SALT LAKE CITY — Brigham Young’s fourth-down play failed, Utah’s celebration began and it appeared another undefeated team had fallen on a wild Saturday across college football.
Then came the yellow flag. Defensive holding on the Utes. First down for the Cougars.
And at that moment, you knew the finish would be worthy of holy lore.
It was that — and so much more.
Given a second chance, quarterback Jake Retzlaff led the Cougars on a 65-yard drive that set up the game-winning field goal by Will Ferrin with three seconds remaining.
Minutes after the Utes seemingly had clinched a two-point victory, the Cougars celebrated a 22-21 escape before the largest crowd in Rice-Eccles Stadium history.
Most of the 54,383 left the venue in stunned silence as Brigham Young pushed its record to 9-0 and remained on pace for a berth in the Big 12 championship game.
Utah athletic director Mark Harlan did not stay silent, however. He walked into the postgame news conference and lambasted the Big 12 officials.
“This game was absolutely stolen from us,” Harlan said. “We were excited about being in the Big 12, but tonight, I am not. We won this game. Someone else stole it from us. I’m very disappointed. I will talk to the commissioner.”
He did not state directly that the officials were trying to protect Brigham Young’s undefeated record.
“This was not fair to our team,” he added. “I’m disgusted by the professionalism of the officiating crew tonight.”
(Referee Kevin Mar used to work in the Pac-12 and is well-regarded.)
The Utes were clearly frustrated with what they viewed as a late timeout given to Brigham Young just before the controversial fourth-down play. But Harlan’s anger was almost certainly directed at the holding penalty on cornerback Zemaiah Vaughn, who was defending receiver Keelan Marion near the left sideline.
The call came as Retzlaff was sacked at Brigham Young’s 1 yardline on fourth down with 1:29 remaining.
The Cougars were out of downs and out of timeouts. The game was over. The Utes rejoiced — until they didn’t.
The penalty gave Brigham Young a first down and extended the drive. Eight plays later, Ferrin drilled his game-winning, 44-yard field goal.
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, whose team led 21-10 at halftime and did not score in the second half, was not as direct in his criticism of the officials.
“Tough way to lose a game,” he said. “Unfortunate way to lose a game … Game was over, and then it wasn’t.”
Asked about the controversial finish, Whittingham said: “It’s a ridiculous situation but I’m not going to get into it … Things out there were ridiculous.”
While watching a replay of the sequence, ESPN analyst Brock Osweiler noted that Vaughn “grabbed some jersey very early in the down” and that the penalty “was a really good call by the officials.”
Although different in details, the finish was reminiscent of the Cougars’ great escape against Oklahoma State three weeks ago, when they scored the winning touchdown with 10 seconds remaining.
Their surprising success — the Cougars were picked 13th in the Big 12 preseason poll — has come against the backdrop of history, on the 40th anniversary of the school’s only national championship.
The Cougars won’t repeat that feat. They are not in the same class as the best of the SEC or Big Ten. They might not be as good as Boise State. They might not even be the best team in the Big 12 given the way Colorado has played recently.
But for now, none of that matters. Brigham Young remains unbeaten — and the Utes (4-5) are furious.
Other thoughts on weekend developments across the region …
— Colorado’s dream of reaching the College Football Playoff — that’s ESPN’s dream, too — is alive and well after a convincing 41-27 victory at Texas Tech.
The Buffaloes looked the part of a Big 12 title contender as they rallied from a 13-point deficit for their third consecutive win.
Quarterback Shedeur Sanders threw for 291 yards, and Travis Hunter had nine receptions. But CU’s defense was the story as it held the Red Raiders to two touchdowns over the final three quarters.
Of note: CU’s defense is allowing 12 points per game fewer than it did last year.
The Buffaloes (7-2/5-1) now control their destiny in the Big 12 race: Win out, and they will clinch a berth in the conference championship.
They will be favored each week: Utah, Kansas and Oklahoma State have a combined record of 3-16 in conference play.
— As Colorado surges, Oregon State falters.
The Beavers lost their fourth consecutive game, a 24-13 defeat to San Jose State in which they gained 474 yards but scored just one touchdown.
What went wrong? They committed three turnovers and 10 penalties and were repeatedly shredded by SJSU’s aerial game.
All in all, it was a miserable afternoon for Oregon State (4-5), which now must win two of its final three games to become bowl-eligible.
Two of those games are against Washington State (8-1) and Boise State (8-1).
Even if the Beavers beat Air Force next week, they need to topple either the Cougars or Broncos to reach the six-win threshold.
— No Cam Skattebo was no problem for Arizona State.
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Well, it was a little bit of a problem for the Sun Devils, who needed a late touchdown to beat back UCF 35-31 without their star tailback.
Skattebo missed his first game of the season Saturday (undisclosed injury), and it showed. ASU averaged just 3.1 yards per carry and did not produce a run longer than 14 yards.
But quarterback Sam Leavitt threw for three touchdown passes and led the game-winning drive midway through the fourth quarter as the Devils secured their seventh win in nine games.
It’s quite the turnaround in Tempe, where seven losses in nine games was a reasonable expectation when coach Kenny Dillingham’s second season began.
— The why-even-bother award for Week 11 goes to Washington, which schlepped across the country for the fourth time this season only to get obliterated by Penn State.
Despite reasonably favorable circumstances — the Nittany Lions were coming off a soul-crushing loss to Ohio State — the Huskies were unable to take advantage of their opportunity in a 35-6 loss.
The in-game reality was much worse than the final score suggests. Penn State did as it pleased from the start, led 28-0 nothing at halftime, converted 10-of-13 third down attempts and out-gained the Huskies by 293 yards.
UW’s first season in the Big Ten ends with an 0-4 record in the Eastern and Central Time Zones, with losses to Rutgers (21-18) Iowa (40-16), Indiana (31-17) and the Nittany Lions.
As a result, the Huskies (5-5) must beat either UCLA, which has won three in a row, or undefeated Oregon in order to qualify for a bowl berth.
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