In nearly every one of its now 103 occurrences, the Holy War never fails to deliver. BYU and Utah hate each other, as they might consistently give us football games that we can talk about for years and years.
Saturday night was one for the history books, as the No. 9 Cougars came into Salt Lake City and captured a win over the Utes, 22-21.
BYU fans have been tormented for years by Utah. Since the year 2000, the Cougars have only had the pleasure of beating their rivals five times. Whenever they would come close, something always seemed to happen — a call from the officials, a bad bounce, a blocked kick — that would give the Utes the edge, and BYU fans would once again go home wondering when the torture would end.
Tonight marked a new age in the long-storied rivalry. What appeared to be yet another devastating defeat in the jaws of Utah's mystical hold over the Cougars, was flipped on the Utes head and turned into a thrilling BYU victory.
Call it what you will — fate, destiny, karma — but something in the air of this rivalry has changed. Utah had every opportunity tonight to ruin a perfect BYU season, but for the first time in what feels like forever, the Cougars got a lucky break.
That break came in the form of a little yellow flag, a spectacular diving catch, and the right foot of placekicker Will Ferrin.
It was an eventful game, that started off like every other.
After both teams found their footing with a pair of punts, the Cougars were blessed with incredible field position off of a botched double pass that resulted in a Jakob Robinson interception. BYU's offense stalled at the 5-yard line and settled for a 3-0 lead with a Ferrin field goal.
Utah, led by sophomore quarterback Brandon Rose getting his first career start, responded with a 64-yard drive. Rose completed his first forward pass of the night, a 20-yard strike to Brant Kuithe in the corner of the end zone.
Keelan Marion took the ensuing kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown to recapture the lead, 10-7. It's the first time since 1989 that a BYU player has had two kickoff return touchdowns in a season.
The Utes got the ball again, and all of a sudden, the Cougar defense was reeling. Utah was consistently running the ball inside, then fooling BYU with the play-action. The Cougars also were killing themselves with penalties, extending drives and gifting the Utes free yards.
Utah drove right down the field again. Kuithe scored his second touchdown of the game, this time on the ground from one-yard out.
BYU's offense remained out of whack for the rest of the first half. Receivers were dropping balls, and linemen were missing tackles. Aaron Roderick called a screen pass on fourth-and-one that was blown up at the line of scrimmage and turned the ball over back to the Utes.
It took Utah just three plays to capitalize on the great field position as Rose threw his second touchdown of the game to Micah Bernard. The Utes had averaged just 14.4 points in conference play this season but had managed 21 in the first half against the Cougars.
It was beginning to look like BYU's defense was completely devoid of answers for a Utah offense that had no business marching up and down the field.
The Cougars failed to execute a drive before time ran out in the half and headed to the locker room down 21-10.
All of BYU's demons seemed to be back to haunt them in Rice Eccles Stadium. Between the silly penalties, uncharacteristic mistakes, the opposing backup quarterback marching up and down the field and questionable officiating, every Cougar fan's skin was practically crawling.
BYU needed some adjustments, and it started with the defense. Coming out of the half, the Cougar defense forced a punt, an interception, and another punt. Crew Wakley's timely pick led to another Will Ferrin field goal to make it a one-score game, 21-13.
After the Utah punt, Retzlaff and the offense conducted their best drive of the day, going 95 yards in nine plays to score their first offensive touchdown of the game. With the score at 21-19, BYU elected to go for two but failed, keeping the score where it was.
The Cougar defense remained stout, and the Utes started to look like their old selves. Utah would not score the rest of the game, punting five times and throwing one interception in the second half.
BYU punted on its next two possessions, and time steadily ticked off the clock. All of a sudden, the Cougars found themselves down two with just under two minutes left to play and pinned at their own nine-yard line.
The Ute's pass rush was relentless, and soon it was fourth and ten with BYU on its last leg and no timeouts. Retzlaff dropped back to pass and was quickly swallowed up at the goal line for a sack. Rice-Eccles Stadium erupted as Utah fans believed they had just sealed the upset win.
That's when everyone noticed that little yellow piece of laundry lying on the field. The officials announced a holding call on a Utah defender, and suddenly, after having all the hope sucked out of them, the Cougars had a chance.
Two plays later, Retzlaff chucked it to Chase Roberts, who made a diving catch for a 30-yard gain. The Rice Eccles Stadium crowd suddenly grew nervous as BYU etched closer to field goal range.
With just over a minute left, BYU started to chip away further at the Utah defense. Coach Kyle Whittingham started burning his timeouts in an attempt to save time for a potential offensive drive for the Utes, but the Cougars kept to the ground and ran down the clock.
With no timeouts left, the offense ran its final play to set up Ferrin for the game-winning field goal. From 44 yards away, with the clock running, Ferrin received the perfect snap, the perfect hold and made the perfect kick. With just four seconds left, BYU had taken a one-point lead.
The air had been vacated from the stadium save one corner of blue and the odd stragglers throughout the crowd. It was over. Utah's attempt to pitch the ball to each other on the kickoff was barely a formality, and when the time ran out and the ball was fumbled, the Cougars were victorious.
It's hard to put into words just how unlikely BYU's win was. No doubt an ugly game, this year's version of the Holy War will go down as one of the greats, with the Cougars finally on the winning end.
BYU moves to 9-0 and has its sights set on even bigger wins. Now in sole possession of first place in the Big 12 and with just three games to play, the Cougars are on the precipice of a historic season.
The team that has been labeled as a "team of destiny" now controls its own.