How BYU Football Kept Undefeated Season Alive With Win At Utah
Nov 10, 2024, 5:31 AM | Updated: Nov 11, 2024, 2:06 pm
SALT LAKE CITY – BYU football did it again.
The undefeated ninth-ranked Cougars faced a struggling opponent fresh off a bye week. Like Oklahoma State a month ago, rival Utah delivered their best shot in the first half to put BYU on the ropes.
But the Big 12-leading Cougars found the urgency that was missing in the first half to seize the moment and secure a 22-21 at Utah.
#BYU’s first win at Utah since 2006.
Team of destiny. pic.twitter.com/6kJ4Fwti86
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) November 10, 2024
It was the first victory over Utah in Salt Lake City since 2006.
BYU has won two consecutive games in the rivalry for the first time since 2007.
Will Ferrin delivered a 44-yard field goal with three seconds left to secure the victory.
BYU football faced adversity against Utah
But for many stretches of the game, BYU looked to be on the brink of suffering its first loss of the year, while Utah was knocking on the door of ending a four-game losing streak and saving its season.
Things can change in a hurry.
“The rivalry games comes down to the end, just like we’ve seen so many times,” BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said. “Glad we got the other side of this.”
BYU’s offense, one of the best in the Big 12 this season, struggled on Saturday against Utah’s healthy defensive front. They only finished with six points in Saturday’s victory. But in the second half they found success and put Will Ferrin in position to deliver points.
After allowing Utah to score 21 points in the first half, the Utes’ first time hitting the 20-point mark since September, BYU tightened up in the second half, holding Utah to 59 total yards and zero points.
Rivalry breakdown!@Mitch_Harper and @BartleKSLSports recap BYU’s 22-21 win over Utah.#GoCougs #GoUtes pic.twitter.com/DJtem1ohgh
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) November 10, 2024
Defense tightened up in the second half
Quarterback Brandon Rose caused some headaches for BYU’s defense in the first half on QB runs. But that was kept in check for the second half.
It then came down to the final drive of the game. BYU had 1:56 remaining from its own nine-yard line.
Two-minute drill in the fourth quarter … again
The Rice-Eccles Stadium crowd was deafening. Utah defenders were hyped and cheering on the crowd to get louder as BYU’s offense looked for one more example of late game heroics.
The noise at RES appeared to be getting to BYU as Jake Retzlaff had to throw away two passes, and had an incomplete ball for Chase Roberts. It set up a fourth-and-ten.
For a split second, Retzlaff and the BYU offense looked to be stopped.
Officials called a holding penalty on Utah’s Zemaiah Vaughn for holding BYU receiver Jojo Phillips. That was the play that caused Utah AD Mark Harlan to go to the microphone and call out the officiating crew after the game.
The following play, Calhoun came up with pass breakup for Utah. The BYU offense struggled to generate anything on their own until Retzlaff connected with Chase Roberts on 2nd & 10 with 1:22 remaining to get BYU near midfield.
One play later, Retzlaff found Darius Lassiter for a first down out of bounds.
Then it was Hinckley Ropati on the ground for a 14-yard gain and another first down. But then BYU was called for a penalty, the second of the game by center Bruce Mitchell.
Wow! BYU improves to 9-0 pic.twitter.com/ebae4z4EGr
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) November 10, 2024
BYU had 1st & 15 from the Utah 30-yard line. From there, it was all about running the ball and getting in a spot where Will Ferrin could boot the kick.
Game-winning field goal from Will Ferrin
After a pair of Utah timeouts and minimal gains on runs from Retzlaff and LJ Martin, it set up a 44-yard field goal from Will Ferrin.
“The amount of reps that we’ve gotten as an operation is almost overkill,” said Ferrin. “I’ve told people that I think Sam VanderHaar has gotten the most amount of reps holding out of anyone in the country in the last 12 months. That’s something that we take a lot of pride in. So when we get into situations like this, it’s just another kick and we can go out and execute like we’ve been doing for however long we’ve been here.”
Ferrin booted the ball through the uprights and delivered BYU another win on this memorable ride of a season.
It’s the type of year that begs the question, is BYU a team of destiny?
“We just keep believing in each other. We’ve doubled down on our culture, trusting and loving each other. I think it’s gone well, but it’s also had some ups and downs, but it just doesn’t look like that because we’re 9-0 right now. There’s a lot of really cool things that we can keep building on.”
The next opportunity to keep building on this magical ride is next Saturday against Kansas in Provo.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.
