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SALT LAKE CITY — It was a play that most viewed as a complete failure by the defense. You'd likely hear little argument of the contrary from the Utah coaching staff, too.
With an 11-point lead in the second quarter, Utah's defense had Oregon State exactly where it wanted: a third-and-10 scenario on the Beavers' 32-yard line with just over a minute to play before the halftime break. With the previous two deep passing plays going incomplete, backup quarterback Ben Gulbranson hit Tre'Shaun Harrison 2 yards behind the line of scrimmage on a screen pass.
Harrison had two teammates a few yards ahead of him perfectly placed to block Utah defenders and a third ready to pick up another. As he skirted past the last line of defense, all that was left was the open field and an end zone in the distance.
Cornerback Zemaiah Vaughn, who was on the opposite side of the field, had other plans. The 6-foot-2 sophomore turned on a second gear and sprinted to catch up to Harrison, who seemingly assumed the long run would end with a score. But Vaughn eventually caught up and tackled Harrison at Utah's 5-yard line.
On the surface, it was a disaster scenario for the Utes going into halftime.
The touchdown-saving tackle, however, turned out to be exactly what Utah needed. The defense held strong and Oregon State had to settle with a 26-yard field goal to cut the lead to 21-13.
It was the most explosive play of the day for Oregon State, but one that was stopped by a hungry defender eager to do his part to help the team; a play that cornerback coach Sharrieff Shah said he's watched on repeat since Saturday.
To Shah, it was the perfect example of how his players have matured and improved — not just this season, but over the past two seasons where Utah was forced to rely on a young and inexperienced secondary as its starters. In years past, their schemes had to change, the understanding was limited, and the coaching staff hoped to get by with pure talent alone.
It was a lot of players trying to do it on their own, too.
"We have certain modifications in coverage that you can ask a friend to help," Shah said. "Years ago, we saw people just doing their own thing. Now, you're getting those modifications where friends are helping and so you know that you're confident, but I'm confident in the player on the field with me; that's what you love to see."
In Shah's eyes, Vaughn was the friend called on to help — and the one that provided a perfect example to the other players in his room as to how it's done in a real-life setting when the stakes were high. It's one reason why Utah's passing defense ranks ninth in the country and closely rivals what the team had in 2019 when it finished 12th in passing defense.
"As coaches, that's the one play we go over more than any other play," Shah said. "Zemaiah could have easily — he was on the far east side corner of the field 15 yards back — and he could have said, 'Well, somebody else could have got him,' because he's done that before. And consequently, he's ran after practice before because of it.
"But for him to say, 'I don't care that I'm tired, I just ran down and guarded a long ball,' and then put on his high horse and got that man, he saved a touchdown that resulted in 3 points. It was such a play that resembles our culture: to be relentless, to be smart, to be nasty and to be a ballhawk; that is what Zemaiah's play encapsulated, and I love it."
Vaughn's touchdown-saving play was ultimately overshadowed by Clark Phillips' three interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown, and R.J. Hubert pulling down an interception of his own. But it was the prime example of how players need to always stay ready and what "running to the ball will produce," Shah said.
"It saves touchdowns, changes the momentum of the game," he said. "It was huge.
"I love just the level of camaraderie, the belief that they have in each other, and the willingness to play as hard as I can while I'm on the field and believe that I don't have to do anything superhuman — just do my job and my friend will do his."
Phillips had his day and deservedly received much of the praise from the game for a total defensive effort to stymie an Oregon State team, but Vaughn was the example of how far Utah has come in developing its top-end talent and the depth behind it under Shah over the last few years.
Sure, Phillips will continue to be the potential first-round NFL draft pick that many see him becoming, but it's players like Vaughn who provide equal value to the makeup of the entire defensive effort.
For as much as Shah would like credit for developing that talent — of which he deserves based solely on the number of athletes he's coached to play in the NFL — he said the secondary benefitted from the injury bug that swept through his room last season and gave more players than usual an opportunity to get on the field and get real-world experience.
He described each week last year like "going right down into the loop of the roller coaster" and not knowing what would be on the other side, but it's all led to better camaraderie and an understanding of how each player can be utilized in Utah's defense.
"Had individuals not gone down, we'd be that much further behind in the growth development, experience, and trust that the boys in the room are giving each other," Shah said. "So it was huge. It was such an untimely and sad, beneficial, productive experience — all of it. It was wonderful because kids got to play, and they never thought they would.
"They get upset at us because we coach them like they will, because we believe that they will, we just don't know when it's going to happen — so play like you will. It really yielded tremendous benefits for us, and we experienced a championship because of it, a Rose Bowl berth because of it."
It may not always be the desired result that Shah or other members of the coaching staff want to see on the field each week, but Utah has found a way to turn a previous weakness into one of its strengths on the defensive side of that ball.
