An 'awesome' ending

Utah's annual Red-White Game came down to the very last play.

That's when Kevin Dunn teamed with Sean Smith on a 20-yard touchdown pass to lift the White squad to a 22-21 victory at Rice-Eccles Stadium. The scoring strike capped spring drills for the Utes, who'll open the season Sept. 2 at UCLA.

"I thought it was a good, clean scrimmage. I thought we had good competition," said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham. "It came down to the last play, which is what you'd like to have happen in the spring game. A lot of guys made plays."

The modified spring finale, a 50-play situational scrimmage, was highlighted by the play of quarterbacks Dunn, Tommy Grady and Brett Ratliff. Each threw a touchdown pass.

"I think all three guys did nice things," said offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig.

Grady, who saw action for both teams, led the way with a pair of touchdown throws — a 14-yarder to Freddie Brown and an 18-yard strike to Derrek Richards. The scores, which followed a 10-yard TD pass from Brett Ratliff to Marquis Wilson, allowed the Red team to erase a 16-0 deficit. The White squad, mainly composed of players from the second and third units, was spotted the lead to open the game.

Grady wound up completing 8-of-16 passes for 144 yards. Ratliff was 5-of-12 for 37 yards and Dunn went 5-of-11 for 59 yards.

Aside from several drops by the receivers and an interception by Grady, Utah's passing game performed well. Brown led the Utes with four receptions, while Richards and Wilson each had three.

Mike Liti and Darryl Poston led Utah's limited ground game with 20 and 17 yards, respectively. They combined to carry the ball just five times.

"There were some super individual efforts. I thought the pass protection was very good for the most part," Ludwig said. "We've got to take care of the throw and catch issue. We missed a couple of catch opportunities and we can't do that in our style of play."

Ludwig, however, was pleased overall.

"I like our guys. I like the personality of the offensive unit. I like the skills that we can put on the field," he said. "It was a good spring which needs to be a springboard into a great summer for us. The great summer is what will prepare us for the '06 season."