WACO, Texas — Utah cornerback Scooby Davis had a roller-coaster game in the No. 13 Utes’ 55-28 win over Baylor Saturday night.
Near the end of the first quarter, Davis was flagged for pass interference on third and 3, moving the chains for the Bears.
Two plays later, however, Davis more than made up for his mistake.
Davis read wide receiver Ashtyn Hawkins’ route perfectly, jumping it and picking off Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson’s pass.
Once Davis had that ball, there was no one in front of him, and he ran 65 yards the other way for a pick-six that put Utah up 14-0.
In a first half wherein Utah’s secondary struggled against Baylor’s passing attack — Robertson threw for 244 yards in the first two quarters — Davis’s pick-six was one of the few bright spots.
Davis, one of Utah’s starting cornerbacks, had three tackles and the interception return for a touchdown.
His night ended early, however, when he got into a fight with Hawkins in the fourth quarter.
After Utah went on a 21-0 second-half run to go up 49-20, punctuated by a Wayshawn Parker touchdown reception, Baylor scored its last touchdown of the night on the ensuing drive as Kole Wilson made a spectacular grab for the score with Davis defending him.
Two plays before, Davis had been flagged for pass interference on Hawkins — and after the touchdown, Wilson stood over Davis and yelled at him, while Hawkins ran over with words for Davis.
Davis responded by hitting Hawkins in the facemask and Hawkins threw a punch back. The two wrestled each other to the ground as players from both teams ran in to break the fight up.
Both Davis and Hawkins were ejected from the game, which had 8:18 remaining.
Davis and Hawkins will both miss the first half of their respective games next week. For Utah, that’s a showdown against Kansas State in Salt Lake City.
Texas A&M transfer Don Saunders will likely fill Davis’ spot, and nickelback Smith Snowden could see increased time on the outside.
“Scooby lost his cool a little bit and obviously the other guy had something to do with it as well, or he wouldn’t have gotten flagged,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “So we’ll sort that out.”
Whittingham asked if Davis would miss the first half of the next game, and when the reply was yes, he said, “Well, that sucks.”
“Heat of the moment, competitive, but you got to keep your cool,” Whittingham said. “I’m not making excuses for Scooby. I don’t know enough about the situation right now to tell you a definitive course of action for us, but we’ll find out.”