STANFORD, Calif. — Utah defensive end Nate Orchard put his name in the record book in Saturday’s 20-17 double-overtime victory at Stanford. The senior captain became the Utes’ all-time single-season sacks leader, making 3.5 in the game to up his 2014 tally to 16.5 — breaking Jimmy Bellamy’s record of 15 in 1991.
“It’s an honor,” Orchard said. “At the end of the day all the credit goes to the entire defense. That front seven right there — the defensive line — every day we work so hard and all that effort and hard work pays off.
“It takes all 11 to do a job for me to do what I do,” he added. “The corners covering and D-line sticking to their responsibility and it just opens up the lanes for me.”
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham was pleased to hear that Orchard had broken the team record for sacks in a season.
“That’s great. He’s been a stalwart for us all year long and he is the team leader as I’ve said many times before,” Whittingham said. “And it’s great to see him have the individual success he’s having. And it’s helping contribute obviously to our team’s success.”
In his career, Orchard has 36.5 tackles for loss and 23 sacks — ranking him fourth in Utah history in both categories — same goes for his 19 tackles for loss this season.
Orchard’s seven career forced fumbles are the third most in U. history.
HACKETT GETS IT DONE: Punter Tom Hackett had another strong outing for the Utes. He pinned six punts inside the 20 and limited Stanford's Ty Montgomery to one return for one yard.
"He kicked the ball exceptionally well," Whittingham said.
BOOKER MOVES UP: Stanford’s stout defense held Utah running back Devontae Booker to just 58 yards rushing on 17 carries. The yardage was enough, however, to move Booker up Utah’s single-season rushing chart. His 1,113 yards rank as the eighth best in team history — just eight yards from surpassing Quinton Ganther (2005) for seventh on the list.
BOUNCE BACK: Wide receiver Kaelin Clay had a nice game, bouncing back from his fumble miscue a week ago against Oregon. Besides his 25-yard touchdown catch in the first overtime, Clay also returned three punts, two kickoffs and made another reception.
“To come back and be a big player in this game show his resiliency,” Whittingham said.
IN ATTENDANCE: Scouts from the Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Green Bay Packers, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, Oakland Raiders, San Francisco 49ers and Tennessee Titans were credentialed for the game, as were representatives from the Foster Farms (San Francisco) Bowl.
STANFORD’S STADIUM: Although the actual number of attendees was never announced, it’s safe to say that a good chunk of the 44,635 tickets sold for Saturday’s game were not used. In fact, at least one guess-timator in the press box noted that perhaps half of the ducats never got torn at the turnstiles.
The latest version of Stanford Stadium was built between the 2005 and 2006 seasons at a cost of approximately $100 million and has a seating capacity of 50,424. When Utah made its other two visits to Stanford, the previous version of the stadium was much larger — seating 86,019 in 1989 and 85,500 in 1996.
The Utes, by the way, are 3-0 at Stanford.
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