Zemaiah Vaughn pick 6 propels Utah to win over UCF, snap 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.

In a game devoid of several highlight-worthy plays, at least Vaughn finished his collegiate career in style.

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 in the back of the end zone. And after a successful 2-point try on a shovel pass, 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.

Bottari finished the night throwing for 111 yards and one touchdown on 13-of-20 passing.

In his final collegiate game, Micah Bernard finished with 87 rushing yards on 22 carries to lead the team, 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,

UCF got things moving early and got the ball down the field with relative ease before Lander Barton stripped sacked Dylan Rizk and 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.

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.

Minutes after Vaughn's pick six later in the first half, the Knights — which were consistently snuffed out by Utah's swarming defense — caught a spark and moved the ball down field with 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 came after Bottari overthrew a fade to the sideline that had no chance of being caught.

This story will be updated.

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