Some clever animation appeared on the Rice-Eccles Stadium video board Thursday night, illustrating a graveyard with headstones marked with opponents, dates and scores of Utah's victories over brand-name schools.
The Utes then proceeded to make Pittsburgh a repeat victim, but only after allowing the Panthers to come back from the dead.
In the end, the Utes took a 27-24 overtime victory. Label the outcome much more agonizing than it should have been and much more satisfying than it would have been, if they had completely blown this thing.
"I was just so happy to get out of here with a win," said Ute cornerback Brandon Burton.
The Utes made mistakes that could have bothered them for a long time. Throwing an interception into the end zone, fumbling a punt, misplaying a coverage that gave Pitt a touchdown and snap-hooking a punt into the stands were just some of them.
They sure recovered nicely in overtime, though. Freshman safety Brian Blechen's interception on Pitt's first play and Joe Phillips' winning field goal are the only stuff anybody really needs to remember.
Actually, Utah did so many things well that losing would have become that much tougher to take. Jordan Wynn passed for 283 yards and three touchdowns. Matt Asiata and Eddie Wide teamed for 112 rushing yards, far outgaining Heisman Trophy candidate Dion Lewis (75) of Pitt.
In his first career start, junior linebacker Chaz Walker made 11 tackles. When the Panthers were threatening to tie the game early in the fourth quarter, Walker caught Lewis for a loss and deflected a pass on consecutive plays.
Wasting any or all of that would have been a shame.
This was a swing game in Utah's season, even before Labor Day. Win, and all kinds of possibilities would present themselves to the Utes in their final year before moving to college football's elite level as Pac-10 members. Lose, and they would lament a missed opportunity against a No. 15-ranked team, the Big East favorites and another school from a conference with automatic access to the Bowl Championship Series.
This is just the kind of game the Utes have grown to love, and can savor for one last season as the outsiders.
As much fun as Pac-10 competition will be, they'll miss this stuff. No program has distinguished itself by consistently knocking off big-name schools the way the Utes have. Thursday's victory makes them 20-11 since 1998 against opponents from BCS leagues, and they've enjoyed them all - including the 35-7 win over Pitt in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl.
The latest performance hardly was that dominant, although the Utes continually seemed on the verge of taking control.
Defensively, the downside was that while they corralled Lewis all night and twice made the Panthers settle for short field goals, they could not finish them off in regulation after leading by 11.
Offensively, the shortcoming was Utah's scoring only seven points after the opening drive of the second half. When they were trying to run out the clock, the Utes committed a personal-foul penalty, giving Pitt a tying opportunity.
Maybe all the Utes were doing was positioning themselves for an overwhelming overtime. Blechen's interception quickly ended Pitt's possession, then Asiata's power running resulted in a slow death for the Panthers.
Regarding quarterback Tino Sunseri's errant pass, Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said, "I mean, throw it away."
Utah, meanwhile, did not want to give this game away. All that matters is the Utes survived, because they're running out of these rewarding, BCS-beating chances. Next comes Iowa State in October, and then who knows? Another BCS bowl trip is still in play.
kkragthorpe@sltrib.com
