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Five yards.
Yes, the length of a 15-foot putt is all the ground that Utah quarterback Jon Hays' two pass completions covered in Saturday night's first half.
And then, thanks to a convergence of events that Hays summarized nicely, he delivered three passes that provided the bulk of Utah's production during a 74-yard touchdown drive to begin the second half. From there, the Utes cruised to a 31-6 win over UCLA at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
"I started to calm down, the snow was starting to melt, and that gave us a chance to chuck it downfield," Hays said.
That drive gave the Utes a 14-3 lead, basically sealing the win, as well as Utah's defense was playing.
Between them, Hays and Ute workhorse John White carried the ball on Utah's first five plays of the third quarter. One of the game's biggest plays came in a third-and-5 situation from the Ute 42. Hays hit receiver DeVonte Christopher with a short pass that turned into a 16-yard gain.
Then came Hays' 33-yard pass to Dres Anderson, followed by a 13-yard touchdown toss to White, who made a tough catch in traffic in the end zone.
That was it for Hays' completions, as 62 of his 67 yards for the night came in that sequence. He missed his last three throws, finishing 5 of 13.
That's good enough, when White is rushing for 167 yards and the Utes are playing solid defense.
"We're starting to find out who we are. We're starting to find out what Jon Hays does best," said Ute coach Kyle Whittingham. "He doesn't have to throw for 300 yards."
Hays just has to keep drives going with some third-down conversions and hit an occasional downfield pass when defenses become preoccupied with stopping White. In Utah's three consecutive wins, Hays has recorded five touchdown passes and no interceptions. Even though he has completed only 23 passes for 328 yards in those three games, he's playing more than adequately.
Such efficiency seemed unlikely as of Oct. 22, when Hays threw three interceptions at California and appeared overmatched against Pac-12 competition. Suddenly, he's 4-2 as a starter since replacing the injured Jordan Wynn, with a decent shot at three more wins, including a bowl game.
The Utes are likely to fall out of the country's top 100 in passing yards, but they're bowl-eligible at 6-4, managing to do just enough offensively without Wynn.
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