Utah
Wild interception-fumble-safety sequence highlights Utah’s loss and end of Pac-12 title reign
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SEATTLE — By the time there were 46 seconds left in the third quarter Saturday at Husky Stadium, a great deal had already transpired between the University of Utah and the University of Washington.
Bryson Barnes completed 13-of-17 passes for 238 yards and two touchdowns, and that was just the first half as the Utes took a 28-24 lead to the locker room. Things then shifted, the Huskies’ high-octane offense finding its footing behind Heisman Trophy candidate Michael Penix Jr. and 1,000-yard receiver Rome Odunze.
A Penix Jr.-to-Odunze 33-yard touchdown pass with 4:16 left in the third quarter gave Washington a 33-28 lead. On the ensuing drive, Utah moved to the Washington 14-yard line, but a holding penalty on Miki Suguturaga backed the Utes up 10 yards.
After nearly three quarters of craziness, only then did things get truly crazy.
On that first-and-20 play from the 24-yard line, Barnes took a shotgun snap, and as a corner blitz came. He sidearmed a pass over the middle, intended for tight end Dallen Bentley. The pass was a little behind Bentley, who tipped it before it was intercepted by Washington linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala.
In evading a charging Barnes around the Utah 20-yard line, Tuputala appeared to have a game-changing and Utah season-crushing 76-yard return for a touchdown.
It appeared.
“Just a miscommunication on a play,” a somber Barnes said postgame.
Instead, Tuputala, believing he had scored, dropped the ball at the 1-yard line. With Washington celebrating the apparent touchdown, Utah right guard Michael Mokofisi had the presence of mind to recover the ball.
Instead of the Huskies (10-0, 7-0 Pac-12) taking a 39-28 lead with the extra point pending, Utah (7-3, 4-3 Pac-12) got a reprieve in the form of the ball back at the 1-yard line.
“A tremendous heads-up play by that kid,” Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. “He’s 330 pounds, ran the distance, never gave up on the play, and had the wherewithal to understand he had dropped it early. I can’t say enough about his effort and his awareness.”
If that sequence wasn’t crazy enough, Utah’s reprieve didn’t last very long.
With the Utes taking over on their own 1, the call was a running play to Ja’Quinden Jackson, but the play never had a chance.
On the snap, Washington defensive end Tuli Letuligasenoa got to Jackson first by blowing through the left side of Utah’s offensive line. Linebacker Carson Bruener then dropped Jackson 4 yards deep in the end zone for a safety and a 35-28 lead with 30 seconds left in the third quarter.
“It’s still better than giving up a touchdown, but it took some of the wind out of our sails when that happened,” Whittingham said. “That’s something you see in football on a rare occasion (dropping the ball at the goal line). It’s not unheard of, and it happened today.”
To Whittingham’s point of the wind coming out of Utah’s sails on the safety, the Utes’ two fourth-quarter drives netted a total of 3 yards. One of those drives was the last of the game, after Connor O’Toole blocked a 32-yard Grady Gross field goal with 1:46 left to give Barnes one more chance.
The following drive consisted of a pair of incomplete passes, one to Mikey Matthews and the other to Jackson, before a completion on third down to Jackson went for no gain.
On fourth-and-10 from his own 18, Barnes was flushed from the pocket before desperately throwing into traffic over the middle. Strong safety Dominique Hampton intercepted that pass, Penix Jr. took two knees, and Washington will go into a critical late-season contest at Oregon State with everything still to play for, including a spot in the College Football Playoff.
The loss effectively ends Utah’s two-season reign as Pac-12 champion thanks to a third conference loss.
“We were rolling on offense in the first half, and we just weren’t able to find something that second half,” said Barnes, who finished 17-of-30 for 267 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. “Losing is never fun, but I love this group of guys, love my teammates, and we’re going to get through it.”