Licking the wounds
In a game that will likely go down in the history of the rivalry as “Fourth-and-18,” the Utes had every chance to win it late against rival BYU.
But they didn’t. The Utah offense struggled to get anything past BYU’s smothering defense, scoring its only touchdown late in the fourth quarter and finishing the game with 244 total yards.
The Ute defense, meanwhile, held the Cougar offense in check for the majority of the game, but buckled under pressure late and gave up the game-winning touchdown — an 11-yard run by BYU’s Harvey Unga — with 38 seconds left.
The Utes still had a chance to reverse their fortunes, getting the ball at their own 40-yard line with just under 30 seconds to go. But dropped passes and penalties kept Utah from advancing, and a last-second Hail Mary fell to the ground in the end zone.
“We still had a chance when we got the ball back late in the game, but it just didn’t happen. We didn’t execute,” Utah quarterback Brian Johnson said. “(BYU) did a great job of taking things away from us.”
Junior Darrell Mack, who had been the focal point of the Utah resurgence this season, ran the ball merely 14 times for 56 yards and one touchdown.
“Their defensive front was really aggressive and that kind of took away from our production in the run game,” Mack said. “It was tough to get yards up front for the whole team.”
Moving on
With the annual rivalry game on the books, the Utes now have the unenviable task of waiting for a bowl selection committee to call their name.
The popular vote in the media has pitted the Utes against Navy in the Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 20, but the team won’t know for sure until late Saturday after BYU takes on San Diego State.
If BYU wins the game and jumps high enough in the rankings, there’s an outside shot that the Cougars would be accepted to play in a Bowl Championship Series game. In that case, the Las Vegas Bowl would probably accept Utah to play against the Pac-10 No. 5 (likely UCLA).
“I wish they’d let us know sooner rather than later, but we’ll find out soon enough,” Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. “We’re assuming we’re going to the Poinsettia Bowl, but it’s not set in stone.”
The Mountain West Conference has five bowl-eligible teams. Because there is a lack of eligible teams this season, there is a strong likelihood of all five MWC schools receiving bowl bids. Air Force, TCU and New Mexico join the aforementioned pair of rivals for the conference.
Air Force will likely represent the military in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl against the Big-10 No. 6 (likely Purdue). TCU will probably end up playing in the New Mexico Bowl against the No. 2 seed from the Western Athletic Conference and New Mexico might steal a bid from the Big-12 in the Texas Bowl (lack of eligible teams).
Biding time
While the Utes wait to hear where they are going to end up, Whittingham and the Utah coaching staff have decided to take it easy on the players. The team will practice only three days a week over the next two weeks.
After such a mentally and physically draining game against BYU, the Utes welcome some time off.
“It’s nice to finally be able to get off our feet and get a little rest,” Utah quarterback Brian Johnson said. “It’s a nice change and now we’ll be back to nearly 100 percent when the bowl game rolls around.”
The Utes will resume a full practice schedule the week before their bowl game.
Tyler CobbJereme Brooks rushes the ball against BYU on Saturday.