Cameron Rising threw for three touchdowns to lead No. 19 Utah to a 28-13 victory over Colorado on Saturday in Salt Lake City.

Rising completed 14 of 23 passes for 179 yards, Tavion Thomas ran for 142 yards and a touchdown and T.J. Pledger added 103 yards on the ground for the Utes.

Utah (9-3, 8-1 Pac-12) earned its fifth straight victory of the season and its fifth consecutive win over the Buffaloes in their series. The Utes averaged 6.5 yards per play while racking up 444 total yards.

Brendon Lewis threw for 84 yards to lead Colorado (4-8, 3-6), which generated just 148 total yards against Utah's imposing defense.

Ironically, Colorado made big plays on defense and special teams in the first quarter to seize lead.

The Buffaloes got on the board with a 33-yard field goal from Cole Becker. Mark Perry intercepted a pass from Rising on the Utes' first drive and returned it 40 yards to the Utah 15 to set up Becker's kick.

Utah tried to answer with a 37-yard field goal from Jadon Redding but his attempt was partially blocked and the ball sailed wide left, keeping the score at 3-0.

The Utes came alive on offense in the second quarter. Rising completed his first four pass attempts in the quarter. Two were touchdown passes -- a 19-yard strike to Brant Kuithe and a 28-yard dart to Dalton Kincaid -- that put Utah ahead 14-3.

Becker made it a one-score game when he hit a career-long, 56-yard field goal to trim Utah's lead to 14-6 going into halftime.

Colorado cut the deficit to 14-13 after Nikko Reed returned a kickoff 100 yards to open the second half. That's as close as the Buffaloes could come to overtaking the Utes.

Utah extended its lead back to eight behind a 12-yard run from Thomas on the next drive.

The Utes went up 28-13 midway through the third quarter when Rising flipped the ball to Britain Covey, who took the short pass in for a 13-yard touchdown.

--Field Level Media