Oregon upsets No. 11 Utah 30-28 on late Carrington TD catch

“We lost a chance to win the South and that’s really the next step for our program”, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. Bottom line: “We didn’t get it done”.

OR freshman QB Justin Herbert completed 30-of-43 passes for 324 yards and three touchdowns in Saturday’s 30-28 win over Utah.

Impressively, Oregon’s first quarter momentum would continue into the second quarter, making big defensive plays (including a fumble recovery inside their own 25 yard line). The Utes led for much of the afternoon until finally coughing up a lead with 6:41 to play on a Herbert one-yard touchdown run.

On the subsequent kickoff, Utah tried a series of laterals, but the play ended with a flag for an illegal forward pass. Utah would then need to beat Colorado in the regular-season finale to earn a berth in the Pac-12 Championship game.

“Because you’re competitive and you want to win”, Whittingham said about Utah’s motivation for their final game. “We were not able to make some plays”.

Three losses, and now four counting this season, where Utah just couldn’t get the win needed, all at home nonetheless, to win the Pac-12 South. “If we can do that and put people in situations where they have to throw the ball, we have a nice group of guys that can get up the field”. “We all shared in it”.

“I haven’t directly said “underdog” or really anything in that vein”, or coach Mark Helfrich said.

In the first half of Oregon’s 3-1 win against USC on Saturday, serving was still the issue.

In 2011, Utah faced lowly 2-10 Colorado. Williams rushed for 149 yards, and OR held the Utes to 218 total rushing yards.

OR starting receiver Charles Nelson was ejected midway through the second quarter after being called for targeting.

EYES ON FREEMAN: Royce Freeman comes into Salt Lake City as the Ducks’ No. 2 all-time leading rusher with 3,800 career yards.

Utah expanded their lead to 14-3 in the third quarter, this time courtesy of Joe Williams for 12 yards and a TD to cap-off a 5-play drive.

Carrington hauled in the catch with just two seconds left, and it was first called out of bounds, but after review, the officials announced that it was good for a touchdown.

What was expected to be a shootout started out as a defensive battle.

Herbert grabbed the lead back briefly for the Ducks with a 1-yard plunge before Utah’s go-ahead touchdown on a 30-yard completion from Troy Williams to Evan Moeai with 2:18 to play. He was almost flawless through the air – showing moxie and intelligence in the pocket – and also showed off nice wheels, running for 44 yards and a score.