PROVO — Utah defensive coordinator Gary Andersen had a hard time describing his feelings after Saturday's 17-10 setback to BYU.
"A tough loss. That's all I can say. The kids played their hearts out. They played like crazy for four quarters," he said. "As usual, this game comes down to a couple of plays."
And for the second consecutive year, the Cougars made them and the Utes didn't.
"Heartbreaking, tough, gut-wrenching," Andersen continued. "However you want to put it, you can put it."
Utah's seven-game winning streak came to an end with a wild ride on an emotional roller coaster. The twists and turns were accompanied by the high of taking the lead with 1:34 to play and the low of seeing it slip away 56 seconds later.
Between the peaks and valleys, the Utes failed to close the deal despite putting the Cougars in a fourth-and-18 situation 88 yards from the end zone.
A 49-yard pass from BYU quarterback Max Hall to receiver Austin Collie kept the drive alive. The Cougars eventually cashed in — scoring the game-winning touchdown on an 11-yard run by Harvey Unga with just 38 seconds remaining.
A pair of Utah penalties — unnecessary roughness and pass interference — proved costly as well.
It all added up to another painful loss to BYU. The Cougars won last year's game on the final play when John Beck and Jonny Harline teamed on an improbable scoring strike.
"They both hurt. I won't ever get over it," Andersen said. "I never get over a loss to BYU. I remember every one of them. I never get over the victories, either."
After a solid week of preparation, Utah linebacker Joe Jiannoni expected the latter on Saturday.
"I thought we were going to come out on top," he said. "I thought we were going to get it done, but it didn't happen that way."
BYU's final drive, which covered 80 yards on seven plays, altered a promising outcome for Utah.
"Gosh, we had our opportunities there at the end," said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, who noted that both defenses played well and it was a hard-fought game. "We weren't able to finish on fourth and 18 and let them off the hook. That proved to be the difference. It was tough."
Prior to BYU's late heroics, Utah put together an impressive drive of its own. The Utes took 7:11 off the clock while marching 69 yards on 15 plays. They converted on five third-down situations along the way, capping things off with a 1-yard touchdown run by Darrell Mack. Louie Sakoda added the PAT to make it 10-9 with just 1:38 left to play.
It proved to be too much time for BYU.
Jiannoni called it a "heartbreaker." He wasn't the only one, obviously, who felt that way.
"It was a terrible loss to go out this way and everything that goes with it," Jiannoni said. "I think this one hurts more than last year for some reason."
As the players filed out of the locker room, quarterback Brian Johnson acknowledged the difficulty of going from one extreme to the other down the stretch.
"It rips your guts out," he said. "It was a battle. We knew going in it was going to take someone to make a play in the fourth quarter for us to win it."
Turns out, however, it wasn't quite enough.
"It's tough. It's tough to keep (your emotions) in check, especially being a senior and having this happen," safety Steve Tate said. "It'll take awhile to get over this one."
Even so, Jiannoni pointed out, the Utes (8-4, 5-3) need to move on.
"We've got a bowl game to play," he said.
Utah athletics director Chris Hill didn't know when an invitation would be extended. However, he's confident one is coming — perhaps some time next week.
"I would think San Diego is where we wind up going," Hill said.
The Utes, who will finish in a third-place tie with New Mexico in the Mountain West Conference standings, have had a Poinsettia Bowl representative attend their last three games.
E-mail: dirk@desnews.com