Utah football: U. shovel pass works wonders

San Diego » Utah used its shovel pass to help bury California in Wednesday night's Poinsettia Bowl.

On the third play of an eventual 37-27 win, the Utes faced a third-and-four from their own 25 when quarterback Jordan Wynn's flip to Eddie Wide resulted in a 45-yard gain. The Utes didn't score from the Cal 30, but they discovered an effective weapon to use again in the second quarter. After taking a 17-14 lead, Utah got the ball back. On second-and-four from its own 41, Wynn again hit Wide with a shovel pass.

He raced 29 yards to the Cal 30 before being tripped up by safety Sean Cattose, the last Bear who had a shot at him.

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Two plays later, Wynn hit Jereme Brooks with a 21-yard touchdown pass that gave the Utes a 24-14 lead.

"We should have used it more," said offensive coordinator Dave Schramm, when asked about Utah's effective shovel passes.

He continued: "... We have some extra time to practice during bowl week and felt like the looks we were going to get from their defense in that particular formation would give us the opportunity."

Referring to Cal's tendency to drop eight players into coverage, Schramm explained, "That means there are a whole lot of holes in there. That gave us an opportunity to sell it -- like Eddie was going to be a pass protection -- and then flip him

Wide had two other receptions in the game, but he gained 74 of his 83 receiving yards on the two shovel passes.

"It's an exciting play that can go really good or really bad," he said. "Tonight it went really good. ... It's an exciting play -- a little trick play -- and the offensive line did a great job blocking it. I just sprung free."

Offensive tackle Tony Bergstrom said it was "fun watching Eddie run. ... The only bad thing is getting down there with him and realizing how tired you because you are 300 pounds. Other than that, it's fun."

luhm@sltrib.com