Utah survives BYU in Holy War at Las Vegas Bowl

By Case Keefer (contact)

Published Saturday, Dec. 19, 2015 | 12:15 p.m.

Updated Saturday, Dec. 19, 2015 | 4:49 p.m.

Utah players and coaches exercised a subdued celebration on the North side of the Sam Boyd Stadium field, exchanging handshakes and hugs instead of leaps and screams.

Escaping archrival BYU in the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl was mostly a relief. After forcing turnovers on each of the Cougars’ first five possessions and turning them into points, the Utes had to hold on for a 35-28 victory to win their second straight Las Vegas Bowl.

Utah became the first program to win the game four times in front of an attendance of 42,213, but it was poised to pull it off much more emphatically. The Utes led 35-0 just over 10 minutes into the game after intercepting two passes and recovering two fumbles.

Senior safety Tevin Carter, named the game’s MVP, had two of the interceptions. He returned the first one 28 yards for a touchdown before taking the second 33 yards to the 1-yard line.

Junior running back Joe Williams punched in a pair of 1-yard touchdowns off of the turnovers, while senior quarterback Travis Wilson scored on a 20-yard scramble following the final one. Utah wouldn’t score the rest of the afternoon.

BYU racked up a near 200-yard edge, 386 to 197, with Mangum coming back to throw for 315 yards and two touchdowns on 25-for-56 passing. The Cougars scored twice in the fourth quarter, including with 3:23 remaining but the Utes picked up two first downs on their ensuing possession to drain the clock.

The victory was Utah’s fifth straight in the Holy War rivalry. BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall, who has accepted the same position at Virginia, departs with a 3-7 record against Utah. Reports surfaced earlier in the day that BYU would name Oregon State defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake as its next coach.

Check out the Sun’s live coverage of the game below and come back later for more.

The campuses of Utah and BYU are separated by less than 50 miles, and yet both schools traveled more than 400 miles to break a two-year hiatus in their rivalry.

The Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl is back in its preferred role as one of the premier games of the early postseason with kickoff minutes away.

A record amount of media is credentialed for the latest installment of the Holy War rivalry, and tickets sold out almost immediately upon the announcement of the matchup. The stands are split about evenly between the blue-clad Cougar faithful and the all-red Utes’ supporters.

Both fan bases and programs are quite familiar with Sam Boyd Stadium, having played here against UNLV biannually while they were both in the Mountain West Conference. They’ve since moved on and found success elsewhere.

Utah was on pace to reach the Pac-12 Championship Game for most of the season and got as high as No. 3 in the national polls before finishing 9-3 overall. BYU had the same record, but only after some memorable early-season moments that captured the nation’s attention.

The Cougars won their first game on a Hail Mary as time expired from backup quarterback Tanner Mangum to star receiver Mitch Mathews. They won in similar fashion the next week at Boise State, aided by former Liberty High standout Kai Nacua’s three interceptions that won him National Defensive Player of the Year honors.

Nacua, and fellow local safety Michael Wadsworth, will be up against Utah veteran quarterback Travis Wilson today. BYU is looking to send coach Bronco Mendenhall off with a 100th career victory before he departs for Virginia.

Follow along with the Sun’s live blog of the action all day.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.