Zemaiah Vaughn’s pick of 6 propels Utah to victory over UCF and exits 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.

In a game where there were no significant plays, at least Vaughn ended his college career in style.

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 their 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 in the back of the end zone. And after a successful 2-point attempt with a shovel pass, Utah controlled a 21-7 lead it would never 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.

Bottari finished the night throwing for 111 yards and a touchdown on 13 of 20 passes.

In his final college game, Micah Bernard finished the game with 87 rushing yards on 22 carries, leading the team. He surpassed 1,000 yards receiving 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.

UCF got things going early, moving the ball down the field with relative ease before Lander Barton picked off the sacked Dylan Rizk and 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.

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.

A few minutes after Vaughn’s sixth pick later in the first half, the Knights – continually being snuffed out by Utah’s swarming defense – caught a spark and moved the ball down the field with ease in a 10-play, 89-yard drive, which was capped off 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 threw a fade to the sideline that had no chance of being caught.

This story will be updated.