Utah Utes football: Beavers put big scare into unbeaten Utes

The Oregon State Beavers suffered the letdown many people were expecting after they stunned then-No. 1 ranked USC last week.

But it didn't come until nearly 58 minutes were played in their thrilling 31-28 loss to Utah at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Thursday night.

And instead of an emotional letdown that's common with college football teams after earning big victories, the Beavers' letdown came more in the form of breakdowns in their execution on defense in the final two minutes.

"We kind of let ourselves down," said Oregon State quarterback Lyle Moevao. "We knew we were able to hang with these guys, but it just didn't happen."

The Beavers looked primed to pull off their second straight upset on a Thursday night in front of a national TV audience when Moevao threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Brady Camp. The score came with 2:18 left in the game and put Oregon State ahead 28-20. After shutting down Utah's offense throughout the second half, the Beavers allowed the Utes to go 60 yards in four plays and score on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Brian Johnson to Bradon Godfrey.

Oregon State coach Mike Riley wasn't shocked by Utah's rally. He said the Utes just executed better than his team in the drive.

"They made some plays," he said. "They had guys in position, and we were a little out of position. The guy (Johnson) made a couple of great throws in a row."

The controversial play of the game, in Oregon State's view, came on Utah's ensuing two-point conversion. The Utes were first stopped on a failed pass attempt from Johnson to David Reed. But a delayed pass interference penalty was called on safety Greg Laybourn, giving Utah another shot at tying the game. Johnson did just that, running in the two-pointer from a yard out.

"I didn't have the best view of it (the pass-interference penalty)," Riley said. "I saw one guy signal incomplete, and then I saw the flag come out about a half hour later."

The Beavers' final drive went nowhere and ran off little time. A three-and-out, with two incompletions and a running play that went out of bounds took just 23 seconds off the clock. Utah got the ball back with 1:06 remaining at its own 45, and capitalized with the game-winning drive.

Oregon State was disappointed it wasn't able to pull off another upset, but pleased that it had another good showing on national TV.

"I think if we would have come out flat we would have gotten beat by 30," Riley said. "Both teams competed. We knew this was going to be a very hard game."

Freshman running back Jacquizz Rodgers became the first player to rush for more than 100 yards on the Utes this season. He gained 101 yards on 25 carries and scored a touchdown. Moevao continued his steady season, completing 21 of 31 passes for 313 yards and two touchdowns.

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