DJ & PK’s Best Utah/BYU Rivalry Moments: ‘Last Miracle For LaVell’
Nov 1, 2024, 8:08 PM | Updated: 8:14 pm
7 Nov 1998: Head coach LaVell Edwards of the BYU Cougars looks on during the game against the New Mexico Lobos at the Cougar Stadium in Provo, Utah. The Cougars defeated the Lobos 46-21. Mandatory Credit: Tom Hauck /Allsport
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah- We have reached the first weekend of November, and with it the last full month of the college football regular season.
As we inch closer to BYU and Utah’s matchup at Rice-Eccles Stadium on November 9, DJ & PK take a look back at some of this rivalry’s biggest moments. On the list for today is legendary Cougars coach LaVell Edwards’ last game before his retirement, a 34-27 win in Salt Lake City thanks to a game-winning touchdown drive.
The day was November 24, 2000, and two rather mediocre seasons were coming to an end for each of these teams.
Coming into the matchup, the Cougars were 5-6 overall and 4-3 in Mountain West Conference play. BYU could never build any momentum with their only consecutive wins coming in the last two games of the season.
The Utes were in even worse shape, entering the game against BYU two games under .500 at 4-6. They opened the season 0-4, and would only end up winning one game at home during the entirety of the 2000 season.
All of this is to say that in the context of the season, this game didn’t mean much, however each meeting between the Utes and Cougars seems to transcend mundane implications, and this November evening. With LaVell Edwards having announced his retirement prior to the 2000 season, this game was special as his team and staff wanted to send the icon off with a win.
Things did not start well for BYU. The Cougars received the opening kick off and on only the second play from scrimmage, Brandon Doman threw a short pass right into the chest of Utah’s Andre Dyson, who read the play perfectly. He returned the interception 25 yards to give the Utes an early 7-0 lead.
However, BYU would punch back with a field goal followed by a Jared Lee interception, setting up the Cougar’s offense Utah’s 32-yard line, priming Brian McDonald to score on the ground from three yards out just a couple of plays later.
Before halftime, Owen Pochman kicked three more field goals, scoring 12 points in the first half on his own. The BYU Defense was able to smother Utah in the first two quarters, only allowing three points, a 40-yard field goal from Ryan Kaneshiro just before the break. BYU led at halftime 19-10.
In the third quarter, the Cougar defense continued their dominant performance while the offense added to their lead with a 36-yard touchdown pass to Mike Rigell, giving BYU a commanding 16-point lead entering the final frame.
Despite the deficit, you can always count on these two teams to make it interesting down the stretch.
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Utah mounted a massive comeback effort, starting with a field goal at the beginning of the fourth quarter, cutting the score to 26-13.
The Ute’s defense kept BYU at bay, getting the ball back, but with 8:02 on the clock, they found themselves with a 4 & 12, but instead of kicking the field goal, they chose to go for it. A stop for the Cougars would almost certainly end the game.
Darnell Arceneaux took the snap and threw a high-arcing pass in the direction of Cliff Russell. The ball would fall incomplete, but not before BYU cornerback Danny Phillips would be flagged for interference on the play, putting the Utes on the 2-yard line where Thomas Fortune would score a play later. The game now stood at 26-20. After entering the fourth quarter up by 16, the Cougars now led by only a single score.
A reinvigorated Utah defense once again took the ball back, and with 2:16 left in the game, they climbed all the way back, taking a 1-point lead thanks to a 20-yard touchdown pass to Matt Nickel from Darnell Arceneaux.
Utah was only one stop away from spoiling LaVell Edwards’ final game as a coach, and BYU had two minutes to make sure that didn’t happen.
The Cougars began their drive with a flurry of failed plays and found themselves with 4 & 13 deep in their own territory with only 1:04 remaining. Brandon Doman immediately had pressure in his face, forcing him to retreat toward his own goal line, and just before he was wrangled by a Utah rusher, he threw up a prayer 45-yards downfield that somehow found Jonathan Pittman, keeping the Cougars’ miraculous drive alive.
The following play, Doman found Pittman again for a 34-yard connection down the left sideline, putting BYU on the 15-yard line with 40 seconds remaining.
Then, two plays later, Brandon Doman took it himself on a designed QB run to the right. BYU then executed a successful 2-point conversion to put them up 34-27, giving LaVell Edwards the send-off he deserved.
November 24, 2000
— BYU Throwbacks (@BYUThrowbacks) March 25, 2022
–@bdoman cuts back and stretches across the goal line for the game-winning touchdown in the Cougar’s 34-27 win over Utah. This was the last game of LaVell Edwards incredible coaching career.
–#byufootball #byufootballthrowbacks #gocougs pic.twitter.com/z3ovoFUrqG
LaVell Edwards is the winningest head coach in BYU Football history with 257 career victories with a winning percentage of .716. Coach Edwards also ranks 8th all-time in wins for a college football head coach.
At the conclusion of his final season in 2000, the previously called Cougar Stadium was renamed to LaVell Edwards Stadium in his honor, and the Cougars now vow to, “protect the house LaVell that built” with an incredible 105-36 record at home since the stadium was renamed, gaining a reputation as one of college football’s most electric venues.
LaVell Edwards passed away in December 2016, but the legacy that he left in Provo will be remembered for generations to come.
