What an emotional Kyle Whittingham said after Utah's wild comeback win over Kansas State

Utes pulled off crazy 12-point comeback win over Wildcats to remain Big 12 title game eligible

Utah Utes wide receiver Larry Simmons (12) reaches for the ball against Kansas State Wildcats cornerback Zashon Rich (25) during the second half at Rice-Eccles Stadium. | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

Kyle Whittingham was able to rationale Utah's 27-point win over Baylor despite getting scorched in a 400-yard passing day from the Bears offense.

What about giving up a school-record 472 rushing yards and still coming away victorious?

"I'd say you're crazy," Whittingham said after Utah kept its postseason aspirations alive with a 51-47 win over Kansas State on Saturday. "That doesn't happen."

"Crazy" was the perfect word to describe what transpired at Rice-Eccles Stadium over the last 4 hours, as the Utes looked helpless against the Wildcats' suddenly-potent rushing attack early on before stringing together just enough plays in crunch time to pull off a wild fourth quarter comeback and preserve their Big 12 title game and College Football Playoff eligibility.

Kansas State led by 10 at halftime and went ahead by 12 with about 7 minutes left in regulation, when Tao Johnson turned the game on its head with a rare interception return for 2 points on a 2-point conversion try from the Wildcats following a fumble from Devon Dampier on the previous Utah possession.

Dampier rebounded with a pivotal scoring drive to make it a 3-point game with just over 2 minutes left, connecting with Larry Simmons for a 20-yard score following a big reception from the Southern Miss transfer moments earlier.

The Utes defense, which allowed a season-high 574 total yards of offense and 47 points, stood tall when it needed to most, forcing a three-and-out and giving Dampier and company enough time to put together the go-ahead scoring drive in the final minute of the fourth quarter.

Senior linebacker Lander Barton sealed the win with an interception on Kansas State's last attempt to pull off an upset.

Barton was one of several seniors honored prior to their final home game at Rice-Eccles Stadium. The emotions felt in pregame festivities carried out right through the final whistle, making for quite the scene as Barton got swarmed by his teammates after his interception kept the Utes' postseason aspirations alive.

"Just a great illustration of what determination and guts and 'never say die' attitude can get you," Whittingham said. "When I think about our seniors, I get emotional, so I apologize, but it's just so awesome for them to be able to have that experience."

Here's more from Whittingham following Utah's come-from-behind win.

On Utah's inability to stop the run

"It was just a power run game — just the basic power play. And it was a gap power play, where it starts strong side and cuts back, and and we continually didn't defend it the right way."

"We were out of square, we were losing gaps and so obviously we didn't do a good enough job as coaches to get them ready to to play, especially that particular play. That one play did the majority of the damage. They just ran it over and over, and we just didn't do good enough job as coaches. So that's on me."

On watching Devon Dampier score the go-ahead touchdown

"It was surreal. I mean, first of all, when he popped that fourth and one, that [59] yard run — I thought he was scoring on that. It was just a moment that you can't even dream it up. I mean, it just happens and you just have to enjoy it. Because you'll find yourself on the other end of those type of games too, at times. So, just enjoy the good ones."

On the message going around Utah's sidelines when it was a 12-point game

"We knew there was enough time to win. I guess ESPN had us at 97% chance of losing at that point on the on the meter — my daughter's look at that the whole game, and that's how they decide if they're happy or not. It was down to 97%, but there's 3% there for us, I guess. So we felt that if we could get the ball in the end zone again, then manage the clock — and we had all three timeouts, fortunately, we didn't squander any of the time outs, because that was huge down the stretch there to have all three of those in your pocket."

"But everyone on the sideline never stopped believing. Nobody threw in the towel. They had that unwavering belief that you need to have there, and they they continued to persevere."

On Lander Barton's game-sealing interception

"What a fitting way for Lander Barton to finish his career here at Rice-Eccles. I guess maybe there may be one more, I don't know, but for him to seal the victory with that pick — he's done so much for this program through the years, just a tremendous competitor."

"His parents played here and and his mom was an All-WAC performer in two sports. And of course, Jackson came here, then Cody and then Lander and his sister, Dani, is tremendous. The whole family has just been so integral to Utah athletics for so many years, it was good to see him be the guy to seal it."

On how he handled halftime

"I lit into the defense pretty good. I said, 'That's not who we are.' There's times to coddle and times to get after them, and it was the time to do that. That was my message and they responded. They didn't flinch, they didn't hang their head. They got the message loud and clear, and not that we are as good as we need to be in the second half either. We were at the end there, but we still were not who we usually are."

"But the offense had been productive and I just them, "Hey, your job is to go out and score this first drive and cut the deficit to three.' And they did — they did successive drives. They scored, but the defense — they knew, they're smart kids. They understand. And I got after the coaches too, because we weren't doing our best job coaching."