UTAH UTES
Devaughn Vele Scores Toe-Tapping Touchdown Before Halftime
Sep 17, 2022, 9:47 PM | Updated: Oct 3, 2022, 11:56 am
Quarterback Cameron Rising #7 of the Utah Utes celebrates with Devaughn Vele #17 after scoring on a 11-yard rushing touchdown against the Arizona Wildcats during the first half of the NCAAF game at Arizona Stadium on November 13, 2021 in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY – Utah football forced a fumble on special teams and recovered the ball which led to the first touchdown of the season by Devaughn Vele.
Utah needed four plays before Cam Rising found Devaughn Vele for a 15-yard touchdown to give the Utes a 21-0 lead with 20 seconds remaining. Vele barely got his feet in the end zone before going out of bounds. The officials reviewed the play but couldn’t find any evidence that it wasn’t a touchdown.
Through the first half, Rising completed 14 of his 24 pass attempts for 162 yards and three touchdowns. Vele finished the first 30 minutes with two catches for 35 yards and a score.
The ruling on the field stands: TD 🙌🙌@devaughn_vele pic.twitter.com/jWZQZn4SiQ
— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) September 18, 2022
Utah has a lot of places they can pull frustration from and use it in revenge against SDSU Saturday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Coming up a total of six points short against Ohio State in the Rose Bowl and Florida to open the season at the Swamp are two areas of contention. Another is simply remembering that the Aztecs got the better of them a season before in triple overtime.
No, San Diego State is not the flashiest of programs at the moment, but the Utes have been considered one of the better teams in 2022 and winning with some pizzazz against a good, but not great team would go a long way to cementing that.
Last season the Aztecs under head coach Brady Hoke went 12-2 and fell just shy of being Mountain West Conference Champions to Utah State. SDSU finished ranked #25 in the AP Poll while beating up on UTSA in the Frisco Bowl.
This season has been a mixed bag early on for the Aztecs. They lost their season opener to Arizona, 38-20, but bounced back last week with a beatdown of Idaho State, 38-7. Now they are staring down the barrel at the Utes whom they walked away from victorious in 2021.
Quarterback Braxton Burmeister has accounted for 20 completed passes so far in 2022 for 159 yards passing. He also has two touchdowns to one interception with a completion rate of 55.6%. So far the Aztecs have not been too much of a threat to pass which means most of Utah’s focus should be going toward SDSU’s run game.
Utah’s game against San Diego State can be seen on ESPN2.
