Love bursts out with big score
SALT LAKE CITY — Stanford’s revolving quarterbacks were the side show Saturday. The main attractions were the Cardinal defense and Bryce Love’s 68-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Love’s long-distance sprint broke open a tight defensive duel, and the Cardinal won their third straight and handed No. 20 Utah its first loss 23-20 at packed Rice-Eccles Stadium.
The Utes scored on Troy Williams’ 18-yard pass to Darren Carrington with 44 seconds left, but an onside kick was recovered by Stanford.
Love had been kept pretty much under wraps by the Utes, the best run-defense team in the Pac-12, until Love broke free over the middle. He stumbled, regained his balance and beat the defense to the end zone. The game was his eighth straight with a run of at least 50 yards. He finished with a season-low 150 yards on 19 carries.
Keller Chryst, who had missed most of the plast two games with an undisclosed injury, started at quarterback for Stanford (4-2, 3-1 Pac-12) and took turns with K.J. Costello, generally getting two series apiece.
Chryst had the upper hand. He scored a touchdown, and all of Stanford’s points came on his drives. He completed 7 of 14 passes for 106 yards, and Costello was 6-for-10 for 82 yards.
Utah (4-1, 1-1) started Williams in place of Tyler Huntley, who hurt his shoulder in the Utes’ previous game, against Arizona on Sept. 22. Williams completed 20 of 39 passes for 238 yards but threw costly interceptions to cornerback Quenton Meeks and safety Justin Reid in the fourth quarter.
Marring a fine all-around performance by the Stanford defense, the Cardinal’s Peter Kalambayi and Harrison Phillips drew targeting penalties in the closing minutes. Both were ejected and will have to miss the first half of next week’s Oregon game.
A bad punt snap by the Utes gave Stanford the ball at the Utah 15 on its first series of the second half. Jet Toner kicked a 29-yard field goal to open a 16-10 lead. The Utes cut the lead to 16-13 on a Matt Gay field goal.
Chryst guided the Cardinal to a 21-yard goal by Toner on the game’s first possession. It was Toner’s 10th straight without a miss this year.
Zach Moss scored from two yards out to give Utah a 7-3 lead. Moss had a 19-yard run on the 50-yard drive, and an interference call against Alijah Holder set up the touchdown run.
Gay, the nation’s leading field goal kicker, had his first miss after 14 makes on a 50yard try that was wide left. Stanford’s Isaiah Brandt-Sims probably should have been called from running into Gay, but the officials ruled it incidental contact.
That prompted an angry roar from the crowd and a loud protest from Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham, who was given an unsportsmanlikeconduct penalty for his trouble.
The flag meant the Cardinal offense started on its 47, and Costello moved the team into field goal range. But Toner, like Gay, missed his first field goal of the season. He had hit 10 straight before his 27-yard effort went wide left.
Chryst’s 7-yard run gave Stanford a 10-7 lead in the second quarter. On a 3rd-and-10 play, Chryst found Trent Irwin for 25 yards. Love, who had been held in check, broke free on a 39-yard run to the Utah 7. On the next play, Chryst faked a handoff to Love and ran untouched into the end zone.
Gay’s 30-yard field goal tied the score 10-10 with three minutes left in the half.
Chryst engineered another scoring drive before the half ended. After a 19-yard run by Love, Chryst hit Irwin nicely for 19 yards and, with a blitzer in his face, found Dalton Schultz for 16, leading to Toner’s 49-yard field goal with six seconds left in the half.