Counting Down Utah Football’s Best 2022 Plays: Rose Bowl
Aug 28, 2023, 8:00 AM
SALT LAKE CITY – It is game week as the Utes prepare to open the season against Florida at Rice-Eccles Stadium this Thursday. To celebrate, we are counting down the best play in each of Utah football’s 14 games in 2022 and with our last feature looking into the Utes’ second Rose Bowl trip.
Not every game went Utah’s way last season, but they did enough to stamp their ticket to the Pac-12 Championship Game in Las Vegas, go back-to-back as conference champions, and earn their second berth in a row to the “Grandaddy of them All”.
Many believe Utah has a good chance of three-peating in 2023 due to the talent returning and the coaches’ aggressive approach in the Transfer Portal to address a few deficiencies. We are just about to find out if that thought is true or not, but before the first snap of the year takes place, let’s review one last time, the best play from Utah’s final game in 2022 at the Rose Bowl.
Show ‘em 3! @leg3ndaryjaay pic.twitter.com/L0WIGQ2O2V
— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) January 2, 2023
Ja’Quinden Jackson Keeps Utah In The Game
Unlike Utah’s Rose Bowl appearance against Ohio State to end the 2021 football season, this game against Penn State felt like much more of a struggle from the jump.
Not a lot went right for the Utes in their second Rose Bowl appearance, including starting quarterback Cam Rising exiting the game early with a torn ACL in the third quarter. In fact, that is when everything went south quickly after managing to play “keep up” most of the night.
Perhaps the best play of the evening for Utah came at the end of the second quarter just before halftime. Running back Ja’Quinden Jackson took a hand-off from Rising 19-yards for a game-tying touchdown with 2:38 to play in the first half.
SPIN 'EM AND SCORE 🌹🌀 pic.twitter.com/SBJr5CCSUU
— ESPN (@espn) January 2, 2023
While that play felt like a potential momentum shifter in favor of the Utes heading into the halftime, it would not turn out to be so. Utah went on to lose the game 35-21. However, Jackson’s play was one more showcase for the year on why fans think he has a bright future ahead of him in 2023.
Michelle Bodkin is the Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of both the Crimson Corner Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and The Saturday Show (Saturday from 10 a.m.–12 p.m.) on The KSL Sports Zone. Follow her on X, Instagram, and Threads: @BodkinKSLsports
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