SALT LAKE CITY — Jake Retzlaff made two field goals in the fourth quarter and Will Ferrin kicked a 44-yard field goal with four seconds left to keep No. 9 BYU’s undefeated season alive with a 22-21 win over No. 9 BYU. Utah Saturday night.

The Cougars’ final drive was extended by a defensive holding penalty on fourth down when the largest crowd in Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium history (54,383) thought the game was over.

“I was in the end zone with my back in the end zone after falling (on a sack), and it wasn’t a good feeling. But looking up and seeing that flag, we had a new life,” Retzlaff said.

Utah AD Mark Harlan took the microphone in Utah’s press box before coaches and players appeared and blasted the officiating crew for their “disgusting performance.”

“This game was absolutely stolen from us,” he said.

Retzlaff, who was 15 of 33 for 219 yards, passed 30 yards to Chase Roberts and 12 yards to Darius Lassiter before Hinckley Ropati ran 14 yards to put BYU (9-0, 6-0 Big 12) in position to Ferrin’s kick. .

“That first pass was the catalyst. And so that’s a key thing to get, and once we got it, however we get it, we started rolling,” Retzlaff said.

Trailing 21-10 at halftime, BYU coach Kilani Sitake told his team not to panic.

“We felt like we got Utah’s best shot, but we haven’t gotten ours yet,” Sitake said. “And then we shut them out in the second half.”

The Cougars remain the last undefeated team in the Big 12 and in prime position for a bid to the conference championship game.

“It’s cool to be a part of it…and to be able to play this role,” Ferrin said.

Retzlaff scored on a 1-yard sneak with 12:35 left to cap a nine-play, 95-yard drive. But the 2-point conversion was intercepted by Cam Calhoun to keep Utah (4-5, 1-5) ahead 21-19.

Utah’s Brandon Rose, who was the third-string quarterback heading into the season, got his first career start after Cam Rising was lost for the season and Isaac Wilson struggled.

Rose ran twice for first downs, then completed his first positive pass of the game for a 20-yard touchdown to Brant Kuithe to complete a six-play, 64-yard drive early in the second quarter. Kuithe added a 1-yard touchdown run out of the Wildcat formation with 5:31 left before halftime, but then left the game with a season-ending leg injury.

Capitalizing on Rose’s interception in the third quarter, Will Ferrin scored his second of three field goals.

Rose was 12 of 21 for 112 yards, but just 4 of 11 for 25 yards in the second half.

Utah’s Zemaiah Vaughn stopped Roberts for a 2-yard loss on a fourth-and-1 pass, which led to Rose’s 7-year touchdown pass to Micah Bernard to make it 21-10 at the half-time.

Jakob Robinson’s first-quarter interception was turned into a 23-yard field goal by Ferrin.

In the second quarter, BYU’s Keelan Marion returned a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown, his second of the season.

Utah had won nine straight in the series before losing the 2021 game 26-17 and now this one.

“It’s a tough way to lose a ball game,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “Our players played hard. They did everything they could from start to finish. … It’s a shame that things turned out this way.”

Retzlaff said John Beck, who was the last BYU quarterback to win at Utah 18 years ago, texted him this week to wish him luck.

“I was just going to try to replicate what another No. 12 did at the time,” Retzlaff said. “Chaos!”

Takeaways

BYU: BYU’s offense managed just two field goals before coming alive in the fourth quarter. The Cougars mismanaged the clock by taking their final timeout too early, then a false start necessitated a 10-second runoff that ended the first half with them on the field goal.

Utah: Bernard, who was Utah’s lone offensive bright spot before the stellar second-quarter performance, had 17 carries for 78 yards and surpassed 2,000 career rushing yards. Rose was hot in the second quarter, but the offense faltered after that. The Utes have lost five in a row but haven’t lost any by more than 13 points.

Familiar enemies

Five of BYU’s key coaches played or coached in Utah and longtime Ute coach Kyle Whittingham played at BYU in the 1980s.

To be continued

BYU hosts Kansas next Saturday night.

Utah plays at No. 21 Colorado next Saturday.