After muffed punt vs. BYU, Mana Carvalho received hate from gamblers. He redeemed himself vs. Cincinnati

Playing in the biggest game of his life, Utah freshman punt returner Mana Carvalho made a costly mistake.

Near the end of the first half against BYU, Carvalho ran up to try to field a punt that he should have just let go, and he couldn’t haul it in.

Utah had all the momentum at that point after scoring a touchdown to pull even with the Cougars, but the tide turned in an instant.

Instead of a Ute score before the half, BYU scored an important field goal to take the lead going into halftime.

In a game full of failed fourth-down conversions and turnovers, Carvalho wasn’t the sole reason why the Utes lost, but in a three-point defeat, his mistake did have an impact.

With sports gambling now legal in 39 states and a record number of people betting on sports, the volume of vitriol from gamblers can be overwhelming for a player that makes a costly mistake.

Utah receiver Ryan Davis said that Carvalho was getting “hated on big time” after the Utes’ loss to the Cougars. The New Mexico transfer sat down with the freshman punt returner to give him encouragement.

“Obviously now in today’s game, freaking, with people betting and stuff like that, there’s a lot of hate and a lot of people — mad fans and stuff — that will reach out to you and send some pretty nasty stuff," Davis said.

“I told him, ‘Dude, there’s going to come a point in the season coming up soon where they’re going to be loving you.’”

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Utah players rallied around Carvalho after the mistake, but perhaps more importantly, the coaching staff didn’t lose trust in him, and he continued to be Utah’s punt returner.

In Saturday’s 45-14 win over No. 17 Cincinnati, Carvalho proved the Utes’ coaches right for that decision, redeeming himself with a punt return touchdown.

Carvalho already had a 23-yard punt return earlier in the game, and after the Utes, up 31-14, forced another Bearcat three-and-out, he made the play of a lifetime.

Carvalho fielded the punt cleanly, got some help from his blockers, made a Bearcat defender miss around the Utah 40-yard line and was headed to the end zone.

He sped past Cincinnati punter Max Fletcher, and though Bearcat cornerback Kye Stokes got his hands on Carvalho around the five-yard line, Carvalho would not be denied, dragging Stokes with him into the end zone for a 75-yard punt return touchdown.

“It was really just watching the punter punt the ball, trusting in my blockers and we have really good gunner controls, so just trusting in them, making sure that the gunner on their side isn’t coming down as fast,” Carvalho said.

“So just letting me get the return started and just the holdups from the front seven, and it was just amazing. I seen everything that was basically scripted and it was just perfect, so all I had to do was just run. That was about it. Just run.”

It was the first punt return for a touchdown for Utah since Britain Covey’s big one against Oregon in 2021, and it elicited a similar crowd reaction. As Carvalho neared the end zone, the press box shook.

Just a few weeks after his muffed punt, Carvalho found redemption in a must-win game against Cincinnati.

“So happy to see him bring it back to the house today, and that’s just the testimony of who he is as a person player. Love this dude right here,” Davis said.