SALT LAKE CITY – Jake Retzlaff sparked two fourth-quarter scoring drives and Will Ferrin kicked a 44-yard field with four seconds left to keep No. 9 BYU’s undefeated season alive with a 22-21 win over Utah at Saturday evening.

The Cougars’ final drive went into overtime on a defensive holding penalty on fourth down, when the largest crowd in the history of Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium (54,383) thought the game was over.

Retzlaff, who was 15 of 33 for 219 yards, passed 30 yards to Chase Roberts and 12 yards to Darius Lassiter before Hinckley Ropati ran 14 yards to get BYU (9-0, 6-0 Big 12) in position for the kick from Ferrin .

The Cougars remain the last undefeated team in the Big 12 and are in prime position for a bid in the conference championship game.

Retzlaff scored on a 1-yard sneak with 12:35 left to cap a nine-play, 95-yard drive and the first, looking like the team that averages more than 35 points per game. But the two-point conversion was intercepted by Cam Calhoun and kept Utah (Utah 4-5, 1-5 Big 12) ahead 21-19.

Utah’s Brandon Rose, the third quarterback entering the season, got his first career start after Cam Rising was lost for the season and Isaac Wilson struggled.

Rose ran twice for first downs and then completed his first positive pass of the game for a 20-yard touchdown to Brant Kuithe to complete a six-play, 64-yard drive early in the second quarter. Kuithe added a 1-yard touchdown run from the Wildcat formation with 5:31 left before halftime, but later left the game with a leg injury.

Will Ferrin took advantage of Rose’s interception in the third quarter and made his second of three field goals.

Rose was 12 for 21 for 112 yards, but only 4 of 11 for 25 yards in the second half.

Utah’s Zemaiah Vaughn stopped Roberts for a two-yard loss on a fourth-and-1 swing pass, leading to Rose’s seven-yarder touchdown pass to Micah Bernard to make it 21-10 at halftime.

Jakob Robinson’s interception in the first quarter turned it into a 23-yard field goal by Ferrin.

In the second quarter, BYU’s Keelan Marion returned a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown, his second of the season.

Utah had won nine straight in the series before dropping the 2021 game 26-17 and now this one.

Takeaways

BYU: BYU’s offense produced just two field goals before coming alive in the fourth quarter. The Cougars mismanaged the clock by taking their final timeout too early, then a false start required a 10-second runoff that ended the first half with them on the edge of field goal range.

Utah: Bernard, who was Utah’s lone offensive bright spot before the second-quarter breakthrough, had 17 carries for 78 yards and passed 2,000 career rushing yards. Rose was hot in the second quarter, but the offense sputtered after that. The Utes have lost five straight, but haven’t lost any by more than 13 points.

Familiar enemies

Five of BYU’s top coaches played or coached in Utah, and longtime Ute coach Kyle Whittingham played at BYU in the 1980s.

Next

BYU hosts Kansas next Saturday night.

Utah plays at No. 21 Colorado next Saturday.

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football