SALT LAKE CITY — The No. 9 BYU Cougars defeated the Utah Utes, 22-21, in Big 12 action at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday night.
That will be the only boring part of this story. As BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff said after the game, “This is the Big 12. Anything can happen.”
It wasn’t just the Big 12. It was the renewal of the Holy War. It was BYU (9-0, 6-0 in Big 12) trying to stay undefeated, and doing so on Will Ferrin’s 44-yard field goal with three seconds left.
It was Utah (4-5, 1-5) trying to spoil its rival’s undefeated season and then its athletic director doing something I’ve never seen after a game.
It was truly one of the best rivalry games I’ve ever been to. I normally spend a lot of time breaking the game down. Not tonight. That won’t do this craziness justice. But I’ll try.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
WE NEED MORE RIVALRY GAMES
I spent the last six minutes on the field. I don’t always do that. Between writing a story and keeping up with Twitter (X, whatever), there’s a lot to do.
I’m so glad I did. The energy in Rice-Eccles Stadium in the final six minutes would have powered both Salt Lake City and Provo Saturday night.
I’ve been to Texas and Texas A&M. I’ve been to Texas and Oklahoma. I’ve been to Michigan and Ohio State. This game holds its own. There’s a reason why the Big 12 wanted it to be a protected rivalry.
I sat in the end zone where Ferrin’s field goal went through. I had a great seat for that moment.
The pandemonium of that moment and the moments that followed was hard to describe. Given everything that had happened to that point, I fully expected Utah to go Cal-Stanford in the final seconds as they kept extending that kickoff and score. But, once the play was done that field was a sea of blue.
And the BYU players circumnavigated the field to thank their fans for making the short drive to Provo.
Games like this are why we watch college football. The only NFL experience that comes close to this is Green Bay. That’s it.
And we need more rivalry games like this. The era of superconferences are slowly erasing them. The Big 12 only has four protected rivalry games and that’s too few. The league needs to figure that out.
But, on Saturday night, everyone was talking about this game for so many reasons. That’s what rivalry games do. They bring the college football world together and, win or lose, you can’t look away. It was completely worth the trip.
MARK HARLAN BRINGS THE HEAT
This was clearly an emotional game. And it had a powder keg moment — the fourth-down hold in the final two minutes that gave BYU new life as Retzlaff was sacked for what likely would have been a safety. I didn’t see it — I was at the other end of the field. Here’s the video.
I dunno. I can’t see what’s happening on the other side of those two players. Is there grabbing? Clutching? From that angle it looks like contact but, I can’t tell more than that. Neither could BYU coach Kalani Sitake, who was on the other end of the field. He said he’d have to look at the game tape.
But that play happened on the Utah sideline, in clear view of them. And Utah was clearly unhappy.
Utah athletic director Mark Harlan did two things I’ve not seen before. First, he approached one of the officials after the game and had some choice words with a finger wag.
Then, after the game, he went to the podium unpromoted to put Big 12 officiating on full blast. I wasn’t in the room but here’s the video.
The quote, in part: “I’ve been an athletic director for 12 years. This game was absolutely stolen from us. We were happy to be in the Big 12, but after this we are not. … I’m disgusted by the officiating crew tonight.”
Utes coach Kyle Whittingham did three minutes with the media and was also unhappy. Then he did a little mini-Boeheim on a chair (if you know you know).
First, let’s clear a couple of things up. There’s a rumor that Whittingham and BYU coach Kalani Sitake didn’t shake hands after the game. They didn’t. They actually hugged it out.
Second, if Harlan wants to lose money with the Big 12 office, that’s his prerogative. But, Utah led this game 21-10 at halftime. The Utes were held to no points, 79 yards and four first downs in the second half.
BYU didn’t play a good game. Sitake acknowledged that. He and his Cougars had to grind it out. But, by game’s end, you still have to have more points than the other team. Utah gets one drive in field goal range and makes one kick and we’re not talking about any of this. BYU’s defense did a great job in the second half of keeping this game from getting completely out of hand.
A SPECIAL NIGHT FOR ‘BIG GAME BILL’
That’s what Retzlaff called Ferrin after the game. Kickers tend not be that excitable. Nature of the job. You need a good baseline.
But, man, Ferrin was super-chill about all of this.
His first memory of the Holy War was when he was eight. It was his dad telling him about the Holy War. He remembers going to school and people asking him if he was a BYU or Utah fan (sounds awfully familiar to my Texas upbringing). His family went there. His brothers played lacrosse there. He transferred there after two years at Boise State.
You come back to “your” school for games like this. To be in this moment and to be a part of the game’s lore.
Ferrin is a part of it now. It’s an inescapable part of his football life.
Game-winning kick. Holy War, 2024. That celebration video is gonna look super-chill.
“You always think about celebrations you might do in that situation,” Ferrin said. “I didn’t think of any. I just stood still.”
He may have stood still, but everyone else sure moved. The sideline, the BYU side of the stadium — it went absolutely nuts.
BONUS
I feel obligated to provide Retzlaff’s parting words about the “anything can happen” Big 12 for posterity.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
