DJ & PK's Best Utah/BYU Moments: “Last Miracle For LaVell”

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – We've reached the first weekend of November, the last full month of the college football regular season.

As we get closer to BYU and Utah meeting on November 9th at Rice-Eccles Stadium, DJ and PK take a look back at some of the biggest moments from this rivalry. Today's list includes legendary Cougars coach LaVell Edwards' final game before his retirement, a 34-27 win in Salt Lake City thanks to a game-winning touchdown drive.

It was November 24, 2000, and for each of these teams two mediocre seasons were coming to an end.

Entering the match, the Cougars were 5-6 overall and 4-3 in Mountain West Conference play. BYU was never able to gain momentum as its only consecutive wins came in the final two games of the season.

The Utes were in even worse shape, entering the game against BYU at 4-6, two games under .500. They opened the season 0-4 and only won one home game in the entire 2000 season.

All of this is to say that this game didn't mean much in the context of the season, however, every encounter between the Utes and Cougars seems to transcend everyday implications on this November evening. Since LaVell Edwards had announced his retirement before the 2000 season, this game was special as his team and staff wanted to send off the icon with a win.

Things didn't go well for BYU. The Cougars received the opening kickoff and on 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 struck back with a field goal followed by an interception by Jared Lee, setting up the Cougars' offense at the Utah 32-yard line, which prompted Brian McDonald to go from three on the ground just a few plays later yards distance to score.

Before halftime, Owen Pochman kicked three more field goals and scored twelve points in the first half alone. The BYU defense stifled Utah in the first two quarters, allowing just three points, a 40-yard field goal by Ryan Kaneshiro just before halftime. BYU led 19-10 at halftime.

In the third quarter, the Cougar defense continued its dominant performance while the offense extended its lead with a 36-yard touchdown pass to Mike Rigell, giving BYU a commanding 16-point lead early in the final frame.

Despite the deficit, you can always count on these two teams to make things interesting down the home stretch.

Utah started a massive comeback with a field goal early in the fourth quarter, cutting the score to 26-13.

The Ute defense kept BYU at bay and got the ball back, but with 8:02 on the clock they had a 4 & 12, but instead of kicking the field goal, they decided to go for it. A stop by the Cougars would almost certainly end the game.

Darnell Arceneaux took the snap and threw a high pass toward Cliff Russell. The ball would fall incomplete, but not before BYU cornerback Danny Phillips was cited for interference with the game, which would put the Utes on the 2-yard line where Thomas Fortune would later score a play. The game was now 26:20. After entering the fourth quarter with a lead of 16, the Cougars now led by just a single point.

A resurgent Utah defense regained possession again, and with 2:16 to play, they climbed all the way back to take a one-point lead thanks to a 20-yard touchdown pass from Darnell Arceneaux to Matt Nickel.

Utah was one stop away from spoiling LaVell Edwards' last game as coach, and BYU had two minutes to make sure that didn't happen.

The Cougars began their drive with a flurry of misplays and found themselves in their own territory up 4 and 13 points with just 1:04 remaining. Brandon Doman immediately felt pressure on his face, forcing him to retreat toward his own goal line, and just before he was pressured by a Utah rusher, he threw a prayer shot 45 yards downfield that somehow found Jonathan Pittman and put the Cougars up miraculously kept driving alive.

On the following play, Doman found Pittman again for a 34-yard connection down the left sideline, bringing BYU to the 15-yard line with 40 seconds left.

Then, two plays later, Brandon Doman made it to his own right on a planned QB run. BYU then made a successful 2-pointer to give them a 34-27 lead, earning LaVell Edwards the ejection he deserved.

November 24, 2000
–@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 final game of LaVell Edwards' incredible coaching career.
–#byufootball #byufootballthrowbacks #gocougs pic.twitter.com/z3ovoFUrqG

– BYU Throwbacks (@BYUThrowbacks) March 25, 2022

LaVell Edwards is the winningest head coach in BYU football history with 257 career wins and a .716 winning percentage. Coach Edwards also ranks 8th in all-time wins by a college football head coach.

At the end of his final season in 2000, the stadium previously named Cougar Stadium was renamed LaVell Edwards Stadium in his honor, and the Cougars now vow to “protect the house that LaVell built” with an incredible home record of 105-36 Since then the stadium has been renamed and gained a reputation as one of college football's most exciting venues.

LaVell Edwards passed away in December 2016, but the legacy he left in Provo will be remembered for generations to come.

Tanner Tripp is a sports writer for KSL Sports, covering every team in the state of Utah. Follow him here on X @tanner_tripp and Instagram @tanner.tripp.

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