Utah holds off BYU

2015 Bowl Season kicks off on December 19th with 5 bowl games. Mangum brought BYU back, throwing two touchdown passes and rushing for another with 3:23 left to get the Cougars within one score, but BYU never got the ball back.

Give credit to BYU for at least fighting back after its first-quarter debacle.

After the game, BYU said it hired former Cougars running back Kalani Sitake as head coach. It had just 76 yards of offense at the break compared to BYU’s 190, and the Utes averaged just 2.8 yards per play through two quarters.

In a statistical quirk, BYU actually outgained Utah 89-69 in the first quarter.

Utah defensive back Tevin Carter celebrates after scoring a TD on one of his two interceptions. Until BYU regained its composure, that is, and made it a game for both teams to remember. The Cougars got on the board just before halftime to make it 35-7, and scored three more times before finally running out of time.

Utah (10-3) came in as a two-point favorite in the first meeting since 2013 of schools that have campuses 46 miles apart.

BYU ended up with 386 yards to 197 for Utah, but the five early turnovers were the key in a game where the Utes didn’t turn the ball over at all. It was the final BYU game for longtime Bronco Mendenhall, who is headed off to Virginia to be the Cavaliers’ new head coach.

Trying to escape pressure, Mangum fumbled at the 25-yard line on BYU’s first possession. Coming into the game, Mangum had thrown just seven picks all year. Byu Cougars recorded 294.9 passing yards and 133.1 rushing yards while allowed 213.3 passing yards and 144.8 russhing yards with turnover differential of -0.6.

Utah junior CB Dominique Hatfield returned an interception for a touchdown in Saturday’s 35-28 win against BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl.

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. After all, the program was a power in the Mountain West, notching three 10-win seasons and beating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl in 2008 to cap a 13-0 season. It’ll be their fifth appearance in the Las Vegas Bowl – but they won’t have leading rusher Devontae Booker (1,261 yards, 11 touchdowns), who suffered a season-ending knee injury November 14 against Arizona, and might be without leading receiver Britain Covey (41 receptions-518 yards-four TDs), who missed the team’s regular-season finale with an ankle injury. The 6-7, 233-pound Wilson is the reigning Las Vegas Bowl MVP and holds the school record for quarterback starts and ranks No. 2 with 23 career wins. The series affectionately known as the “Holy War” took a hiatus during the last two seasons, but on Saturday in the Las Vegas Bowl, the heated rivalry renewed.

CURE BOWL: Kenny Potter scored on a 42-yard run and threw a 1-yard touchdown to Josh Oliver to lift San Jose State (6-7) to a 27-16 comeback victory over Georgia State (6-7) in the inaugural game in Orlando.

All of those coaches played for BYU in the LaVell Edwards era – which is logical, considering Edwards’ tenure lasted 29 years. The Cougars then made things interesting when Mangum hit junior wide Nick Kurtz with a 5-yard touchdown pass with 10:33 remaining.

Despite missing the past three games, the 6-foot-6, 239-pound McCalister is tied with All-SEC tackle Jon Bullard for the team lead with 6½ sacks and has a total of 9½ tackles for loss.