The effect of not having Cam Rising in the Utah offense couldn’t be more painfully obvious than in their 23-10 loss at home to Arizona. In this one the Wildcats’ defense took a page out of Utah’s book with two interceptions of backup Freshman QB Isaac Wilson, three sacks, eight pass disruptions, seven tackles for loss, and four fourth down stops—the first at their own 10 yard line on Utah’s first possession of the game leading to a 3-0 lead nine plays later in what turned out to be the only scoring in the 1st Qtr by either team. Utah would tie the score up half-way through the 2nd Qtr on a field goal of their own but Arizona would come right back on their next possession to go 75 yards in seven plays to take a 10-3 lead on a TD pass from Arizona Sophomore QB Noah Fafita to Junior WR Jeremiah Patterson where it would stay until after the break.
In a busy day for Arizona Senior Place Kicker Tyler Loop, he would kick two more back-to-back early in the 3rd Qtr, one from 53 yards out and another for 33 yards after the Wildcats picked off Wilson on his first play from scrimmage after the kick-off to go up 16-3. After getting picked off themselves Utah would get the score back to within a possession on a six play 80 yard drive and 20 yard TD pass from Wilson to Senior TE Caleb Lohner to make it 16-10 early in the 4th Qtr. But less than four minutes later Fafita would drive Arizona down the field 87 yards in 8 plays including a 41 yard pass to Freshman WR Devin Hyatt and a 35 yard TD pass to Junior TE Keyan Burnett to extend their lead to 23-10 where it would stay after holding Utah to a three-and-out and picking Wilson off again late in the 4th Qtr.
As you probably remember, Utah was picked to win the Big-12 in the preseason media poll with Arizona slotted for 5th place and Colorado down there in 11th. After this past weekend Colorado is sitting 2nd, Arizona 5th, and Utah 9th. Of course, there’s a lot of football yet to play and if Utah can get their talented starting QB Cam Rising back on the field their fortunes could change immediately.
In this one Arizona’s Noah Fafita connected on over 60% of his throws for 197 yards, 2 TD’s, and 1 interception with the Wildcats also averaging 6.5 yards per carry while rushing for 169 yards with Freshman RB Kedrick Reescano and Senior RB Quali Conley combining for 21 carries and 145 of the total yards.
For Utah, Isaac Wilson connected on 20-of-40 for 280 yards, 1 TD, and 2 picks with Senior RB Micah Bernard leading the way on the ground with 16 carries for 91 yards with both the passing and running games adversely affected by Arizona’s 3 sacks, 7 tackles for loss, and 8 pass disruptions.
In the AP Takeaway for ESPN they wrote; “Sloppy tackling allowed Arizona to grab the lead and red zone inefficiency doomed the Utes’ early chances. Utah had its most explosive first half of the season with 219 yards but only scored three points. Then, when the pressure was on, Wilson threw two interceptions despite a career-high 280 yards.” As head coach Kyle Whittingham had to say afterwards; “Left points out there. We were horrible in the red zone. Awful. Awful. Until we get that fixed, we’re going to continue to have problems.” Arizona heads back home to host Texas Tech while Utah gets an extra week to think it over before they hit the road to take on the Sun Devils.