When Utah and Kansas faced off on Black Friday, it looked like both were dealing with a bit of a food-induced lull from Thanksgiving Day the morning after.
There was sloppy play on both sides of the ball, but the No. 13 Utes were the ones who showed mental fortitude when they needed it the most.
As a result, Utah pulled out a 31-21 win at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium to earn its 10th win of the season.
That’s worth celebrating, after the Utes won just five games a year ago.
Here are three takeaways from the game that leaves Utah with slim hopes of slipping into next week’s Big 12 championship game.
Both teams made plenty of mistakes, but Utah made Kansas pay for theirs
Mistakes were made Friday in Lawrence, Kansas, by both teams.
Utah allowed the sub-.500 Jayhawks to put up 477 yards of offense while eight of Kansas’ 11 drives ended in Utes territory.
The Jayhawks, though, were just 2 of 5 on red-zone opportunities and Jalon Daniels threw three interceptions — all inside the Utah 20.
Both teams were 0 of 2 on fourth-down attempts, and each team missed prime opportunities to add points when those fourth downs failed.
The Utes, while far from perfect, were much better at turning mistakes into big plays.
None was bigger than Scooby Davis’ 97-yard pick-six midway through the fourth quarter when Kansas, trailing 17-14, faced a third-and-goal and threatened to retake the lead.
That defensive score, combined with Utah’s offense putting up 414 yards of offense while mixing up the pass and run, were enough for the Utes to beat the Jayhawks.
Kansas looked like it was on the cusp of a two-score lead early in the fourth when the Jayhawks had a second-and-goal from the 12. But Daniels’ second interception of the day, an ill-advised pass where he was trying to throw it away out the back of the end zone but Jackson Bennee reeled in the under-thrown ball, squashed that opportunity.
Utah needed just four plays to recapture the lead after that mistake, as Larry Simmons caught the first of two fourth-quarter touchdowns on a 28-yard pass to make it 17-14 with 12:26 to play.
The Utes turned the Jayhawks’ three turnovers into 16 points.
Devon Dampier, while he struggled in the passing game at times, made big plays as well. Twice, he used QB keeper fakes to hit wide-open receivers for long touchdowns for Utah’s first and last touchdowns. He threw for 253 yards and three touchdowns, while also rushing for 50 yards.
Wayshawn Parker had several big runs, and while his streak of 100-yard games ended, he ended up with 95 hard-fought yards on the ground on just 12 carries.
Meanwhile, Simmons had three catches for a team-high 97 yards and two touchdowns, including a 48-yarder with just over two minutes to play to make it a 10-point game.
What has happened to Utah’s rush defense?
The biggest reason why Kansas was able to hang around in the game was that Utah’s rush defense again struggled.
One week after the Utes allowed Kansas State to roll up a whopping 472 yards on the ground, the Jayhawks often gashed the Utah defense.
Daniel Hishaw Jr. led the ground attack for Kansas, as he finished with 107 yards and a touchdown. Leshon Williams added 104 rushing yards and averaged 6.9 yards per carry.
On the day, Kansas rolled up 290 rushing yards and had eight carries of 10-plus yards. Their longest run of the day was 33 yards by Williams in the fourth quarter, and it set up the Jayhawks in the red zone.
When Kansas was forced to pass the ball after Utah took the 10-point lead on Davis’ pick-six, the Jayhawks still found a way to score once more, on a 21-yard Leyton Cure TD catch.
It was a rough day for Utah’s defense, but the bend-don’t-break D philosophy worked enough times and forced enough mistakes when the Jayhawks went to their passing game that Utah still earned the win.
Now, Utah waits to find out where it’s headed next
The most likely scenario for the Utes is that they’ll be headed to a non-playoff bowl game.
Utah still has a slim hope of sneaking into the Big 12 championship and earning an automatic College Football Playoff bid with a win there.
For the Utes to make it to the Big 12 title game, though, these three things have to happen:
- An Arizona State win over Arizona (Friday night)
- A Texas Tech loss to West Virginia (Saturday morning)
- A BYU win over UCF (Saturday morning)
If everything breaks Utah’s way, the Utes would have a rivalry rematch with the Cougars in the Big 12 championship in Arlington, Texas, on Dec. 6.
Otherwise, Utah will find out its bowl destination on Dec. 7.
The odds of the Utes earning an at-large CFP bid went down further after another closer-than-expected win, and as the CFP committee showed last week after dropping Utah one spot after the comeback win over Kansas State, an at-large bid just isn’t likely.