Who will win the BYU-Utah matchup? -Deseret News

Note: As EA Sports brings college football back to the world of video games with “College Football 25,” the Deseret News is simulating every BYU and Utah game against an FBS opponent this season.

It’s here – rivalry week as No. 9 BYU and Utah prepare to meet at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Saturday’s matchup pits one team, the Cougars, looking to remain undefeated and strengthen their case for entry into the College Football Playoff against another team, the Utes, who are hoping to salvage a frustrating season by going for provide a surprise.

How will the first game of this series in three years end?

The Deseret News showed off a simulation of Saturday’s game in the EA Sports College Football 25 video game, and if the simulation comes anywhere close to how the simulation plays out, it will be considered an instant classic by a fan base.

How the simulation was set up

There were a few ground rules: The simulation used 12-minute quarters and I let the computer simulate the game without user intervention.

The CPU ratings have also been adjusted slightly from standard to make pass defense more realistic. I adjusted the passing accuracy from 50 to 35 and then the pass defense ratings from 50 to 80.

Injuries and depth chart moves have also been implemented.

Wide receiver Kody Epps and center Connor Pay are still out for BYU – Bruce Mitchell is back at center for the Cougars.

There’s a big change for Utah. Isaac Wilson and Brandon Rose split the QB duties, and since Rose was the one who spoke to the media on Tuesday and not Wilson, I put Rose in as the starter.

I had two weeks to prepare for the game and had time to recover. Junior Tafuna and Keanu Tanuvasa both played defensive tackle for the Utes.

The uniforms that both teams will wear were also implemented into the simulation as best I could.

BYU wears the Royal Rush uniform with royal blue helmets, royal blue jerseys and royal blue pants.

Utah goes for an all-red look for their retro jerseys – unfortunately, red was not available on the Utes’ retro helmets or pants in the video game, so their retro jerseys for the simulation include a white helmet, red jersey, and white pants .

How accurate was the simulation of BYU’s last game?

The actual score: BYU 37, UCF 24

College Football 25 Simulation Final Score: UCF 31, BYU 24

My analysis: While the simulation was able to predict that both teams would score 24 or more points, it wasn’t all that accurate beyond that.

In the video game, UCF pulled off the upset, while in reality the Cougars went undefeated.

BYU also got off to a slow start in the simulation, but in the real game the Cougars built a 17-0 lead in the first half before maintaining at least a point lead the rest of the game en route to the win.

How accurate was the simulation of Utah’s last game?

The actual score: Houston 17, Utah 14

College Football 25 Simulation Final Score: Houston 28, Utah 24

My analysis: The simulation was able to predict that Houston would beat Utah, which it did in reality.

While the video game score was slightly higher than the actual score in both the simulation and real life, the contest revolved around a Utah turnover.

In the simulation, it was a fumble that helped Houston recover from an early deficit, while in reality it was an interception by Rose that led Houston to kick the game-winning field goal.

How did the simulation go between BYU and Utah?

Final result: Utah 41, BYU 38

Key sequence: First of all: yes, you read the end result correctly (we’ll explain how it came about, with all the wild details).

The game revolved around back-to-back BYU turnovers after the Cougars built a 31-10 lead early in the fourth quarter before allowing a long touchdown to Dorian Singer to bring the game to 14 points.

The Cougars had a drive after the Utah score, but Smith Snowden stepped in front of a pass from Jake Retzlaff and returned it 56 yards for a pick-six with 6:24 to play. That made it 31:24.

On the ensuing possession, Retzlaff was intercepted by Alaka’i Gilman on the first play of the drive and set up an 11-yard touchdown run by Munir McClain three plays later to tie the game at 31-31 with 5:10 to play.

How the simulation went: Despite what the final result suggests, the simulation started slowly, just as the actual game might turn out.

The score was tied 10-10 at the start of the half, and the Utes briefly had the lead after BYU lost the ball.

Both teams scored field goals on their first drives – Will Ferrin opened the scoring with a 36-yarder, while Utah countered with a 52-yard field goal from Cole Becker.

