Rivalry lives up to promise as Utah holds on against BYU in Las Vegas Bowl

By Case Keefer (contact)

Saturday, Dec. 19, 2015 | 8 p.m.

The walls of the press box rattled Saturday afternoon at Sam Boyd Stadium after Utah added to a cavalcade of mistakes in the second half of the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl against BYU.

The quake emanated from the box housing the Utes’ assistant coaches, who were presumably slamming their fists in frustration. On the sidelines, head coach Kyle Whittingham felt similarly.

“We were pathetic in the third quarter and half of the fourth quarter,” Whittingham said.

Utah was perfect in the first quarter, though, which made its overall performance passable in a 35-28 victory over its archrival. The Utes became the first team to win the Las Vegas Bowl for a fourth time, in front of a sellout crowd of 42,213.

They fought off a furious rally that saw the Cougars score the game’s final 28 points. BYU had a chance to record what would have been the largest comeback in bowl history in a game that did justice to all the clichés and fables regarding the unpredictability of college football rivalries.

“That certainly qualifies to be in the BYU-Utah rivalry handbook, manual or whatever it is,” BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “I couldn’t be happier with my team.”

Mendenhall is the coach whose emotions could have conceivably compelled him to punch a wall at the start of the game. In his final appearance at BYU after accepting the same job at Virginia, Mendenhall experienced something he said he had never seen before through more than three decades in football.

The Cougars committed turnovers on each of their five first possessions, with the Utes scoring off all of them. Utah senior linebacker Gionni Paul led relentless pressure that forced BYU freshman quarterback Tanner Mangum into a fumble and three interceptions to start the game.

Las Vegas Bowl Most Valuable Player Tevin Carter, a senior safety, made the first two picks, returning one 28 yards for a touchdown and the other 33 yards to the 1-yard line. Junior cornerback Dominique Hatfield brought down the third, returning it 46 yards for a touchdown.

Paul recovered Mangum’s fumble, while junior defensive tackle Pasoni Tasini capped the ambush by diving on a ball dropped by BYU freshman running back Squally Canada.

“We made those plays,” Whittingham said. “Those plays weren’t gift-wrapped. We forced those mistakes. It was our defense flying around, getting great pressure on the quarterback.”

Utah didn’t make many more plays for the rest of the day after all of its points and turnovers came in the opening 11 minutes. It managed just 128 yards and nine first downs for the next three quarters.

Meanwhile, BYU stayed composed and racked up totals of 386 yards and 21 first downs. Mangum shook off the early troubles to throw for 315 yards and two touchdowns.

“Tanner is an optimist, and that’s a great quality to have at quarterback,” Mendenhall said. “He thinks he can make every throw, and who are we to tell him different? Going down 35-0, we weren’t going to score points just by running it.”

After finding senior tight end Remington Peck and junior receiver Nick Kurtz for his first two scores, Mangum ran in BYU’s final touchdown from the 4-yard line to cut the deficit to a seven with 3:23 remaining. The BYU coaches debated kicking deep or going with an onside kick, switching their choice three times, according to Mendenhall.

They decided to lean on their defense and kick off, which refocused the previously dormant Utah attack.

“We huddled up and were talking about it, and that was the focal point: two first downs,” Utah junior running back Joe Williams said.

Williams, who scored two 1-yard rushing touchdowns off the early turnovers, picked up both first downs — on an option pitch and then an off-tackle play to run out the clock. BYU fans flooded the exits while their Utah counterparts exhaled after watching their team kneel to ensure a fifth straight win in the Holy War series.

“This game drains you emotionally getting ready for it and the hype leading into it,” Whittingham said of the rivalry.

Whittingham improved his bowl record to 9-1, surpassing former USC and UNLV coach John Robinson for the best bowl win percentage in college football history. Mendenhall fell to 6-5.

The two coaches took over their respective programs at the same time a decade ago, and their head-to-head meetings conclude with a 7-3 edge to Whittingham’s Utes. Mendenhall teared up when reminiscing about his tenure at BYU.

“We did lose the game, but I’m taking with me a pretty good going-away present from watching them fight that hard,” Mendenhall said.

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