No. 9 BYU beat Utah 22-21 with three seconds left on the opening kickoff

BYU is still undefeated. Somehow.

The No. 9 Cougars used a fourth-down holding penalty to beat Utah 22-21 late Saturday night. The Utes had led the entire second half and appeared to have put the game away when QB Jake Retzlaff threw three incompletions and was sacked short of his goal line with 90 seconds left.

But before Retzlaff went to the pocket, Utah’s Zemaiah Vaughn was warned for a stoppage of play. The 10-yard penalty gave BYU an automatic first down.

Two plays later, Retzlaff found Chase Roberts for a 30-yard gain to midfield with 1:13 left. Seven plays later, Will Ferrin hit a 44-yard field goal with three seconds left.

The unlikely comeback came after the BYU offense was out of sync all night. The Cougars used two of their second-half timeouts early in the third quarter to sort out offensive issues and at times appeared unsettled by the extremely loud crowd at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Saturday night’s game was the first between the schools with both in the Big 12.

Brandon Rose made his first start at QB for the Utes this season after rookie Isaac Wilson started in place of the injured Cameron Rising. Rose threw touchdowns to Brant Kuithe and Micah Bernard in the second quarter and finished the game completing 12 of 21 passes for 112 yards and an interception.

Utah’s defense was the main reason the Utes nearly pulled off the upset. Retzlaff was sacked three times and had multiple passes at the line of scrimmage. But the Utes didn’t get the final stop they really needed after the offense stalled in the second half.

Utah led 21-10 at halftime thanks to three touchdowns in the second quarter, but the offense was abysmal in the final 30 minutes. Utah ran just 25 plays in the third and fourth quarters, and five of the Utes’ six possessions lasted four plays or less.

BYU is now one of only three undefeated power conference teams, along with Oregon and Indiana. Army is the only undefeated team outside of the Power Four conferences.

And the win means the Cougars are another step closer to the Big 12 title game and could secure a spot in the championship game with two more wins. The Cougars are 6-0 in the conference, one game ahead of Colorado in second and four teams in third. Wins over Kansas and Arizona State — one of the teams ranked third — would allow the Cougars to clinch a spot in the title game before the final week of the season.