|
Hall cut it to 27-24 on an 11-yard touchdown run with 6:46 left in the third and the Cougars' defense forced a punt to get the ball right back, but it didn't stay with BYU for long. Hall had the ball knocked from his hand when he tried to run as the pocket collapsed around him.
Paul Kruger recovered for Utah at the BYU 31 with 8 seconds left in the quarter and the Utes scored early in the fourth on Johnson's 8-yard touchdown pass to Brent Casteel.
On the next possession, Kruger dropped back from defensive end into pass coverage, plucked Hall's pass out of the air and started heading the other way. Hall tripped up Kruger to keep him from scoring, but it was at the 4 and Utah quickly scored on a pass from running back Matt Asiata to Chris Joppru for a 41-24 lead.
"We knew to win this game we'd have to have some big plays and then we had capitalize on those opportunities and we did," Kruger said.
Hall threw another interception to Sean Smith, who returned it 38 yards to the BYU 29. Johnson completed the short drive with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Colt Sampson with 2:48 left.
The Utes were the ones making the mistakes in the first half with two crucial penalties that allowed BYU to tie it after Utah had gone up 17-3.
Kruger was offsides on a play that would have been a sack by Koa Misi, so instead of fourth down with a long field-goal attempt BYU had third-and-1 from the 23. Harvey Unga took a pitch around the left end, made one cut inside and easily scored to cut it to 17-10.
Utah had BYU stopped at the 14, but Brice McCain was called for pass interference and the Cougars had first-and-goal from the 2. Unga scored on a direct snap with 6:26 left in the half.
Louie Sakoda kicked two field goals for the Utes.
The intensity of the rival was evident before the game started. The Cougars had just done their ritual "haka" war dance and Utes crossed over toward the other sideline for some words. Officials kept the confrontation to pointing and shouting and no players got close enough to each other to turn it physical.
[Associated Press;
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
News | Sports | Business | Rural Review | Teaching & Learning | Home and Family | Tourism | Obituaries
Community |
Perspectives
|
Law & Courts |
Leisure Time
|
Spiritual Life |
Health & Fitness |
Teen Scene
Calendar
|
Letters to the Editor