Zemaiah Vaughn pick 6 propels Utah to win over UCF, snaps 7-game skid

ORLANDO — At the time, Zemaiah Vaughn was the game's leading receiver. The problem was, he never played a snap on offense.

The senior cornerback had a pass fall right into his arms, and he wasted little time sprinting down the sideline for a 60-yard pick-six score to give the visiting Utes a 10-0 lead over UCF midway through the second quarter.

At least Vaughn finished his collegiate career in style.

"That was amazing," Vaughn said. "I've been waiting for that my whole career, and I'm just glad I got to finally do it before the season came to an end."

The rest of the game was more an exercise in futility as two 4-7 teams limped to the finish line of what started out as a promising season for both teams. The final game of the regular season was expected to have conference title implications, but all of that was a faded dream on Friday night.

Even with more than 2,000 miles separating Utah and UCF — new conference mates and first-time opponents — the evening was about putting to rest the season.

With Luke Bottari leading the charge on offense — Utah's fifth-string quarterback, which encapsulates the troubles the Utes have experienced this season — the Utes continued its season-long issues. Utah struggled to move the ball with consistency on offense and then stalled in the red zone.

But as Utah's defense continued to hold up its end of the bargain, Bottari got Utah's offense into the end zone early in the fourth quarter on a 15-yard toss to Landen King — his first score of the season — in the back of the end zone. And after a successful 2-point try on a shovel pass to Micah Bernard, Utah controlled a 21-7 lead it would never surrender.

For good measure, Smith Snowden added a pick six of his own late in the fourth quarter as Utah went on to beat UCF 28-14 at FBC Mortgage Stadium in Orlando. The win snaps a seven-game losing skid for the Utes.

"Positive way to end the season," Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. "We had a lot of adversity this year that we faced. These guys just kept hanging in there, like I said, all the last two months. No drop off in their work ethic, no drop off in their focus, their concentration, how they approach the business, (they're a) pleasure to coach.

"Even though we were far from where we wanted to be, and a way different season than what we had hoped for, still can't say how much I think of these seniors and this team as a whole. So very positive."

Bottari, who is now 2-0 as a starter for the Utes, finished the night throwing for 111 yards and one touchdown on 13-of-20 passing.

In his final collegiate game, Bernard finished with a team-high 87 rushing yards on 22 carries, eclipsing the 1,000-yard mark in a season for the first time in his career. Coming into the final game, Bernard needed 78 rushing yards to get over the mark.

Bernard had 56 yards at halftime but could get only a few yards here and there in the third quarter before eventually eclipsing it in the final minutes of the quarter.

"It meant a lot," Bernard said. "I knew how much I needed going into the game. ... Just to hit it, it just — that was my goal in the beginning of the season — 1,000 yard rusher — so I'm glad I got to check it off my list."

UCF got things moving early to start the game and got the ball down the field with relative ease before Lander Barton stripped sacked quarterback Dylan Rizk, as Logan Fano jumped on the ball to give Utah an early stop.

Utah could only go 27 yards down field, though, and settled for a 37-yard field goal on their opening drive. But the early score meant Utah never trailed in the game.

The Knights led the Big 12 in total offense coming into Friday night's game, but Rizk and the offense couldn't get much going against Utah's defense, which forced three turnovers, five sacks for 62 yards, and 10 tackles for loss.

Rizk threw for 118 yards and one interception on 11-of-27 passing in the loss before being replaced under center in the second half by EJ Colson, who threw for 70 yards — including a 6-yard touchdown with 19 seconds left in the game — on 8-of-12 passing.

"That was good to be able to send our seniors out for the last game with a win," Whittingham said. "Just great effort on defense. That was the No. 1 offense in the Big 12, statistically, coming in, and defensive guys did a great job. Scored twice on defense, held them to way less than what they've been averaging, and so very pleased with that."

The Knights got the ball moving a bit after Vaughn's pick six, moving the ball down field with relative ease on a 10-play, 89-yard drive that was capped off with a 5-yard rushing touchdown by RJ Harvey.

The score gave Harvey the all-time touchdown record for UCF and turned a two-score game suddenly into a 3-point game.

Utah answered back with a 24-yard field goal, but had a chance on the previous play to get a touchdown. The score never materialized after Bottari overthrew a fade to the sideline that had no chance of being caught.

But the offense did just enough, including no turnovers, to get the win.

"It felt good, but at the same time, it's like bittersweet," Bernard said. "That's the last one, last one of our careers here at Utah. So it felt good just to finally sing "Utah Man" and smile and have fun."

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