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at Wyoming
Saturday, November 17
Provo, Utah
5:00 PM MT
University of Utah
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at
24
BYU
Utes Fall In Near Upset, 24-21
11/17/2001 12:00 AM | Football
Nov 17, 2001
Luke Staley pulled off yet another remarkable comeback for BYU, keeping the Cougars undefeated and on target to crash the Bowl Championship Series party.
Staley scored two touchdowns and added a 2-point conversion in the final 3{ minutes as No. 8 BYU beat rival Utah 24-21 Saturday night in a dramatic comeback that gave the Cougars the Mountain West championship.
| Audio/Video from  |
| VIDEO: BYU's Justin Ena comes up from his linebacker position and delivers a bone-jarring hit. 56k | 100k | 300k VIDEO: Luke Staley takes the pitch and darts down the sideline for a 30-yard score. VIDEO: Reno Mahe had his appendix removed on Monday and snares a 9-yard TD pass just five days later. VIDEO: Jernaro Gilford preserves BYU's perfect season with an interception with 7 seconds left in the game. VIDEO: Dameon Hunter goes in for the score virtually untouched from 15 yards out. |
Representatives of two BCS bowl games, the Fiesta and Sugar Bowls, saw the Cougars (11-0, 7-0) rally from a 21-10 fourth-quarter deficit, giving first-year coach Gary Crowton reason to believe BYU should play with the big boys.
"We're still on track," Crowton said. "We will be, as long as we keep winning and we can't overlook anybody."
Staley's second TD came on a 30-yard run that was dangerously close to being a forward lateral from quarterback Brandon Doman, but he dodged tacklers and skirted down the sideline to put the Cougars ahead for good.
"Brandon Doman did a great job. He waited until the last minute to pitch the ball," Staley said. "We had good receivers blocking downfield and the line did a great job again for us."
With the victory, BYU qualified to play Louisville in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 31. Athletic director Val Hale encouraged fans to buy tickets to the Memphis game but said they could be traded for seats elsewhere, if necessary.
"We've struck a deal where if something else happens down the road, the amount of money paid for tickets can be exchanged for other tickets," Hale said.
Things got interesting when Matt Payne missed the PAT kick after Staley scored his second TD. Utah (7-3, 4-2) took over with 1:11 remaining and reached BYU's 30 before Jernaro Gilford intercepted a pass by Lance Rice to end the threat.
"No one can break on a ball like Jernaro can," BYU linebacker Justin Ena said. "We knew we had to make a big play. This guy stepped up and did it. He's an amazing athlete."
Fans stormed the field to celebrate as players lifted Crowton onto their shoulders and paraded him around.
"It was pandemonium," Crowton said. "More so than when we beat Notre Dame and they were No. 1 when I was at Boston College (in 1993)."
BYU has two games remaining, at Mississippi State on Dec. 1 and at Hawaii on Dec. 8. The Fiesta Bowl could be a good draw because it's close to Utah, possibly matching BYU against a Pac-10 school.
"BYU has a very good team," Utah coach Ron McBride said. "If they win the rest of their games, they deserve to go wherever they can go."
Staley finished with 169 yards to become BYU's single-season career rushing leader at 1,433 yards. But it was his late-game heroics that broke Utah's four-game winning streak in Provo.
It's becoming a very special season for the Cougars, who also rallied on the road to beat UNLV and New Mexico and made a late defensive stand last week to hold off Wyoming.
"I know we're a good team," Crowton said. "We're right up in there. I believe we're a top 10 team. For any team, it's hard to continue to win because so much pressure mounts on these young men."
The Utes dominated time of possession and controlled the tempo for much of the night, with backs Dameon Hunter and Adam Tate working the 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust offense.
Hunter scored on a 15-yard run in the third quarter to extend Utah's 10-3 halftime lead and Tate leaped over the goal line for a 1-yard TD run to make it 21-10 with 9:53 to play.
It was a lot to stare down, but the Cougars never gave up.
"I swear to you, I was believing," Ena said. "I said to these guys, 'Put a smile on your face and have fun because we're going to pull it out. I don't know how we're going to do it, but we're going to."'
Doman struggled and Utah's defense, ranked No. 13 in the nation, did a great job of wrapping up Staley for much of the day. But they came alive when it counted the most.
Staley caught a 7-yard TD pass from Doman with 3:22 remaining, then converted the PAT run on an option to the left. That got BYU to 21-18.
Crowton turned to his defense, and BYU forced a punt after three plays. Taking over at their own 41, the Cougars needed only four plays.
"When you get into a good game against a good football team, you have to make the plays," McBride said. "When you make the plays, you win, so give BYU credit."
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