The Utah rugby team put up a season-high 20 points on BYU, but it was little consolation for the Scrummin’ Utes on Friday night.
BYU handed Utah a 66-20 loss to remain undefeated going into its last regular-season game. It was BYU’s 14th straight win, and just the No. 4 Utes’ fourth loss, which came in front of a record crowd.
Fans had to be turned away as the South Field in Provo was packed to standing room only to watch the two rivals lock horns.
The Utes momentarily held the lead when they hit a penalty kick to make the game 3-0 at the nine-minute mark. Utah’s defense held strong8212;as it has for most of the season8212;but conceded a BYU try in the 23rd minute when Dan Paul crossed the goal line with a dot down, which sparked a 24-0 first half run by the No. 2 Cougars.
Utah scored its first try of the game in the 43rd minute to draw five points closer at 24-8, but BYU’s Dylan Lubbe scored back-to-back tries and Shaun Davies kicked two goals after tries to quickly extend BYU’s lead to 38-8 at the 56-minute mark. The Cougars continued to add to their lead, allowing Utah just two more tries for the remainder of the game while tacking on four of their own.
When playing a team as dominant as BYU, sometimes positives inside of the game is all you can ask for. Utah has several reasons to be happy with its effort.
In BYU’s four other home games this season, the Cougars have outscored their opponents by an average of 83.1 points per game. They are also averaging 87.8 points in their other home games. Utah held BYU far below both of those averages in a game that was a better contest than the score reflects.
The Utes also found a way to effectively bounce back from the loss to BYU the next night as it traveled north to Weber State University.
The Utes shut out the Wildcats and won 51-0 in their final regular-season match. It was Utah’s second shutout of Weber State on the year and fourth overall, but just the first of the new year.
Next up for Utah will be the Pacific Coast playoffs, which will be hosted at Baliff Field on April 3 and April 4. On Friday, Utah will have the opportunity to exact revenge on one of the three teams that beat it this year.
No. 11 Central Washington beat the Utes 25-7 on its home field Oct. 17. If the Utes want to make another coveted round of 16 appearance in Berkeley, Calif., they will have to get past the Wildcats on Friday and then win the follow-up game Saturday.