BYU defeats Utes on last second FG to win ‘Holy War’, remains undefeated

SALT LAKE CITY — Jake Retzlaff engineered two fourth-quarter scoring drives and Will Ferrin kicked a 44-yard field goal with four seconds left to keep No. 9 BYU’s undefeated season alive with a 22-21 win over Utah on Saturday night.

The Cougars’ final drive was extended on a defensive holding penalty on fourth down as the largest crowd in Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium history (54,383) thought the game was over.

Retzlaff, who was 15 of 33 for 219 yards, passed 30 yards to Chase Roberts and 12 yards to Darius Lassiter before Hinckley Ropati ran for 14 yards to put BYU (9-0, 6-0 Big 12) in position for Ferrins kick.

The Cougars remain the last undefeated team in the Big 12 and in prime position for a bid in the conference championship game.

Retzlaff scored on a 1-yard sneak with 12:35 left to cap a nine-play, 95-yard drive and the first in which they looked like the team that averages more than 35 points a game. But the 2-point conversion was intercepted by Cam Calhoun to keep Utah (Utah 4-5, 1-5 Big 12) ahead 21-19.

Utah’s Brandon Rose, who was the third-string quarterback entering the season, got his first career start after Cam Rising was lost for the season and Isaac Wilson has struggled.

Rose ran twice for first downs and then completed his first positive pass of the game for a 20-yard touchdown to Brant Kuithe to complete a six-play, 64-yard drive early in the second quarter. Kuithe added a 1-yard touchdown run out of wildcat formation with 5:31 left before halftime, but later left the game with a leg injury.

Taking advantage of Rose’s interception in the third quarter, Will Ferrin made his second of three field goals.

Rose was 12 for 21 for 112 yards, but just 4 of 11 for 25 yards in the second half.

Utah’s Zemaiah Vaughn stopped Roberts for a 2-yard loss on a fourth-and-1 swing pass, which led to Rose’s 7-yard touchdown pass to Micah Bernard to make it 21-10 at halftime.

Jakob Robinson’s interception in the first quarter set up a 23-yard field goal by Ferrin.

In the second quarter, BYU’s Keelan Marion returned a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown, his second of the season.

Utah had won nine straight in the series before dropping the 2021 game 26-17 and now this one.

Takeaways

BYU: BYU’s offense managed just two field goals before coming alive in the fourth quarter. The Cougars managed the clock by taking their final timeout prematurely, and then a false start called for a 10-second runoff, which ended the first half when they were on the edge of field goal range.

Utah: Bernard, who has been Utah’s lone offensive bright spot before the breakout performance in the second quarter, had 17 carries for 78 yards and passed 2,000 career rushing yards. Rose was hot in the second quarter, but the offense sputtered after that. The Utes have lost five in a row, but haven’t lost any by more than 13 points.

Known Enemies

Five of BYU’s head coaches played or coached at Utah, and longtime Ute coach Kyle Whittingham played at BYU in the 1980s.

Next

BYU hosts Kansas next Saturday night.

Utah plays at No. 21 Colorado next Saturday.

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AP College Football: and