Halliday passes Brink for career passing touchdowns

SALT LAKE CITY – Despite wind, rain and a heavy pass-rush, quarterback Connor Halliday overcame a rough start to have a great game for the Cougars, setting a school record in the process.

Halliday’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Vince Mayle was No. 76 in his career, tying Alex Brink’s school record. His next two – to Dom Williams and the game-winner to Mayle – gave him the record all to himself.

Halliday’s day couldn’t have started much worse. His first pass went for a one-yard loss, his second was incomplete and his first drive ended with a sack. His next drive began with an interception that was returned for a touchdown.

He finished having completed 39 of 61 passes for 417 yards, with four touchdowns and two interceptions. He was sacked three times.

Two of those touchdowns came on fourth-down conversions.

His completion percentage was particularly impressive given the extreme weather circumstances. The anticipated lightning strikes never came but the wind and rain that pierced Rice-Eccles Stadium were more than enough to impact the game.

The downpour soaked the field and every step the players took forced a miniature geyser to erupt around their cleats. Utah missed a field goal that appeared to be carried by the wind.

Utes quarterback Travis Wilson avoided a sack on third down in the third quarter then later went down when he slipped on the wet turf. Halliday lost a fumble when he tried to pass only to have the ball slip backward out of his hand.

“Frustrating. I mean it’s tough but there’s nothing you can do about it,” Halliday said. “I thought we did a good job with it other than the one ball that slipped out of my hand, which was frustrating but something like that is going to happen throughout the game with it being that wet.”

Booker makes his mark

Running back Devontae Booker signed with Washington State out of high school but was in the opposing backfield the first time he took the same field as the Cougars.

Booker, then known as Butler-Booker, was a major recruit for then WSU coach Paul Wulff, signing with WSU out of Grant Union high school, where he rushed for an astounding 2,884 yards and 45 touchdowns as a senior.

He failed to qualify academically to enroll at WSU and eventually spent three years at American River College before enrolling at Utah last spring.

Cougars fans probably wish they’d still never heard of him.

On Booker’s first play on offense he carried the ball 76 yards for a touchdown that gave the Utes a 21-0 lead in the first quarter. It was Utah’s first offensive touchdown of the game.

“In the first half the running back was slippery and hard to tackle,” Kache Palacio said. “He was a great running back but we needed to make routine plays on defense.”

After that early success the Utes continued to lean on Booker, who rushed for a career-high 131 yards on 11 carries in the first half alone. He finished with 178 yards, the most given up by WSU to an opposing running back this season.