Last time ESPN’s College Gameday visited Utah, the Utes failed to get the win in a blowout loss to TCU. This time around, it was a different story. The Utes held off No. 23 Cal on Saturday night until the very last moments of the game to keep their perfect season alive.
After Cal quarterback Jared Goff threw his fifth interception of the game, which Dominique Hatfield got his hands on for the second time on the night, the Utes looked like they would pull away. However, the Utes couldn’t produce anything off of the turnover and gave the ball back to the Bears. Cal then took the ball down the field, down 30-24 with the clock ticking.
On fourth down with six yards to go, Boobie Hobbs denied Cal the opportunity to score on fourth down, securing the win in the final 30 seconds.
“I told everybody, ‘The last play is going to come down to me, and I’m going to get a pick-six,’” Hobbs said. “I played it safe and batted it down, but it was a great overall team win.”
The entire Utah squad was relieved to survive the scare and was loudly cheering in the locker room after the game. Head coach Kyle Whittingham is proud of the way his team finished.
“Heck of a game,” Whittingham said.“Hung in there, played the full 60 minutes.”
It was a total defensive effort from the Utes in the first half, forcing five total turnovers. While the Utah offense may not have been able to make the most of them early on, it made up for it late in the second quarter by scoring two touchdowns off two picks thrown by Goff.
Cal looked poised to score a touchdown on its first possession of the game with Goff completing all of his passes. However, sophomore defensive back Marcus Williams picked him off to end the Golden Bear threat.
Utah then punted on its drive, and punter Tom Hackett pinned the ball at the eight-yard line. Linebacker Gionni Paul then forced a fumble on Cal’s next possession and Williams recovered the ball.
Andy Phillips then nailed a field goal from 44 yards out to give the Utes the 3-0 lead.
Midway through the second quarter, Travis Wilson was picked off by Trey Turner, and the Utes needed a defensive stop. Defensive back Cory Butler-Byrd stepped up in the endzone and denied Goff a touchdown, forcing Cal to settle for a field goal and tie the score at 10 apiece.
With the half winding down, Booker led the way for the Utes going down the field, gaining 14 and then 17 yards on consecutive runs. Wilson then found Butler-Byrd, who was playing both ways on Saturday, deep for the 54-yard touchdown to put the Utes up 24-10.
Goff led Cal down the field in response for one more touchdown before halftime, making the score 24-17.
Utah opened up the second half on a high note, scoring a field goal on its first possession to increase its lead to 27-17. On its following drive, Utah was forced to a three-and-out but attempted a trick play on a fourth-and-one, only to have a slip-up. However, a yellow flag led to a called false start, saving the Utes from turning the ball over on their side of the field.
But Utah couldn’t deny the inevitable, as Booker fumbled the ball in Utah territory, which Cal turned into a score to bring the Golden Bears to within three points.
Wilson played well in the third, showing his agility by rushing for several first downs, eventually leading to another Andy Phillips field goal in the fourth, the final score of the game.
Booker finished the contest with 222 rushing yards and 45 receiving yards. Although he had to fight for yardage at times, he thinks it was easy, considering who he has to compete against in practice, and recognizes his team’s effort to block for him.
“I credit it all to my offensive line,” Booker said. “They were soft hits, I take harder hits from my teammates every day.”
After this game, Hobbs feels more confident in his team than ever before.
“We feel like we [are] the No. 1 team,” Hobbs said. “We just want to show the world that we can play with the Alabamas, with the LSUs because we got the guys and we got great talent.”
Utah is now the lone team left in the Pac-12 without a loss.
@kbrenneisen