After his team knocked then-No. 7 USC out of the ranks of the unbeaten Saturday night, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham expressed his pride in his players that battled back from two-touchdown deficits throughout the game.
The Utes trailed 14-0, 21-7 and 28-14 — but rallied.
Finally, with 48 seconds remaining, quarterback Cam Rising scored a touchdown, and then a two-point conversion, to lift them to a thrilling 43-42 win in front of the largest crowd to witness a game at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Utah’s defense, which had a shaky performance, giving up 556 yards, stopped the Trojans on their final drive.
“The toughness and the guts and the grit, the sheer grit and determination of our football team to continue to hang in there,” Whittingham said, “it’s just a joy to coach those guys. I love coaching this team. I’m proud to be associated with them.”
The Ute defense recorded four sacks against USC. Meanwhile, the Trojan defense, which entered the weekend leading the country in sacks, recorded zero.
Tight end Dalton Kincaid caught 16 passes for 234 yards. He finished one reception shy of the single-game FBS record for a tight end. New Mexico’s Emilio Vallez had 17 catches against UTEP in 1967 and Northwestern’s Jon Harvey had 17 catches against Michigan in 1982.
With the win, Utah (5-2, 3-1) jumped five spots to No. 15 in the Associated Press poll released Sunday. USC (6-1, 4-1) dropped to five places to No. 12.
“That’s a really good football team that we beat — talented, well-coached. The quarterback’s tremendous. The receiving corps is as good as there is in the country,” Whittingham said. “We had our hands full. We had a tough time getting stops on defense, particularly early in the game. But we made the one we needed most at the end.”
Now the Utes, which remain in contention for the Pac-12 title despite a 42-32 loss at UCLA on Oct. 8, have a bye week. Utah’s next game is a Thursday night matchup against Washington State on Oct. 27.
Whittingham and his team welcome the break.
“It’s a great time for a bye. After an emotional win like this, the bye has come later this year than most years,” he said. “We’re in Week 7, plus you have four weeks of training camp — we’ve been at it 11 straight weeks. Players could certainly use some down time right now. It’s not a full bye because we play on Thursday. Which is fine because it gives us another extended period of time for the next game for preparation.”
Wide receiver Devaughn Vele, who caught five passes for 62 yards and a touchdown, said beating USC means a lot on a night when the program once again honored fallen teammates Ty Jordan and Aaron Lowe with hand-painted images of them on their helmets.
“It’s great, especially coming into this bye week as well. We get to recuperate our bodies … We’ll watch the film and correct our mistakes,” Vele said. “I love these kind of games because it shows who’s more knit as a team and who stays together in tough situations. I felt like that was the difference today — having Ty and Aaron on the side of our helmets. It was another reminder of why we had to stay resilient because that game was for them. I’m just grateful that we were able to stay together.”
During the game, the mothers of Jordan and Lowe received their own special helmets as a keepsake.
That ceremony gave his team a “little boost,” the coach said, as did the “Moment of Loudness” that the school observes to honor Jordan and Lowe for every home game.
“Between the third and fourth quarters, the tribute we put up, it gives me a boost every game,” Whittingham said. “I think our players feel the same way. It’s a great way to continue to remember those two young men.”
Rising, who threw for 415 yards against USC, said the presence of the mothers of Jordan and Lowe were inspiring.
“Anytime you see them — such strong people and so resilient,” he said. “They bring an energy with them that radiates throughout the whole entire building. We just built off that.”