Zemaiah Vaughn’s pick of 6 lifts Utah to victory over UCF and heads out after 7 games

ORLANDO – At the time, Zemaiah Vaughn was the game’s leading receiver. The problem was that he never played a snap on offense.

A pass fell right into the arms of the senior cornerback, and he wasted no time sprinting down the sideline for a 60-yard pick-six score that gave the visiting Utes a 10-all lead midway through the second quarter. 0 lead over UCF.

At least Vaughn ended his college career in style.

“That was incredible,” Vaughn said. “This is what I’ve been waiting for my whole career and I’m just glad I was finally able to do it before the season ended.”

The rest of the game was more of an exercise in futility as two 4-7 teams limped over the finish line in what was a promising season for both teams. The final game of the regular season was expected to have implications for the conference title, but all that was a faded dream Friday night.

Even though Utah and UCF – new conference participants and first-time opponents – are more than 2,000 miles apart, this evening was about finishing the season.

With Luke Bottari leading the offense – Utah’s fifth quarterback, which encapsulates the problems the Utes have experienced this season – the Utes continued their season-long woes. Utah struggled to move the ball consistently on offense and then stalled in the red zone.

But while Utah’s defense continued to uphold its end of the bargain, Bottari got Utah’s offense into the end zone early in the fourth quarter with a 15-yard throw to Landen King – his first of the season. And after a successful 2-point attempt with a shovel pass to Micah Bernard, Utah controlled a 21-7 lead it never wanted to relinquish.

Finally, Smith Snowden added a pick six of his own late in the fourth quarter as Utah defeated UCF 28-14 at FBC Mortgage Stadium in Orlando. The win marks a seven-game losing streak for the Utes.

“Positive end to the season,” said Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham. “We faced a lot of adversity this year. These guys, like I said, they’ve just held on for the last two months. No decline in their work ethic, no decline in their focus, concentration, whatever.” They approach the business and are a joy to coach.

“Even though we were nowhere near where we wanted to be and had a very different season than we had hoped for, I still can’t say how much I think of these seniors and this team as a whole. So very positive.”

Bottari, now 2-0 as a starter for the Utes, finished the night throwing for 111 yards and a touchdown on 13 of 20 passes.

In his final college game, Bernard finished the game with a team-high 87 rushing yards and 22 carries, surpassing the 1,000-yard mark in a season for the first time in his career. Entering the last game, Bernard needed 78 rushing yards to surpass the mark.

Bernard had 56 yards at halftime, but was only able to gain a few yards here and there in the third quarter before finally surpassing the mark in the final minutes of the quarter.

“It meant a lot,” Bernard said. “I knew how much I needed it going into the game. … Just hitting it, it was easy — that was my goal at the start of the season — 1,000-yard rusher — so I’m glad I was able to check it off the list.”

UCF got things going early to start the game, moving the ball down the field with relative ease before Lander Barton picked off sacked quarterback Dylan Rizk while Logan Fano jumped on the ball to give Utah an early stop.

However, Utah could only go 27 yards downfield and settled for a 37-yard field goal on the first drive. But the early score meant Utah never trailed in the game.

The Knights led the Big 12 in total offense entering Friday night’s game, but Rizk and the offense couldn’t get much going against Utah’s defense, which forced three turnovers, five sacks for 62 yards and 10 tackles for a loss .

Rizk threw for 118 yards and an interception on 11 of 27 passes in the loss before being replaced under center by EJ Colson in the second half, who threw for 70 yards – including a 6-yard touchdown with 19 seconds to play – on the 8th -of-12-pass.

“It was good that we were able to send our seniors to their final game with a win,” Whittingham said. “Just great performance on defense. Statistically, this was the No. 1 offense in the Big 12, and the defensive players did a great job. They scored two goals in defense and kept them well below their average. and very happy with it.”

The Knights got the ball moving a bit after Vaughn’s pick six, moving the ball down the field with relative ease on a 10-play, 89-yard drive capped with a 5-yard rushing touchdown by RJ Harvey .

The score gave Harvey UCF’s all-time touchdown record and suddenly turned a two-point game into a 3-point game.

Utah responded with a 24-yard field goal, but had a chance to score a touchdown on the previous play. The score never materialized after Bottari canceled out a fade down the sideline that had no chance of being caught.

But the offense managed just enough, including no turnovers, to secure the victory.

“It felt good, but at the same time it’s bittersweet,” Bernard said. “This is the last, last of our careers here in Utah. So it felt good to finally sing “Utah Man,” smile and have fun.”