College Football Old School Game of the Week: BYU Wins Holy War on Beck-to-Harline Walk Off Touchdown

 

Jonny Harline raises his rams in celebration after catching the game-winning touchdown in BYU's victory over Utah in 2006.

What makes college football so unique is that a player or players could earn a place in their school's football history with a singular play or moment in that can occur in a rivalry game.

Such is the case for BYU quarterback John Beck and tight end Jonny Harline for what they did on the final play of the Cougars' 2006 game against the Utah Utes that would become known as the "Answered Prayer" by BYU fans.

The Cougars came into their annual showdown with their rivals from Salt Lake City with a 9-2 record, the team's first winning season since 2001 as BYU had already wrapped the Mountain West conference championship and had accepted an invitation to play in the Las Vegas Bowl after the regular season.

The Cougars were led by head coach Bronco Mendenhall, who was in his second season as the BYU head coach after serving as the team's defensive coordinator in 2003 + 2004, and featured one of the country's most explosive offenses which averaged 37 points per game through the first 11 games of the season under the leadership of Beck, who had thrown for 3,135 yards and 26 touchdowns up to this point the season.

Beck's favorite target was Harline who had caught 42 passes for 636 yards and scored eight touchdowns in helping BYU go on an eight-game winning streak to earn the Cougars a #21 ranking in the AP and coaches polls as prepared for the 2006 version of the "Holy War".

Utah came into the game unranked with a 7-4 record in a up-and-down season under coach Kyle Wittingham, who was in his second season as Utah head coach after taking over for Urban Meyer who had led the Utes to a 12-0 season and Fiesta Bowl win in 2004.

On the field, the Utes were led by senior quarterback Brett Ratliff, who one year earlier made his first career start against BYU which he led Utah to a 41-34 overtime victory, and all-American cornerback Eric Weddle, who led the team with six interceptions.

Weddle and Ratliff were hoping to finish their college careers undefeated against BYU as the Utes was on a four-game winning streak in the "Holy War" as Utah hoped to make it five in a row in front of nearly 45,000 raucous fans at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.

  BYU would get the ball to start the game as Beck come out firing as he would complete four of five passes for 83 yards on the 10-play, 83-yard drive that ended with a one-yard touchdown by running back Manase Tonga to give the Cougars a 7-0 lead.

After the Utes punted on their opening possession of the game, the Cougars got the ball back at their 19-yard-line when Beck threw a chest pass to wide receiver Zac Collie for a 21-yard gain to begin the drive.

After Curtis Brown was dropped for a two-yard loss on the next play from scrimmage, Beck hit tight end Daniel Coats for a 26-yard completion to put the Cougars in Utah territory when Beck connected with Harline for a 36-yard touchdown to extend BYU's lead to 14-0 with 6:48 left in the first quarter.

The two teams would exchange punts as the game moved into the second quarter when the Utes marched into BYU territory for the first time in the game when they drove from their 35-yard-line to the Cougars' 47-yard-line until they lined to punt on 4th & 6.

But the Utes would not punt the ball as kicker Louie Sakoda kept the ball and ran 18 yards for a Utah 1st down at the BYU 29-yard-line.

Two plays later, the Utes would once again go into their bag of tricks as defensive back Eric Weddle lined up at quarterback and threw a 18-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Brent Casteel to cut the Cougars' lead to 14-7 with 9:18 remaining in the second quarter.

Following a BYU three-and-out, the Utes got the ball back at their 48-yard-line as they were able to drive to the Cougars' 17-yard-line until a pair of incomplete passes and a quarterback sack pushed Utah back to the BYU 24-yard-line where Sakoda would come on to try a 41-yard field goal.

However, Sakoda's kick would sail wide left to keep the score at 14-7 in favor of BYU who would begin its next possession at its 24-yard-line.

Beck would throw three straight incomplete passes to force a BYU punt as Utah would take over at its 28-yard-line with 1:51 left before halftime.

The Utes would move to their 40-yard-line when it appeared disaster had struck as Ratliff appeared to fumble the ball after a hit by BYU linebacker Aaron Wagner as fellow linebacker Bryan Kell picked up the ball and ran it back for a touchdown.

However, the replay booth showed that Ratliff's arm was moving forward, making it an incomplete pass, as the call was overturned which allowed Utah to keep the football.

From there, Ratliff would lead the Utes to the BYU six-yard-line to set up a 24-yard field goal attempt by Sakoda, which he made as time expired to trim the deficit to four points at 14-10 as the first half came to an end.

Utah wide receiver Brent Casteel caught five passes for 100 yards and scored two TDs.

Utah would get the ball to start the second half as it only took the Utes one play to get into Cougar territory as Ratliff completed a 47-yard pass to wide receiver Brian Hernandez to put Utah at the BYU 26-yard-line.

The Utes would advance to the BYU seven-yard-line when on 4th & 1 they decided to go for the 1st down only for Ratliff to be stopped for no gain on a quarterback sneak as Utah would turn it over on downs.

