Utah ends disappointing season on a positive note, breaking seven-game losing streak in 28-14 win at UCF

ORLANDO — Utah running back Micah Bernard ran over to the red-clad crowd in the corner of FBC Mortgage Stadium to do something he’s been waiting to do for 63 days.
After his final game as a Ute, a 28-14 win over UCF Friday, Bernard led his teammates in a rendition of the school’s fight song, “Utah Man.”
“It felt good, but at the same time it’s like bittersweet. That’s the last one. It’s the last one of our careers here at Utah,” Bernard said.
Utah entered Friday’s season finale having lost seven consecutive contests, the program’s longest losing streak since 1986. While the 2024 season will go down in the books as one of the most disappointing in program history, snapping that lengthy streak of losses provided everyone in the program — especially the seniors — with a small sense of relief as Utah enters a very pivotal offseason.
“It felt good just to finally sing ‘Utah Man’ and smile and have fun,” Bernard said.
There will be plenty of decisions to make in the coming weeks, starting with head coach Kyle Whittingham, who will decide whether to retire and hand the program off to coach-in-waiting Morgan Scalley or return for his 21st season as Utah’s coach.
After that, Priority No. 1 is to turn around an offense that struggled mightily this past season, and that process will start with hiring an offensive coordinator, something that the school is currently in the midst of.
In the next couple of weeks, Utah will sign a new high school recruiting class and manage the transfer portal — both incoming and outgoing players.
All of that is hugely important as Utah attempts to bounce back from a 5-7 season — its first losing season since 2013 — but tonight, the Utes will enjoy their first victory since September.
“I mean, you certainly want to go out with a win rather than the alternative, but it does give you some momentum going into the offseason, positive feeling. Still far away from where we wanted to be and a lot of circumstances this year have contributed to that,” Whittingham said.
“Very positive and proud of our guys and mainly for hanging in there because you start having week after week of no success, a lot of teams are just cashing in and just not even give any effort. These guys just continue to give great effort every single week.”
Utah cornerback Zemaiah Vaughn sparked the team with his first career pick-six in his final game of the season.
It appeared to be a total miscommunication between UCF quarterback Dylan Rizk and his receiver, and Vaughn was in the right place at the right time to haul in the pick with no Knight receiver anywhere near him.
From there, he was off to the races as the senior sprinted 60 yards to the end zone for his first career pick-six, giving Utah a 10-0 lead in the second quarter.
“That was amazing. 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,” Vaughn said.
On a night Utah’s offense did just enough to win, the defense stole the show, scoring two touchdowns and forcing three UCF turnovers.
Aside from one poor defensive series when Utah looked out of sorts and RJ Harvey reminded the nation why he’s one of the best running backs in college football, Scalley’s unit contained the Big 12′s most productive offense, holding it to just one scoring play during the competitive portion of the contest (UCF scored a touchdown in garbage time with the result in hand).
Utah’s defense set the tone for the game by forcing a turnover on the first series of the contest.
UCF advanced to the Utah 29-yard line before Rizk was nailed by linebacker Lander Barton, who jarred the ball free. Logan Fano jumped on the ball at the UCF 46-yard line, setting the Utes up with good field position for their first offensive possession, but they settled for a field goal.
“Nobody prepares any better for a game than Morgan Scalley, but then it doesn’t matter if the coach knows, it matters what the players know,” Whittingham said.
“He does a great job of conveying information and knowledge to his players and tips with tendencies for the week, and that really was a product of that, just knowing what was coming before it was coming because of film study and really good coaching. His whole staff, the whole staff did a good job.”
The second defensive score, which came late in the fourth quarter, was the icing on the cake for the Utes, as cornerback Smith Snowden intercepted EJ Colson and ran it 13 yards into the end zone for a 28-7 Utah lead.
UCF outgained Utah 379-196 and Harvey rushed for 119 yards and a touchdown, but in 12 drives before the Knights scored at the last second, just one resulted in points.
Utah took the ball away three times, forced five punts and forced a turnover on downs three times.
With fifth-string quarterback Luke Bottari leading the team, Utah’s offensive production wasn’t head-turning. The Utes had 196 total yards of offense, didn’t score a touchdown in the first half and had two first-half red zone trips end in field goals.
But Utah didn’t turn the ball over — Bottari fumbled it once after being sacked, but offensive lineman Caleb Lomu fell on it — and scored a touchdown in the second half. With the defense playing as well as it was, that was enough for a win.
Bernard led the way, running for 87 yards and becoming the first Ute running back since Zack Moss to break the 1,000-yard mark in a season.
Utah’s lone touchdown drive featured a heavy dose of true freshman receiver Zacharyus Williams, who caught an 11-yard pass to start the drive off on the right foot and had a key four-yard completion to move the chains on fourth-and-3.
Bottari polished off the drive with his best pass of the night — a 13-yard corner fade to Landen King, who made a great grab for his first score of the season.
Williams provided a glimpse of the receiving corps’ future, catching six passes for 72 yards, both team highs on Friday night. His ability to gain yards after the catch has Utah’s coach excited about his potential next season, and he displayed that on a 33-yard catch that got the Utes in the red zone, which resulted in a field goal near the end of the first half.
“It was great to see Zacharyus Williams, a true freshman, do some really good things. I think he’s going to be a really good player,” Whittingham said. “Caught a bunch of balls … leading receiver for us. He’s a tough kid. Got good size, good speed.”
Bottari ended his Utah career 2-0 as a starter after being called upon in each of Utah’s regular-season finales over the past two years.
“I mean it’s pretty surreal. You’re sitting in fall camp, thinking like this is never going to happen, but happens two years in a row,” Bottari said. “…I’m just happy they gave me the opportunity to come in and get the win.”
Bottari was 13 for 20 for 111 yards and a score in his final game. His favorite target was Williams, who had his breakout game as a Ute two games after getting his first catch of the season against Colorado.
Everyone involved in Utah’s program knows this season fell well short of expectations, and in the coming weeks, moves will be made to try and address those shortcomings, particularly on the offensive side of the ball.
But on Friday night, for the first time in over two months, instead of trudging off the field in disappointment and frustration, Utah’s players got to happily celebrate in front of their fans.
The Utes, and their coaching staff, will celebrate this one on the cross-country plane ride home early Saturday morning, and then get to work to try to ensure that the 2025 season is nothing like 2024.