Las Vegas Bowl 2015, BYU vs Utah: Full highlights, final score and more.

The Utah Utes used five first quarter turnovers to defeat the BYU Cougars.

Sometimes a team can dig an early hole and eventually climb out of it. Unfortunately for the BYU Cougars on Saturday, they dug too big of a hole to climb out of against the Utah Utes in the Las Vegas Bowl.

The start for the BYU Cougars was just as bad as it could possibly be. The Cougars turned the ball over on their first five possessions, all of which led to Utah scores.

Even worse, on two of those possessions for the Cougars, quarterback Tanner Mangum threw three interceptions, which ended up with two resulting in pick-sixes, including a 28-yard return by Tevin Carter and a 46-yard return for a touchdown by Dominique Hatfield.

Suddenly, the Cougars were in a 35-0 hole and it looked like the Utes had delivered the knockout blow early. Outside of being gifted short field position, Utah really couldn’t do anything offensively on the day.

They couldn’t move the ball as BYU held strong, and their best plays were courtesy of punter Tom Hackett, who consistently pinned BYU deep and also ran an incredible fake punt, where he trucked a defender and absolutely ran him over.

Despite falling down 35-0 early on the day, the Cougars didn’t give up against their bitter rival. They were able to get some points on the board at the end of the first half, when Tanner Mangum found Remington Peck for a three-yard touchdown.

They would get another score early on in the second half, when Francis Bernard would punch the ball in from 10 yards out. Still, the Utes’ offense could do nothing on that side of the ball and couldn’t put the final nail in the coffins of the Cougars and finish them off early.

They didn’t score any points in the third, and the Cougars made things a little interesting in the fourth when they drove down the field with a chance to pull within a couple of scores. Mangum would find Nick Kurtz for the touchdown, and the Cougars were within 14, as they only trailed 35-21.

Utah would have a big drive that would burn off most of the clock in the fourth quarter, as they took it down to five minutes, but they would come away empty. With little time and down two scores, BYU would go down the field and score on an incredible run by Mangum, who just crossed the goal line for the score.

A 35-0 deficit was suddenly 35-28, and the Utes were doing whatever they could to hold on. BYU would make a big mistake and kick the ensuing kickoff out of bounds. With no timeouts left, BYU’s last stand would be all, as Utah picked up a big first down to ice the clock and the game. Utah would win “The Holy War” and take home the 2015 Las Vegas Bowl.

Highlights

Three Stars

3. Tom Hackett, P, Utah

There’s a reason that Hackett is the best punter in the country. He pins the other team deep and makes it almost impossible for them to get anything going on offense, because they have to start so deep in their own territory. He did that all day to BYU. He also executed a fake punt perfectly and ran over a defender.

2. Dominique Hatfield, CB, Utah

Hatfield had one of the big interceptions on the day for the Utes. He returned it for 46 yards and really help set the tone early for Utah.

1. Tevin Carter, S, Utah

Carter was an animal all day on defense for Utah. The defensive back had two interceptions on the day, but his biggest was a pick-six that got the ball rolling for the Utah defense, as he returned the ball 28 yards for a touchdown.

Odds

Utah was favored by 2.5 points coming into the game. By getting out to a huge lead early, they easily covered the spread.

Up Next

Both teams are now finished with their seasons. Utah finishes with a 10-3 record, while BYU finishes with a 9-4 record.