Utah scores on turnovers early, holds on 35-28 over BYU

NEW MEXICO BOWL: ARIZONA 45, NEW MEXICO 37 (at Albuquerque, N.M.) – Anu Solomon threw two TD passes and ran for another score to lift the Wildcats. Williams took it in for a touchdown on the next play and Utah was up 21-0 just six minutes into the game.

A safety and Josiah Yazdani’s 21-yard field goal had given OH (8-5) the lead in a game where the Bobcats scored two defensive touchdowns. There’s little to no value in either BYU or Utah, regardless of the points. “We can’t skip that or get past that, but we have to realize how important it is – in a game that is usually won or lost on the last play of the game or by seven points – that more than ever it’s about focus”.

There was a lot of punting in the second quarter, but BYU finally found the end zone, scoring on a short pass from Tanner Mangum to Remington Peck to make it 35-7, a score that would hold up into halftime.

Arizona held star RB Jhurell Pressley to 75 yards rushing. Quarterback Fredi Knighten accounted for 179 yards from scrimmage and scored one TD rushing for the Red Wolves. They stayed together and unified and battled back and made it a great football game. They controlled the clock. Three of the turnovers were interceptions and the first and fifth were fumbles. As I said, Utah’s offense was basically nonexistent during this game. “We controlled the ball for the majority of the game”.

The Cougars, meanwhile, failed to show much energy until the second half, but they eventually turned on the jets. Holliday tweeted. “IF YOU NEED THAT TO MOTIVATE YOU THAN YOU DON’T NEED TO PLAY”.

“I believe, after the first quarter, we got bored”, Paul said.

Both teams enter the contest at 9-3.

In what will go down as one of the strangest games of this bowl season, Utah jumped out to a 35-point first-quarter lead in the Las Vegas Bowl against rival BYU, then spent the final three quarters trying to hang on as its offense repeatedly stalled.

“I talked to Seni and his heart is in the right place”, Ute head coach Kyle Whittingham said Friday. “It’s the only thing that matters”.

This game is going to come down to who makes the least amount of mistakes, and which QB can step up to the challenge. During the game, reports emerged that BYU had agreed to hire Oregon State defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake as its next head coach. The first weekend of bowl games pits BYU against Utah in the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl on December 19th at 3:30 p.m. EST.

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. Credit (BYU) for hanging in there, never giving up, continuing to fight. “Everybody had the mentality that we would somehow find a way to get back in it”.

0 – Utah’s turnover margin over the past four games. Mangum then added a 4-yard touchdown run to draw BYU within 35-28 with 3:23 to go.

“You just have to channel a heightened sense of focus and realize what’s at stake here, and how important this game is”, Mathews said. “We got complacent and that’s on me”. It was 35-0 and I don’t even know how much time had expired. The Cougars sliced up the Utah secondary for 315 yards, which triggered their rally attempt. “Ultimately he gave us a chance to have the ball at the end”.

Here’s how the Cougars graded out in the final game under head coach Bronco Mendenhall. Mendenhall, who wanted to coach the bowl game before leaving, finished his BYU career with a 99-43 record. “Our team tried really, really hard all the way to the very end”. As for the Cougars, they’ll be working overtime trying to transition from the second most winningest coach in school history, to one who will be doing it for the first time. Their first drive ended with a Utah-recovered fumble, of which the Utes took advantage. 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 Utes only attempted 16 pass attempts against the Cougars, but Wilson completed just nine of them for 71 yards and no touchdowns or interceptions.

CELEBRATION BOWL: Tarik Cohen rushed for 295 yards and scores of 83, 74 and 73 yards, and North Carolina A&T (10-2) used a slew of big plays for a 41-34 win over Alcorn State (9-4) at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. BYU’s defense was stout, keeping the Utes to under 100 yards of offense and effectively choking out Wilson’s passing options.

The win marks the first time that the Utes have recorded a 10-win season since joining the Pac-12.