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Postgame Notes: Utah at UCF
11/29/2024 9:16 PM | Football
Postgame Notes
Utah 28, UCF 14
Orlando, Fla. (FBC Mortgage Stadium)
Friday, November 29, 2024
Kick: 8:15 p.m. ET | End: 11:35 p.m.
Attendance: 40,747
ÂGeneral
Offense
Defense
Special Teams
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Utah 28, UCF 14
Orlando, Fla. (FBC Mortgage Stadium)
Friday, November 29, 2024
Kick: 8:15 p.m. ET | End: 11:35 p.m.
Attendance: 40,747
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- Utah is now 1-0 vs. UCF after winning the first-ever meeting of the teams.
- Head coach Kyle Whittingham, the winningest leader in program history, is 167-86 at the helm of the Utes (since the 2005 Fiesta Bowl). Including his 11 seasons as an assistant coach (1994-2004), Whittingham has now coached in 379 games at Utah and contributed to 252 victories, both the most in program history.
- Utah won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. The Utes defended the North goal to begin the game.
Offense
- Running back Micah Bernard ended the night with 1,009 rushing yards in 2024, making him the 16th different Ute to eclipse 1,000 yards in a season. Bernard's total also goes down as the 21st 1,000 yard rushing season in school history.
- Quarterback Luke Bottari made his first start of the season and second of his Utah career (Bottari led the Utes to a victory in the 2023 season finale vs. Colorado). He finishes his time at Utah 2-0 as the starter.Â
- Zacharyus Williams and Bottari teamed up for a 33-yard completion in the first half, a new career-long for both players.
- Williams eclipsed 50 receiving yards prior to halftime and ended the night with 72 yards on six receptions, both career-bests.
- In addition to a new career-long pass completion, Bottari also reset personal-bests for pass yards with 111 (previously 61) and completions with 13 (previously 6).
- In the fourth quarter, Bottari fired his first career TD pass (15 yards) to Landen King. It was also the first scoring grab of the season for King.
- King's touchdown was followed up by a successful two-point conversion from the Utes; it was the team's fourth successful two-point conversion of the year, the most for the team since 1996.
Defense
- Cornerback Zemaiah Vaughn started 31 consecutive games, dating back to the game against Arizona on Nov. 5, 2022.
- Linebacker Lander Barton had a strip-sack on UCF's game-opening drive, which was recovered by defensive end Logan Fano. It marked the third straight game that Utah has recovered a fumble.
- With that strip-sack, Barton has now both forced and recovered a fumble this season. He has also forced a turnover in three straight games.
- Utah held their opponent scoreless on their game-opening drive in 11 of the 12 regular season games--forcing a turnover on four opponents' game-opening drives.
- With his TFL in the first quarter, Fano now has a TFL in four straight games and eclipsed 10 in his career.
- Vaughn had a 60-yard pick-six during the second quarter; it is his third career interception (first since the Baylor game in 2023). It is his first career pick-six.
- It is the first time the Utes had pick-sixes in back-to-back games since 2023 (Weber State and UCLA).
- Prior to Vaughn tonight, the last Ute to have a pick-six and force a fumble in the same game was Stevenson Sylvester at Utah State on Sept. 16, 2006.
- Smith Snowden's 13-yard pick-six in the fourth quarter was his first career touchdown and second interception of the season.
- Snowden's score gave the Utes two pick-sixes in a game for the first time since Aug. 29, 2019, when Francis Bernard and Julian Blackmon both scored on interception returns against BYU.
- Karene Reid logged a season-high 10 tackles and his third sack of the season.
- Lander Barton set a new career-high with two sacks.
- Utah's 10 TFLs are the most they've had in a game in 2024 and the defense's highest total since they had 13 on Sept. 29, 2023 at Oregon State.
- Utah's five sacks matches the team's season-high in that statistic; they also collected five in the season-opener vs. Southern Utah.
Special Teams
- Cole Becker's 37-yard field goal in the first quarter marked the Utes' sixth score on a game-opening drive this season.
- It was Becker's 18th made field goal this season, putting him in a tie for 10th on the Utah single-season leaderboard. It is the most by a Ute since Matt Gay made 26 field goals in 2018.
- Trey Coleman connected on a 24-yard field goal just before halftime for his first collegiate make.
- Punter Jack Bouwmeester launched a season-long 62-yard punt in the third quarter. It was just two yards short of tying his career-long of 64 yards, which he set during the Florida game in 2023.
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Players Mentioned
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