Utah Football Falls To BYU, 34-27

Friday, November 24

Salt Lake City

4:00 PM MT

University of Utah

BYU

11/24/2000 12:00 AM | Football

Nov. 24, 2000

Box Score

By TIM KORTE
AP Sports Writer

SALT LAKE CITY - LaVell Edwards went out a winner.

Brandon Doman scored on a 4-yard run with 23 seconds remaining, lifting BYU to a dramatic 34-27 victory over archrival Utah on Friday night in the last game of Edwards' 29-year coaching career.

Doman, who ran an option offense in high school and opened the season listed third on the depth chart, converted a late fourth-and-13 play from BYU's 17 by throwing a 34-yard bullet to Jonathan Pittman.

On the next play, he found Pittman for a 36-yard gain to the Utah 13. From there, it took Doman and the Cougars (6-6, 4-3 Mountain West) two plays to send Edwards into retirement with a victory.

The Utes (4-7, 3-4) appeared to have it won after scoring 17 straight points in the fourth quarter to take a 27-26 lead with 2:16 remaining. Darnell Arceneaux found Matt Nickel wide open for a 20-yard TD to tie it.

The near-capacity crowd of 45,064 went silent on the ensuing PAT attempt.

Two years ago, Ryan Kaneshiro's last-second field goal try clanked off the right crossbar in BYU's 26-24 victory. But he connected this time, sending fans for both teams into a frenzy.

It was the final game after 29 seasons for Edwards, but you'd never know it by watching him. He handled it like the previous 360 games, quietly pacing the sideline as if waiting for a bus.

The Utah offense, ineffective aside from a few long passing plays, came to life when it counted. Arceneaux came off the bench with 1:15 remaining in the third quarter, directing to a drive capped by a 33-yard kick from Kaneshiro.

The Utes went to work defensively, too, forcing BYU into a punt that helped Utah produce a 2-yard TD run by Thomas Fortune, trimming the deficit to 26-20 with 7:51 to play.

Edwards ends his career ranked sixth on the NCAA's victories list, with a 257-101-3 record, the 1984 national championship, 22 bowl games and 20 conference titles. He had only one losing season, a 5-6 mark in 1973, his second year.

Before the game, Utah coach Ron McBride gave Edwards a retirement gift, a trip to next year's U.S. Open golf tournament. While the coaches like each other, it quickly became apparent that the teams don't.

BYU receiver Margin Hooks threw a nasty chop block at the knees of Utah's Jason Potter late in the first quarter. Utah linebackers coach Fred Whittingham drew a personal foul penalty for running on the field to protest.

There were skirmishes after almost every change of possession.