SALT LAKE CITY — Two plays changed the course of the game — and neither counted as official plays in the record books.

Facing fourth-and-10 on BYU’s 9-yard line and trailing by two points with just over a minute left in regulation time, BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff rolled out of the pocket with nowhere to go with a swarming Utah defense in pursuit.

But just as Logan Fano on defense tried to sack Retzlaff in the pocket, the head referee whistled the game dead, citing a timeout called by head coach Kalani Sitake – even with several seconds taken off the clock.

So the two teams tried again after a short timeout.

This time, linebacker Karene Reid rushed Bull Retzlaff and got some help from Junior Tafuna to push the QB into the end zone in what appeared to be a safety – and essentially a win for Utah.

But the play was declared dead when Utah cornerback Zemaiah Vaughn was called for an outside holding penalty to give BYU another set of downs.

The rest is history as Retzlaff led BYU down the field, including completing a 30-yard pass to Chase Roberts, to set up place-kicker Will Ferrin for the game-winning 44-yard field goal.

Ball game.

But those two plays deep inside BYU territory burned Utah officials, including athletic director Mark Harlan and head coach Kyle Whittingham.

Just minutes after the final whistle blew, Harlan took to the podium and made a quick, heated statement directed at the officiating Big 12.

“I have been an athletic director for 12 years,” Harlan said. “This game was absolutely stolen from us. We were excited about getting into the Big 12, but tonight I’m not. We won this game. Someone else stole it from us. Very disappointed. I’ll talk to the commissioner .This was not the case.” fair to our team. I am disgusted by the professionalism of the officiating tonight.”

Both Harlan and Whittingham were both seen on the ESPN broadcast confronting the officials for their part in the finish, with Whittingham later saying that “things out there were ridiculous.”

A frustrated Whittingham tried to avoid the subject during his post-match press conference, but the emotions were too raw.

“No, I don’t want to talk about that,” he said. “They are what they are; they are what they are. It’s a ridiculous situation. I’m not going to get into it, so yeah.”

He explained further, saying his frustration came down to the “two previous calls.”

“The game was all over – it was over, but it wasn’t,” he said.

Whittingham said his players “fought” and “did everything they could from start to finish,” and that the loss was “not on them, it’s not on them.”

“It’s a shame it turned out this way,” he added.

Although the two unofficial plays had an outcome at the end of the game, Utah failed to score any points in the second half after controlling a 21-10 lead at halftime. With Brandon Rose under center in his first start in Utah, the offense finally got a spark.

Until it didn’t.

Utah seemingly became conservative in the second half — a noticeable change from a first half in which Utah outscored BYU — and struggled to get the ball moving on several drives. But Whittingham said the team “just didn’t quite have it.”

He then pointed out that senior tight end Brant Kuithe couldn’t play in the second half after suffering a season-ending injury, which limited some of what Utah could do.

“Unfortunately he’s out for a year, and unfortunately it looks serious,” Whittingham said. “He was tackled from behind, from what I heard during the game. He was running a route, and he didn’t even get the ball thrown to him, and he was tackled from behind – from what I was told; I did that.” t, clearly seen.”

After being held to a three-and-out series on the game’s first drive – three consecutive running plays – and an interception on the second drive on a reverse pass from Rose to Damien Alford, who lifted it into the air until triple coverage, Utah’s offense finally got going.

Just over a minute into the second quarter, Rose connected with Kuithe in the front corner of the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown catch, giving the Utes a 7-3 lead over the visiting Cougars. But BYU immediately answered back with a 96-yard kickoff to regain the lead.

Minutes later, Kuithe found the end zone again after a 12-play, 75-yard drive that lasted just over seven minutes before scoring on a 1-yard Wildcat run to regain the lead. And just before halftime, Utah extended its lead on a seven-yard touchdown pass to Micah Bernard, who stuck the ball out and hit the pylon for a touchdown and a 21-10 halftime lead.

It is the first time this season that a team has scored 21 points in the first half against BYU.

But in the end, it was all Utah could muster.