Viva Las Vegas! Utes Capture Bowl Win over BYU, 35-28

Saturday, December 19

Sam Boyd Stadium: Las Vegas, Nev.

1:30 PM

University of Utah

10-3

Brigham Young

9-4

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
BYU	0	7	7	14	28
Utah	35	0	0	0	35

Viva Las Vegas! Utes Capture Bowl Win over BYU, 35-28

12/19/2015 12:00 AM | Football

Box Score

Dec. 19, 2015

Final Stats | Quotes | Notes | USATSI Gallery

LAS VEGAS - Utah football used an opportunistic defense to pile on the points early en route to their second consecutive Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl victory, 35-28, over BYU.

Utah forced five first-quarter turnovers, returning two interceptions for touchdowns, and set up three more scores to put its stamp on the game early. Joe Williams added a pair of rushing touchdowns while Travis Wilson also ran one in.

Tevin Carter, who intercepted a pair of passes and returned one for a score, was named the Most Valuable Player. He became just the second defensive player, and first defensive back, to win MVP honors, joining Nevada's Mike Crawford in 1996.

On the first series of the game, BYU quarterback Tanner Mangum was stripped by Kylie Fitts and Gionni Paul came up with the football at the Cougar 25-yard line.

The Utes would run the ball on their first six offensive plays, converting a fourth down in the process, and take the lead 7-0 when Williams plunged in from a yard out.

On the very first play of BYU's next offensive possession, Utah's Tevin Carter intercepted Mangum. The senior took the pick 28 yards to the end zone for a 14-0 Ute lead.

The Utes forced a third turnover on the next Cougar drive when Carter pilfered another Mangum pass, returning it 33 yards to the 1-yard line. On the very next play, it was Williams again, with his second 1-yard rushing touchdown of the game to make it 21-0.

Williams finished with 91 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns. The Ute running back racked up three touchdowns over the last three games, after not scoring in the first 11 contests.

Carter entered the game with just two interceptions during his time as a Ute and none this season. He became the second Ute to register a pair of picks in a game this season (Hatfield vs. Cal).

The next series, Dominique Hatfield wanted in on the action and picked Mangum for a third time, taking his interception 46 yards to the house for a 28-0 Utah lead. It was the junior's fourth interception of the season.

Utah had one pick-six this season (Justin Thomas vs. Michigan) heading into today's contest, but Carter and Hatfield registered two in the first quarter.

The Ute defense struck again when Lowell Lotulelei took the ball away from Squally Canada and Pasoni Tasini fell on it at the BYU 39-yard line.

Five plays later, Wilson got free and ran it in from 20 yards out to increase the lead to 35-0. It was his seventh rushing touchdown of the season and 21st of his career.

Utah's 35 points were the most scored in the opening quarter of a bowl game by any FBS team in the last 10 years as BYU became the team during that span to commit turnovers on each of its first five drives.

The 35 points in one quarter matched the most of Whittingham's tenure against an opponent (Weber State, 9/7/13) and Utah matched its season-high for points in a half (2nd half at Oregon, 9/27/15).

However, from that point on, the Utah offense sputtered, earning only seven first downs and going 3-&-out on four occasions. Senior punter Tom Hackett, the Ray Guy Award winner for the second year in a row, converted one of those first downs on a fake punt.

Meanwhile, BYU scored three unanswered touchdowns sandwiching a 10-yard run by Francis Bernard between two short passes from Mangum.

Things became interesting with 3:23 remaining in regulation as the Cougars scored yet again on a four-yard rumble by Mangum to cut the Ute lead to 35-28.

After the Cougars kicked the ball out-of-bounds, Utah salted the game away with Williams running for a pair of first downs, including one on 3rd-and-1.

Entering the game, Utah led the Pac-12 and ranked in the top 10 nationally in rushing defense, turnovers gained and interceptions. The Utes forced five turnovers today, including three interceptions, and limited the Cougars to 71 yards rushing.

Utah is now 4-1 in Las Vegas Bowl games and has won 12 of its last 13 bowl games. Its only loss was to Boise State in the 2010 Las Vegas Bowl. Utah became the third team to win consecutive Las Vegas Bowls and the first since that Bronco squad won three in a row from 2010-12. The Pac-12 has now won the Las Vegas Bowl three years in a row.

Utah leads the series with BYU 58-34-4 and has now won five straight against its rivals and 10 of the last 13. Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham is now 9-1 in bowl games and 7-3 against the Cougars.