STILLWATER, Okla. – Micah Bernard rushed for a career-high 182 yards, and No. 12 Utah withstood a fourth-quarter comeback to beat No. 14 Oklahoma State 22-19 on Saturday in the Utes' first Big 12 game after leaving the Pac-12.
Brant Kuithe scored two touchdowns and Cole Becker kicked three field goals for Utah (4-0, 1-0 Big 12).
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Freshman Isaac Wilson passed for 207 yards and a touchdown and ran for 41 yards in place of injured Utes starter Cam Rising, who warmed up but didn’t play.
Oklahoma State's Alan Bowman, benched after an ineffective first half, returned midway through the fourth quarter and passed for two touchdowns and two 2-point conversions to help Oklahoma State (3-1, 0-1) trim Utah's lead to three points.
“Made that more dramatic than we needed to, but we handled it well and got the win,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “Proud of our guys. Didn't always play as smart as we needed to. Had a chance to put the game away completely, let them back in it.”
Utah ran 81 plays to 59 for the Cowboys and had the ball for more than 42 minutes.
“The defense was on the field all day, which made it extremely difficult for them, honestly,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said. “I thought they played really well. You can only be out there so much. It made it really difficult.”
Bowman, who was 8 of 22 for 89 yards in the first half, finished with 206 yards and two interceptions. Sophomore Garret Rangel played the third quarter and part of the fourth before Bowman returned with 9:26 left and the Cowboys trailing 16-3.
“Offensively, we were awful,” Gundy said. “We couldn’t get any quarterback play, and then all of a sudden, late in the game we start playing better at quarterback. They won the game, but we certainly did a lot of things to help them.”
Utah held Oklahoma State's Ollie Gordon II to 42 yards rushing. Gordon won the Doak Walker Award for the nation's best running back last season.
Utah turned the ball over three times in the first half but still led 10-3. Cowboys safety Trey Rucker intercepted Wilson twice before the break.
The Utes' defense limited Oklahoma State to 119 yards and five first downs before the break, with Gordon gaining 16 yars on six carries.
The teams traded field goals before Utah forced a punt and drove 64 yards in 11 plays for the only touchdown of the first half. Kuithe scored on a direct snap from the 1-yard line.
The t
akeaway
Utah: The Utes played without starters Connor O'Toole and Karene Reid on defense, but they still took away Gordon and Bowman. Utah limited Oklahoma State to 285 yards and forced eight punts.
Oklahoma State: The Cowboys nearly completed the comeback, but couldn't stop Bernard late, and the Utes ran out the clock.
Young gun
Wilson showed poise in his second start, completing 17 of 29 passes and extending several drives with his legs. He ran for a first down on fourth-and-5 from the Oklahoma State 21 in the second quarter, and later picked up 48 yards on third-and-11 in the third quarter.
“I liked that he just kept hanging in there,” Whittingham said. “Never got down on himself. Threw a couple of picks, didn't flinch. You saw his ability to run. He ripped off that 40 or 50-yard run — that was huge at that point in time. Dipped his shoulder and made another tough, tough run down in the red zone that got us a first down."
Musical chairs
Gundy said he pulled Bowman because “sometimes you've got to get a guy out of there and calm him down a little bit.”
“Things move so fast that it's hard to get that part of it,” he said. “But I just felt like we weren't getting good play, and we needed a relief pitcher and got somebody else in there. And Garret had a tough day, so we switched back.”
Rangel, a sophomore, completed 3 of 11 passes for 31 yards.
Up next
Utah: Hosts Arizona on Saturday.
Oklahoma State: Visits Kansas State on Saturday.
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