After forcing the Cougars to punt on their ensuing possession, the Utes got the ball back at their 43-yard-line when Ratliff threw a pass for wide receiver Marquis Wilson, who made the catch at the BYU 40-yard-line and then outran the Cougar defense for the 57-yard touchdown to give Utah its first lead of the game at 17-14 with 8:24 left in the third quarter.

Following a BYU three-and-out, the Utes would begin their next possession at their 34-yard-line as two critical BYU penalties, a pass interference penalty on defensive back Ben Criddle and a roughing-the passer penalty on linebacker Kelly Poppinga, helped Utah moved down the field to set up its four-yard touchdown pass from Ratliff to tight end Colt Sampson to extend its lead to 24-14 with 1:41 to go in the third quarter.

Facing their biggest deficit of the year, the Cougars desperately needed a good drive to turn the momentum back in their favor after giving up 24 unanswered points.

Beck would complete his next three passes for 25 yards to lead the Cougars to the Utah 45-yard-line when facing a 3rd & 24, Beck threw a deep pass for Harline in the end zone where he drew a pass interference penalty on Utah free safety Steve Tate that would give BYU an automatic 1st down at the Utes' 30-yard-line.

From there, the Cougars would draw an offsides penalty on the Utes for a free five yards which was followed by a 23-yard pass from Beck to Collie to give BYU a 1st & goal at the Utah two-yard-line.

After Fui Vakapuna was dropped for a two-yard loss on 1st down, Beck found Harline in the end zone for the four-yard touchdown to cut the Utes' lead to 24-20 as the extra point would be blocked with 13:15 left in the fourth quarter.

Utah would pick up two 1st downs before punting the ball back to the Cougars, who took over at their 10-yard-line when they put together their longest drive of the game as they drove 90 yards in 13 plays on a drive that took up six minutes and thirty-seven seconds on the clock.

Beck would complete six of seven passes for 48 yards on the drive that culminated with a two-yard touchdown pass from Beck to Coats to give BYU a 27-24 lead with 3:23 to go in regulation.

BYU quarterback John Beck would complete 28 of 43 passes for 375 yards and throw four touchdowns.

Needing at least a field goal to tie, the Utes would begin their next possession at their 17-yard-line with an incomplete pass followed by a 16-yard pass from Ratliff to running back Daryl Poston that was  wiped out because of a holding penalty to push Utah back to its nine-yard-line where they faced a 2nd & 18 situation.

Two passes to wide receiver Derrek Richards for 16 yards set up a do-or-die 4th & 2 when Ratliff scrambled for six yards to give Utah a fresh set of downs at their 31-yard-line.

On the next play from scrimmage, Ratliff would hit Casteel for 37 yards to move the Utes to inside BYU territory as they had a 1st down at the Cougars' 32-yard-line.

Ratliff would then complete two more passes to Richards for 13 yards to put Utah at the BYU 19-yard-line when Ratliff completed a short screen to Casteel, who managed to zigzag his way through the BYU defense to get into the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown and give the Utes a 31-27 lead with 1:19 to go in the game.

Curtis Brown would return the ensuing kickoff 25 yards to the Utah 25-yard-line as Beck and the BYU offense would come onto the field needing to score a touchdown instead of a field goal because of the blocked extra point earlier in the 4th quarter.

The drive would begin with a 15-yard pass from Beck to wide receiver Bryce Mahiuka to give BYU a 1st down at its 40-yard-line as Beck would complete one of his next three passes for six yards to set up a 4th & 4 situation at the Cougars' 46-yard-line.

That is when Beck found Harline for a 17-yard completion to give BYU a 1st down at the Utah 37-yard-line as Beck and Harline would connect again on the next play from scrimmage, this one for seven yards as the Cougars called timeout with 17 seconds to go and 30 yards away from the end zone.

Beck would then hit McKay Jacobsen for 19 yards and a 1st down at the Utah 11-yard-line when Beck was able to spike the ball and stop the clock with seven seconds to play.

With at best two chances to get into the end zone, Beck would throw a fade for Harline in the right corner of the end zone only for Utah cornerback Brice McCain to break up the pass as the ball fell to the ground with three seconds to go.

Lined up in the shotgun, Beck would take the snap as he drifted toward his left as he tried to point his receivers to find an open spot in the end zone until Utah linebacker Joe Jiannoni forced Beck to scramble back to the right side where he fired a pass across his body to a wide open Harline in the left corner of the end zone.

Falling to his knees, Harline would make the catch for what would be the game-winning touchdown to end the Cougars' four-game losing streak in the "Holy War" and give BYU a shocking 33-31 victory.

The heartbreaking loss to BYU would drop the Utes to a 7-5 record but still good enough to earn an invitation to play Tulsa in the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas where the Utes defeat the Golden Hurricane 25-13 to finish the season with an 8-5 record.

As for the Cougars, they would face the Oregon Ducks in the Las Vegas Bowl where Beck would throw for 375 yards and two touchdowns with Harline catching nine passes for 181 yards and a touchdown to lead BYU to a 38-8 rout to finish the season with a 11-2 record and #15 ranking in the final AP poll and #16 ranking in the final coaches poll.