander in Philadelphia, Steve Peoples in New York and Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., contributed to this report.
A newspaper is displayed in a vehicle outside of the Mar-a-Lago estate after the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Police officers direct traffic near Trump International Golf Club after the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump in West Palm Beach, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)
FILE - The motorcade for President Donald Trump arrives at Trump International Golf Club, Feb. 15, 2020, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Photos that show an AK-47 rifle, a backpack and a Go-Pro camera on a fence outside Trump International Golf Club taken after an apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, are displayed during a news conference at the Palm Beach County Main Library, Sunday. Sept. 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Stephany Matat)
