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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah was intent on making its final game of the Pac-12 era a wild one.
With quarterback Bryson Barnes "banged up pretty good last week" and Nate Johnson entering the transfer portal earlier in the week, according to head coach Kyle Whittingham, Utah was left with fifth-string quarterback Luke Bottari under center to get the job done Saturday in the final game at Rice-Eccles Stadium this season.
Bottari attempted only three passes in the first half — all completions — and finished the day with two rushing touchdowns and 61 yards on 6-of-10 passing in a 23-17 win over the visiting Colorado Buffaloes for senior day.
"It wasn't very flashy, but he did what we needed him to do," Whittingham said.
Bottari wasn't expected to do much under center in Utah's (8-4, 5-4 Pac-12) game plan, but he delivered in what he was supposed to do, especially on a fourth-and-4 down at Colorado's (4-8, 1-8 Pac-12) 38-yard line where he found Luca Caldarella for a 16-yard gain, and then again on fourth-and-3 on the next series on a 5-yard pass to Mikey Matthews.
For the walk-on quarterback, it was quite the ending to a season where he was started on California's roster before coming back to Utah during fall camp. But his return to Utah resulted in his first two career touchdowns.
"I think it took a couple seconds to hit me, for sure," Bottari said, speaking to his reaction after scoring his first touchdown. "But just super juiced to celebrate with my guys."
Though Bottari was called on to lead to the offense, it was a strong ground game that helped Utah to its eighth win of the season. Utah finished with 268 rushing yards, with Jaylon Glover leading the charge with a career-high 107 rushing yards. Ja'Quinden Jackson added 68 yards on 21 carries, and Sione Vaki added 68 yards on seven carries.
"My offensive line played a hell of a game today, and when I get to the second level, that's when my personality comes out," Glover said. "But it all starts up front, so I just want to say thank you to the big guys."
The game plan for Utah was to establish a strong rushing game, the the team did not deviate from the plan.
Utah's defense set the tone early when on Colorado's opening drive, Connor O'Toole stripped backup quarterback Ryan Staub — starter Shadeur Sanders was held out due to injury — of the ball on a sack attempt before fellow defensive end Van Fillinger jumped on the ball for an early turnover.
The Utah offense then went 58 yards on eight plays over five minutes — no passing plays — before Bottari found the end zone on a 2-yard run for his first career touchdown.
It was all part of a strategy where Utah drained the clock to speed up the game. On Utah's three meaningful drives of the first half, the offense took 16:35 off the clock to take a 13-10 lead into the break.
"The plan was to lean on the running game heavily in this contest," Whittingham said. "We really like our offensive line and really gave them the challenge to go out and win the game for us, and the running backs, as well, and they answered the bell."
Colorado's Staub kept the Buffaloes into the game down and refused to let Utah waltz to victory. Midway through the fourth quarter, Staub orchestrated an eight-play drive that went over 84 yards that was capped off on an 18-yard touchdown pass to two-way player Travis Hunter for a touchdown.
Staub finished the day throwing for 195 yards and one touchdown on 17-of-24 passing in the loss.
"Winning this last game was really good," Cole Bishop said. "Anybody with any type of competitive chip, no matter what, there's still something to play for as the next game. You don't want to lose ever, so just being able to have everybody have that mindset — even when we knew that the championship wasn't achievable anymore, we still just kept going in every week and trying to get the win."
