Pac-12: Utah stays in driver’s seat with win over Oregon State

The magic number is down to four for No. 13 Utah.

Four more wins and the Utes will play in their first Pac-12 championship game since joining the league in 2011.

The Utah defense ruled the day again as the Utes handled Oregon State, 27-12, on Saturday at Salt Lake City.

Utah (7-1, 4-1) holds a game lead in the Pac-12 South over UCLA (6-2, 3-2) with four games remaining, including the Bruins on Nov. 21.

Utah jumped out to a 14-0 lead after its first two possessions and cruised from there. Devontae Booker rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown while quarterback Travis Wilson completed 14 of 17 passes for 198 yards and a touchdown, and his 34th career start set a school record.

Wilson ran for 56 yards and a score while tying Alex Smith’s 21 wins as a starter for second place in school history.

“There was a little more emphasis on the running game, from my point of view,” Booker said. “Just based on the amount of carries I had last week [in a loss to USC], I was able to get the ball early and do some good things.”

The Utah offense called 12 consecutive runs on the opening drive of the game to put Oregon State in an early hole.

Booker opened the second possession with a 14-yard run, but the Utes eventually discovered the forward pass and Wilson hit tight end Harris Handley for a 39-yard touchdown down the left sideline.

“I wish we would have put up some more points, but I’m happy with the performance and the efforts,” Wilson said. “It feels good to get a win.”

The rout seemed to be on with Utah up 14-0 less than 12 minutes into the game, but the Oregon State defense found its legs.

The offense never really got going. Two second-quarter drives ended in field goals, but Oregon State managed only 312 yards all game, and 58 came on its final drive of the night.

The Beavers (2-6, 0-5) were without starting quarterback Seth Collins, who injured his knee Thursday.

No. 8 Stanford 30, at Washington State 28: Conrad Ukropina kicked a 19-yard field goal with 1:54 left as the Cardinal (7-1, 6-0) rallied to win its seventh in row.

The winning kick was set up by Quenton Meeks’ second interception of Luke Falk.

Erik Powell missed a 43-yard field goal on the final play that would have given Washington State the victory. Falk had thrown a one-yard touchdown pass to River Cracraft with 7:56 remaining to give the Cougars a 28-27 lead.

The Cougars had a 15-3 lead on five field goals by Powell, but the Cardinal rallied behind the running of quarterback Kevin Hogan on a rainy night in Pullman. Hogan had 127 yards in five carries in the third quarter and scored on touchdown runs of 59 and six yards to pull the Cardinal into the lead early in the fourth quarter.

Washington State (5-3, 3-2) has lost 25 games in a row against top-10 opponents.

at Washington 49, Arizona 3: Jake Browning became the fifth Washington quarterback in the last 20 seasons to pass for four touchdowns in a game and added a fifth touchdown on a 12-yard run to lead the Huskies.

After sitting out last week against Stanford with a shoulder injury, Browning was nearly flawless in leading the Huskies to their most lopsided conference victory since a 59-7 win over Colorado in 2013.

Browning threw three first-half touchdowns as the Huskies (4-4, 2-3 Pac-12) built a 21-3 lead and added a 31-yard TD strike to Dante Pettis on the opening possession of the second half. Browning capped his night with his first career touchdown rushing to give the Huskies a 35-3 lead.

Browning finished 16 of 24 passing for 263 yards. He joined Jake Locker, Keith Price, Brock Huard and Cody Pickett as the only Washington QBs with at least four touchdown passes in a game since 1996.