Midway through the second quarter, Darius Lassiter was stripped of the ball near midfield by Elijah Davis and Snowden recovered the fumble. This set up a 49-yard touchdown drive for Utah before Luca Caldarella caught a 16-yard touchdown pass to put the Utes up 10-3.

BYU responded, however, as Lassiter caught a 53-yard pass to get the Cougars into the Utah red zone, and LJ Martin scored on a 5-yard run on fourth-and-2 with 3:44 to play and turned it into a 10-yard run. 10 competition.

BYU then took control in the third quarter, even after Utah completed its first drive of third downfield before missing a 43-yard field goal.

Lassiter caught a 47-yard pass that moved BYU to the Utah 27, and Parker Kingston followed with a 25-yard touchdown reception on third-and-8 to give the Cougars a 17-10 lead.

After a three-and-out for Utah, Retzlaff hit Chase Roberts for a 60-yard touchdown pass to make it a two-score game.

Another three-and-out gave BYU a chance to extend its lead early in the fourth quarter, and the Cougars struck again.

Kingston snagged a 41-yard catch on third down to move the ball to Utah’s 41, then scored on a 41-yard touchdown grab to make it 31-10 with 11:20 to play apparently ruining the outcome.

Utah even had a little trouble moving the ball on its next drive before Rose hit Singer for a 53-yard touchdown pass with 9:12 to play.

This led to the aforementioned back-to-back turnovers by Retzlaff, which gave Utah two touchdowns and tied the game with 5:10 left.

Utah’s defense once again stood firm as Connor O’Toole sacked Retzlaff, resulting in a 14-yard loss to the BYU 1 that forced a punt. After a 15-yard punt return, the Utes started their ensuing drive at the BYU 37 and quickly scored.

Micah Bernard completed an 18-yard run to the 11, then Jaylon Glover scored on a 6-yard run with 2:13 to play, giving Utah a 38-31 lead with 28 unanswered points – a reminder of the last time when BYU and Utah played played at Rice-Eccles when the Utes rallied from a 27-7 deficit to win 35-27.

The Cougars weren’t done yet, however, as Retzlaff hit Kingston for a 36-yard pass and then found Lassiter wide open for a 15-yard touchdown with 1:20 to play, tying the game at 38-38. That drive traveled 84 yards in just five plays and lasted 47 seconds.

However, Utah had too much time for the operation.

Rose completed passes of 20 and 24 yards to Brant Kuithe and Singer, respectively, to put the Utes into field goal territory, and Bernard moved Utah further downfield before Becker rallied for a 38-yard field goal on the final play set up.

Becker fired the game-winning goal straight down the middle, surprising the Utes in a wild 45-point fourth quarter.

Star player: Rose was efficient in his first start, completing 24 of 30 passes for 309 yards and three touchdowns. His favorite target was Singer, who had five catches for 106 yards and a touchdown.

Bernard added 181 yards on the ground as Utah outgained the Cougars 170 yards to 7.

Defensively, Snowden had an all-around great performance with seven tackles, a tackle for loss, a fumble recovery and the pick-six.

Retzlaff channeled his inner Ty Detmer here, throwing for 535 yards and four touchdowns, although his two interceptions were huge.

Martin had a modest 44 rushing yards for BYU despite Retzlaff being sacked five times.

Kingston (218 receiving yards, two touchdowns), Lassiter (148, 1) and Roberts (104, 1) all reached over 100 receiving yards and had a touchdown for BYU.

Key stats: The deciding factor was that Utah won the turnover battle 3-0 and turned each of those takeaways into a touchdown.

BYU ended up with more total yards, 542 to 479, but the Utes were 10 of 19 on third down while the Cougars were 5 of 12.

How realistic was the simulation?

My analysis: Well, the margin of victory is definitely something that can happen – the history of this rivalry is full of games that have been played to the very end.

However, the simulation was much, much more successful than I dared to expect, even if both offenses brought a lot of tricks into play.

Both offenses were certainly too efficient in this simulation, especially in the second half – both the Utes and Cougars have much better defenses than the video game gave them credit for.