The BYU-Utah rivalry, dubbed the Holy War, is always exciting but Saturday's game might have had the craziest finish in the series' illustrious 90-year history.
With Utah up 24-21, BYU completed a long pass to put itself within long field goal range. Instead of kicking, the Cougars attempted to gain a little more yardage. The pass from quarterback Riley Nelson sailed out of bounds and as the final seconds ticked off the clock and players, coaches and students rushed the field.
But it wouldn't be the BYU-Utah rivalry if it ended that way.
A review of the clock showed that 1 second remained when the ball was incomplete, which allowed BYU to try for a 51-yard field goal.
So, the field is cleared and BYU is attempts the kick.
It's blocked. Players, coaches and fans storm the field… But wait! The holder picked up the ball and tried to advance it, creating a penalty on Utah for a live ball foul, which gave BYU 15 yards and an untimed down to try the kick again.
Seriously, can't make this stuff up.
So BYU kicker Justin Sorensen, now 15 yards closer, lined up to tie the game and force overtime. The kick went up, it looked good and then…
BONG!
As if the game couldn't have gotten any stranger, the kick, which looked good, banged off the left upright and Utah ended up winning the game anyway.
It was Utah's third consecutive win in the series and the fourth win in the past five meetings.
Coach Kyle Whittingham was under a little bit of pressure heading into this game because in the summer, he tried to get out Utah out of the rivalry for good. This was supposed to be the final meeting until further notice. But Utah caved under pressure from both BYU and Utah fans and the series will continue.
After watching this game, Utah made the right decision.
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