This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Las Vegas • Much like his entire season, Travis Wilson had his ups and downs in the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl on Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium. The Utes beat Colorado State, 45-10, and the quarterback played a significant role - for the better and the worse.

Fortunately for him, there was a whole lot more of the better.

He threw for 158 yards and one touchdown and ran for 91 yards and 3 scores.

And he missed at least two sure TDs, maybe three, on deep balls thrown out of reach of completely open streaking receivers. After one of them, Kaelin Clay demonstrably stomped his feet as he walked back toward the huddle, incredulous that a connection could not be made.

No big deal, Clay said, praising his QB afterward:

"This was Travis' best performance of the year. He executed. He played real well. His preparation was good. He's our quarterback. He's our leader."

Imperfect though Wilson was, he was named the game's MVP. Without him, the Utes would have struggled here. He was accurate enough to keep drives alive, and punctuate them on the aforementioned occasions. His scoring runs, in which he showed speed and smarts, were impressive. On the first, he fired off for eight yards. On the second, he jetted for 15. On the third, he covered 12 yards. His speed has always been underrated and underappreciated, probably because of his tall frame.

Barry Sanders, he's not.

But he's nobody's stiff. He chose the right moments to make his moves against the Rams.

"Definitely happy with how we played," Wilson said. "I wish I had a little bit better completion percentage. I missed on a couple of those deep balls. I was seeing that the running was really working for me, so I was taking advantage of it."

Twitter: @GordonMonson —

Travis Wilson's Saturday stats

R Completions: 17

Attempts: 26

Interceptions: 1

Passing yards: 158

Passing TDs: 1

Rushing yards: 91

Rushing TDs: 3