BYU wins the ‘Holy War,’ defeating the Utes on a last-second FG

Salt Lake City, Utah – No. 9 BYU defeated Utah 22–21 on Saturday night, extending their undefeated season thanks to two scoring drives from Jake Retzlaff in the fourth quarter and a 44-yard field goal from Will Ferrin with four seconds left.

The largest audience in Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium history (54,383) believed the game was over until the Cougars’ last drive was prolonged on a defensive holding call on fourth down.

In order to set BYU (9-0, 6-0 Big 12) for Ferrin’s kick, Retzlaff, who was 15 of 33 for 219 yards, passed for 30 yards to Chase Roberts and 12 yards to Darius Lassiter before Hinckley Ropati ran for 14 yards.

The Cougars are still in a strong position to contend for a spot in the conference championship game as the last unbeaten club in the Big 12.

To finish a nine-play, 95-yard drive, Retzlaff scored on a 1-yard sneak with 12:35 left. This was the first time they appeared to be the team scoring more than 35 points a game. However, Cam Calhoun stopped the 2-point attempt to maintain Utah (Utah 4-5, 1-5 Big 12) ahead 21-19.

After Isaac Wilson faltered and Cam Rising was sidelined for the season, Brandon Rose of Utah, who was the team’s third-string quarterback going into the season, received his first career start.

Rose ran for first downs twice before completing a six-play, 64-yard drive early in the second quarter with his first positive pass of the game, a 20-yard touchdown to Brant Kuithe. With 5:31 remaining before halftime, Kuithe added a 1-yard touchdown run from the wildcat formation, although he later departed the game due to a leg injury.

Will Ferrin made his second of three field goals in the third quarter, taking advantage of Rose’s interception.

Rose was only 4 of 11 for 25 yards in the second half, but he was 12 for 21 for 112 yards.

Rose’s 7-year touchdown pass to Micah Bernard made it 21-10 at the half after Utah’s Zemaiah Vaughn stopped Roberts for a 2-yard loss on a fourth-and-1 swing pass.

Ferrin converted it into a 23-yard field goal after Jakob Robinson intercepted it in the first quarter.

Keelan Marion of BYU returned a kickoff 96 yards for his second touchdown of the season in the second quarter.

Prior to losing the 2021 game 26–17 and now this one, Utah had won nine straight games in the series.

BYU: Prior to exploding in the fourth quarter, BYU’s offense only mustered two field goals. By taking their final timeout too soon and then requiring a 10-second runoff due to a false start, the Cougars mishandled the clock and concluded the first half just short of field goal range.

Utah: Prior to his spectacular performance in the second quarter, Bernard was Utah’s only offensive bright light. He had 17 carries for 78 yards and reached 2,000 career rushing yards. The offense faltered after Rose’s scorching performance in the second quarter. Although the Utes have dropped five straight games, none of those losses have been by more than 13 points.

Kyle Whittingham, a longstanding Ute coach, played at BYU in the 1980s, while five of BYU’s main coaches were either current or former Utah coaches.