Utah forced three turnovers and scored two defensive touchdowns in their 28-14 win over UCF on Friday night, snapping a seven-game losing streak. One of those defensive touchdowns was a 60-yard pick-6 by Zemaiah Vaughn.
The Utes (5-7, 2-7 Big 12) scored almost all of their touchdowns off turnovers. They turned a fumble by UCF quarterback Dylan Rizk on the first drive into a field goal. Vaughn’s pick-6 in the second quarter gave Utah a 10-0 lead.
“That was amazing,” Vaughn said. “I’ve been waiting for that my whole career. I’m glad I got it before the season came to an end. We just do what we do every week. Our main goal is to get the offense back the ball. I felt we did a good job of that today.”
Smith Snowden added a second defensive touchdown, returning an interception 13 yards in the fourth quarter to give Utah a 28-7 lead. It was Utah’s third pick-six in the last two weeks.
UCF outgained Utah 379-198 in total yards, but the Utes were able to stop the Knights on 12 of 18 third downs. UCF converted only three of 12 third downs in the first three quarters.
The turnovers put UCF behind, making it hard for them to come back.
“You can’t really have turnovers,” said UCF offensive lineman Amari Kight. “Having turnovers makes the game harder to win. Tonight we weren’t able to overcome those things. They were devastating.”
UCF lost eight of their final nine games after starting the season 3-0 and 1-0 in conference play.
Both teams struggled with quarterback play throughout the season, with each team starting four quarterbacks. This was a big reason why both teams didn’t meet preseason expectations. Utah was picked as the preseason favorite to win the Big 12 but faced issues with their offense.
Utah’s only offensive touchdown came in the fourth quarter on a 15-yard pass from quarterback Luke Bottari to Landen King. That gave Utah a 21-7 lead, making it harder for UCF to mount a comeback.
“It’s very rewarding to see them have a chance to have some positive fruits for their labors,” said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham. “They’ve been working hard week after week and have not much to show for it. For them to show the character and resiliency and ability to have adversity and come back one more time together and put together a game like that was very positive.”
Utah’s Micah Bernard rushed for 87 yards on 22 carries, surpassing 1,000 yards for the season. Bottari completed 13 of 20 passes for 111 yards.
UCF’s RJ Harvey, who was ranked fourth in the nation in rushing yards coming into the game, had 119 yards on 20 carries. He scored one touchdown rushing and added another receiving touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
Rizk ended the game with 118 passing yards, completing just 11 of his 27 passes.
