Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said the injury that knocked quarterback Cam Rising out of the Rose Bowl could be severe.
“The injury to Cam is a leg injury and it doesn’t look good,” Whittingham said after a 35-21 loss to Penn State. “ I can tell you that. We’ll wait for confirmation from the medical people at a later date, either tonight or tomorrow. It looks like it could be something that takes a while to recover from. That’s not positive right now.”
Rising left the game in the third quarter after taking an awkward hit from a Penn State defender. He went into the locker room and emerged some time later in street clothes.
It was the second-straight Rose Bowl in which Rising could not finish the game due to an injury. Last year, he left in the fourth quarter after taking a sack.
“It breaks my heart. He’s such a warrior and a fierce competitor,” Whittingham said. “He’ll be back, I can promise you that, from the injury. Hopefully he’ll be back with us. That’s to be determined.”
Rising left the game with Utah down 21-14. Backup quarterback Bryson Barnes entered the game and almost immediately threw an interception. Penn State scored 14 unanswered points to seal the game after Rising went out.
Barnes finished 10-of-19 passing for 112 yards with a touchdown and interception. Rising finished 8-of-21 for 95 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He also had 47 rushing yards.
“We lost a little bit of our mojo when that happened,” Whittingham said of Rising’s injury. “That’s not the right way to respond. We needed to respond better than we did.”
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