Utah rides big first quarter to Las Vegas Bowl crown

BYU shot itself in the foot, reloaded, shot itself again, and then tried to come back from a 35-0 deficit midway through the first quarter en route to a 35-28 loss to No. 22 Utah in the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl on Saturday evening.

Tanner Mangum completed 25 of 56 passes for 315 yards and two touchdowns but also was intercepted three times, including two that were returned for scores, as the Cougars lost despite finishing with huge edges in yards (386-197) and first downs (21-14).

This was the first time the Utes and the Cougars played each other in a bowl game and the fifth consecutive time Utah has beat BYU in the “Holy War”.

Mangum found Nick Kurtz for a five-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal with 10:33 left in the fourth quarter, then pulled his Cougars to within 35-28 on a four-yard run with 3:23 left. CHEERLEADER WAR: ABOUT UTAH (9-3, 8-4 ATS, 6-6 O/U): The Utes are making the ninth bowl appearance in Whittingham’s 11 seasons and their second straight after back-to-back 5-7 seasons in 2012 and ’13. The Utes finished the regular season 9-3 – trailing only 11-2 Stanford in terms of the best overall record in the Pac-12 – and wound up 22nd in the final CFP rankings.

“I thought, ‘Is this actually happening?'” Whittingham said of Utah scoring 35 points in just over nine minutes by forcing five BYU turnovers. For example, a team can drive 80 yards and score a touchdown or kick a field goal or turn the ball over. He also set the mark for most all-purpose yards in a season. But BYU turned it on and didn’t look back as they won 7 out of their last 8 games, including five wins by multiple scores.

Besides inclusion into the New Years Six, the Las Vegas Bowl couldn’t expect a better game than the one they got with Utah and BYU rekindling one of the best rivalries of all-time. Those hopes were mostly dashed in their first defeat, a 42-24 loss to USC, but UTah followed up by another two wins.

That being said, BYU has two key elements working in their favor when it comes to the likelihood of bringing their A-game.

And yet the Cougars made a run at it, and even outplayed Utah over the final three quarters. A record number of media credentials (over 200) have been issued for the game and besides the big New Year’s Six bowls, experts across the country are calling this game must-see TV. As time expired in that first game against Nebraska, Mangum threw a Hail Mary that was magically caught in the endzone to win the game. The Utah Utes are 9-3 and 5-7 against the spread. The Utes were considered a Top 10 team just two months ago, but they finished the season on a 3-3 SU / 1-5 ATS slide.

After Utah fans scoffed at BYU and school officials expressed zero excitement over the rivalry’s renewal, Utes players were the ones who stoked the fire publicly.

At the end of the day, while Utah did nearly blow a five touchdown lead (which would be the biggest blown lead ever in a bowl game), they got the win, which as Coach Whitt said in the post game, is all that matters. Linebacker Scooby Wright III, who battled injures all season, came back for the bowl game and had two sacks and 11 solo tackles. Whittingham’s counterpart will be coaching his final game at BYU.

Magnum began to work an absurd amount of magic, leading the Cougars to three more scores in the second half, including touchdown drives of 72, 65 and 60 yards.

The Spartans’ Tyler Ervin had an 85-yard punt return for a touchdown in the second quarter. Ervin had 30 carries for 132 yards to become San Jose State’s single-season rushing leader with 1,601.

Keep your eye on Utah QB Travis Wilson, as he will be the x-factor for the offense since Devontae Booker is sidelined with a torn meniscus.