The University of Utah's young football team seemed to grow up quickly in the second half Saturday, as they upset previously unbeaten and no. 21 Colorado 38-21 in Boulder.

Trailing 21-10 early in the third quarter, the Utes rallied behind freshman running back Ty Jordan and veteran receiver Britain Covey for 28 straight points.

It was easily Utah's best game of the season. Take away an 81-yard punt return and a 61-yard pass reception for touchdowns from Colorado's Brenden Rice -- son of all-time great NFL great Jerry Rice -- and it was a dominating performance.

"We haven't played a full game," said Covey, who had nine catches for 76 yards and a touchdown. "There would be one half or one quarter missing. We played a full 60-minute game."

The Utes were nasty on defense, holding star Buffalo running back Jarek Broussard to 80 yards on 14 carries and forcing three turnovers. Kicker Jadon Redding connected on all three field goal attempts. And quarterback Jake Bentley got better as the game progressed, hitting 20 of 32 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns. Freshman running back Ty Jordan had 115 of his game-high 147 rushing yards in the second half and scored two touchdowns.

"I have a ‘so what, now’ mentality," said Bentley, who displayed some toughness with some bruising runs. "There are negative things, so now what do we do."

The senior quarterback said the offensive players seemed to feed off one another as the second half progressed and different players began making plays. He also credited senior backup quarterback Drew Lisk with helping him understand the Ute offense.

"Jake responded well," said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, whose team has at least one more game to play next week against an unnamed opponent. "He's a tough kid and a veteran, who has started 40 Power-5 games. He's no stranger to these situations."

This was a prototypical Ute game. They were stingy on defense, ran the ball well, got good special teams play except for the long punt return and, in a rarity, were not whistled for a single penalty.

"This was a good win on the road against a Top 25 team," said Whittingham.

The veteran coach seems to be getting more confident in his young defense, which needed to replace nine players off last year's team. He said the Utes started to play more man coverage in the second half.

He had particular praise for linebacker Nephi Sewell, who got his fourth takeaway in as many games, this time an intercepted pass.

"He has good speed and quickness for a linebacker," said Whittingham about the Desert Hills HS grad, who moved from safety this year and added 15 pounds.

"We can be a better defense," said Sewell. "We can go from good to great."

This was a game that appeared to be coming off the rails several times for the Utes, but they rallied with an impressive second half to complete their best effort of the season.

"This is the first time in my career we are not playing for a (Pac-12) championship," said Covey. "You have to dig deep. We are pretty burned out. It's been an emotional drag of a season."