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Utah holds off No. 5 Stanford

Oct 13, 2013 - 4:27 AM Salt Lake City, UT (SportsNetwork.com) - Travis Wilson completed 23-of-34 passes for 234 yards with two touchdowns to help Utah upset fifth-ranked Stanford 27-21 at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Bubba Poole led the Utah (4-2, 1-2 Pac-12) rushing attack with 111 yards on 22 carries, while also catching seven passes for 75 yards as the Utes got back in the win column after a 34-27 loss to UCLA.

Kevin Hogan went 15-of-27 for 246 yards and a touchdown. Tyler Gaffney carried the ball 16 times for 108 yards and a touchdown as Stanford (5-1, 3-1) had its 13-game winning streak snapped.

"We made adjustments that slowed them up in the second half, but they did a good job. We missed tackles and didn't play well enough. Good teams play hard and smart, we didn't do that tonight," said Stanford coach David Shaw.

Trailing 27-21, Stanford received the ball with a little less than eight minutes left in the game. Starting at its own 12-yard line, Hogan completed all five of his passes to help move the Cardinal down to the Utah 14 with about two minutes remaining. Gaffney and Hogan both rushed for four yards apiece, but Utah stood tall on third and fourth down to deny Stanford the comeback win.

"This was a great win for the team as a whole. The defense got a huge stop on the last drive," said Wilson.

Stanford scored on their first drive. Hogan found an open Kodi Whitfield for 28 yards to place Stanford at Utah's 5-yard line. Tyler Gaffney leaped over the pile from a yard out and into the end zone to give Stanford the early lead.

After converting on fourth down, Wilson found Karl Williams three plays later for a four-yard TD catch to tie the game at seven.

Stanford would not wait long to get back on the scoreboard. Ty Montgomery returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown for a second straight week to put the Cardinal up by a touchdown.

Later in the first, Hogan completed a 39-yard pass down the field to Michael Rector, but Jordan Williamson missed a a 38-yard field goal.

In the closing moments of the opening quarter, Wilson found Dres Anderson down the field on 3rd-and-17 for a 51-yard touchdown. Anderson used his body to create space near the sidelines to make the catch and extended the ball into the end zone to tie the game at 14-14.

Utah started at their own 1 to start off a drive midway through the second quarter. Anderson capped off an 11-play, 99-yard drive with a 3-yard scamper for the touchdown to put Utah ahead.

Both teams traded turnovers in the third quarter. Utah started off the second half by marching down to Stanford's 14 before Wilson was picked off by Joe Hemschoot with less than 10 minutes to go in the third. Stanford went 30 yards down the field before Trevor Reilly grabbed the ball out of Montgomery's hands for a Stanford turnover.

Andy Phillips capped off a 10-play, 47-yard drive with a 23-yard field goal to put Utah up 24-14 with 2:02 remaining in the third.

Stanford lost a fumble on their next drive. Nate Orchard sacked Hogan to force the turnover, and Reilly recovered his second fumble of the day. Phillips would kick a field goal from 48-yards out to give Utah a 27-14 lead early in the fourth quarter.

On the ensuing Cardinal drive, Hogan dumped off a short pass to Montgomery, who took the ball 45 yards to the Utah 7. Hogan found a diving Devon Cajuste from seven yards out for a touchdown with less than 10 minutes to go in the game.

Game Notes

The overall series between the two schools is tied, 3-3 ... This marked the first conference game between Utah and Stanford ... The two teams have not faced each other since 1996 ... Utah coach Kyle Whittingham won his 75th career game ... Utah totaled 415 yards and 22 first downs.