As the mid-afternoon sun cut through the cool autumn air, splashing down on Rice-Eccles Stadium and everyone in it at game’s end on Saturday, Utah quarterback Devon Dampier met victory between rivals with his hands clapping, his arms raising, a wide grin stretching to the extreme reaches of his face. Across the field, BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier met defeat with his hands apart, his arms dangling, a hangdog stare vexing his face.

Up on the board was the count: Utah 28, BYU 20.

Dampier was elated, with his four touchdowns accounted for, two by land, two by air. And Bachmeier looked miserable, as though the world had ended. And for BYU, it kind of had, due in large part to his four interceptions, including two when the Cougars could’ve saved their game, their season, their world.

The Dampier-Bachmeier postgame moment offered classic evidence of a near-edge-to-far-edge aphorism: Losing hurts more than winning feels good.

But I dunno. In this case, it was close.

The reason being, a whole lot was at stake. This Utah-BYU game was touted as the biggest, most important, most consequential rivalry meeting ever — for reasons stretching from a rarefied national ranking to a possible Big 12 championship game opportunity to a possible College Football Playoff invitation, all of it beamed from coast to coast on ABC.

First, the hard truth: Neither of these teams played well throughout; neither played over periods as though the outcome here was the breath of life itself. This thing, especially in the first half, was mistake-ridden, the unholiest of football wars.

Its early definition was … we got this … no, we don’t have this, you take it … no, we insist, it’s yours … no, we don’t care, it’s all you.

Insane.

It was anything but perfect — until perfection was all it was in the second half for the Utes, when they shut out BYU and earned two touchdowns for themselves.

Utah went up by two touchdowns in the game’s first minutes, then the Utes went quiet. BYU rushed back to kick two field goals and a touchdown, and then another, a scoring spate that served up 20 points and could’ve brought the Cougars much, much more. Goof-ups happened, and it did not.

BYU’s most spectacular play was a 75-yard touchdown bomb from Bachmeier to Legend Glasker. There was nowhere near enough of that type of success for the Cougars.

Speaking of serving up, the Utes did a whole lot of that over those first two quarters, including a sloppy tendency to fumble and drop the ball. As mentioned, Bachmeier’s favored method of turnover was throwing the ball to the guys in the other colored jersey. One of those picks killed a keen chance to score from within the shadow of the Utes’ goalposts, after a Utah fumble.

You take it … no, you take it.

A game that was a 20-14 lead for BYU at the half flipped in Utah’s favor … eventually, after another intercepted Bachmeier throw, a missed Ute field goal, a three-and-out by the Cougars, and a sweet drive by Utah, ending in a Dampier floater to Braden Pegan for a touchdown: 21-20, Utah.

The fourth quarter — the most notable one — was a friend to the Utes, a foe to BYU.

Not only did Utah hold onto its lead, but the Utes added to it. Another drive ended in another Dampier touchdown (28-20). BYU never found the sporadic rhythm it had earlier. Two late picks by the Utes canceled out Bachmeier and his team — and likely their chances for anything more than a run-out-the-remaining-games and a postseason bowl game nobody cares about. All of it was way short of the Cougars’ preseason goals.

The game’s flaws mattered little to Dampier; none of it freaked the quarterback out, none of it deterred him. And none of it hampered his postgame celebration. In fact, the initial troubles enhanced his cool and calm that came later.

“Devon Dampier’s a warrior,” Morgan Scalley said.

“When it matters, I want to be there for my teammates,” Dampier said.

“He doesn’t care about anything but winning,” Nate Ritchie said.

And one bit of a truthful brag from the quarterback, even then giving credit to someone else: “Scalley’s built me into a great leader.”

Back to the scene at game’s end. Dampier was caught up in absolute joy, as he should have been. Everyone around him swamping the man.

A clean game might have been the Utah quarterback’s aim, but for him, having made his errors along with others, the sweet taste of victory was everything.

Just like Ritchie said.

This Utah win will be remembered for years to come. In the immediacy of right now, it’s just as significant, given that the win preserved an undefeated season and everything that could come with it. Work remains, as the Utes acknowledged afterward.

“We’re happy right now,” Dampier said. “But we have plans bigger than just this win.”

Regardless, those acknowledgements and the work that will come with it were left for another day.

On this one, the victor hauled in the spoils.

The ones already reaped, regardless of what comes next, are a reward in and of themselves. It’s a century-old rivalry, after all. Bragging rights, the whole deal. Dampier’s been around long enough to have grasped the meaning of all that. He said he was disappointed about the way he played in the rivalry loss last season, and he wanted nothing to do with that again.

As for his counterpart … well, the loser, Bachmeier, barring some strange happenings yet to come, now turns toward the prospect of picking up the pieces. Not just that, there’s also the matter of dealing with the pain that comes from getting beat by the dudes up the street.

“Bear’s being really hard on himself, and I think it’s OK,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said.

At the center of this game, then, the center of absorbing and measuring its outcome, was what is at the center of almost every game in modern college football: The play of the quarterbacks. As in, in this case, which QB — Dampier or Bachmeier — was the best on the field?

Yeah, you already know. The guy with the grin, not the grimace.