There have been a couple of heartbroken defenses in Week 5 thanks to a miraculous Hail Mary and a 54-yard field goal as time expired. On the other side of the country, however, it was a defense that was feeling jubilation at game’s end.
At home, Cal took a 28-17 lead on No. 18 Utah with just over nine minutes left on a Davis Webb 58-yard touchdown pass, the Texas Tech transfer‘s fourth of the game. A Zack Moss one-yard touchdown run less than three minutes later pulled the Utes to within five at 28-23 as the two-point conversion failed.
Following a Golden Bears punt, the Utes got the ball back with 4:21 remaining on the clock and 49 yards standing between them and the game-winning touchdown. 10 plays later, and aided by a fourth-down defensive pass interference call on Cal, Utah was at the Cal one-yard line with three seconds and one play remaining.
That one play, though, will be the stuff, literally and figuratively, of legend in Berkeley for years to come.
The loss was the Utes’ first after opening the season with four straight wins. On the other side, this win is the Bears’ second over a ranked team this season; since the beginning of the 2009 season, they’d had three wins combined against ranked teams entering 2016.
The loss also means that the Pac-12 is down to just two undefeated teams -- Washington and Arizona State, which, as of this posting, is down 24-6 to USC very late in the second quarter.