TUCSON, Ariz. — A couple of campaigns involving the seventh-ranked Utah Utes could be decided Saturday night at Arizona Stadium.
The big one, of course, is clinching a second consecutive outright Pac-12 South title and the accompanying trip to the conference championship game. That can happen if the Utes prevail at Arizona and USC falls at home against UCLA earlier in the day.
Any other scenario will keep things uncertain until the final weekend of the regular season.
Another race to keep an eye on involves senior defensive end Bradlee Anae and his quest to become the “Mayor of Sack Lake City.” Anae has 27 career sacks, putting him just 2.5 behind school-record holder Hunter Dimick. Twice this season — in wins over Northern Illinois and Arizona State — Anae has tallied three sacks in a game.
A third is quite possible considering the protection problems that Arizona has had through 20 games. The Wildcats are 116th nationally in sacks allowed, giving up 184 — an average of 3.10 per outing.
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said he expected Anae, a former Hawaii prep star, to one day challenge the school record for most career sacks. The staff discussed it back when Anae was a freshman.
“Among the coaches that was a topic,” Whittingham recalled. “‘Hey, this guy is really good and he could eventually do something special.’”
It’s been a season filled with records, including Zack Moss becoming the career rushing leader to the team receiving the program’s highest College Football Playoff ranking.
“The culture here, we feel, has been really good for many years and last year’s team was similar to this year’s. It just seems we’ve taken it up a notch this year,” Whittingham said. “I mean you have like 120 guys on the roster and as far as I can tell every single one of them has bought in and every single one of them is all in. Everybody is pulling the same direction and they are great teammates.”
Senior safety Julian Blackmon acknowledged the Utes are a close-knit group. They’re growing even closer as accolades and national attention grows after a 9-1 start to the season.
“At the end of the day we’ve been doing this and we know that we have a team that’s good enough to do it,” he said. “It’s fun to see the accolades coming in, but you don’t get those accolades without a team that’s doing their job.”
Utah enters the game as one of just three teams on the nation — along with Clemson and Ohio State — to rank in the top 10 nationally for the most offensive and fewest defensive yards per play.
“We have to be ready to play. It’s a Pac-12 game. Every week if you are not on your game, then bad things are going to happen.” — Utah coach Kyle Whittingham,
The Utes, obviously, are performing at a high level. They’ve won six straight games, prevailing by an average of 29 points per game. Whittingham, though, isn’t taking anything for granted — even if Utah’s road finale is against an Arizona team with five straight losses.
“We have to be ready to play. It’s a Pac-12 game. Every week if you are not on your game, then bad things are going to happen,” he said. “We need to have a good week of practice and we need to handle our business like we have been the last several weeks. We need to have the right attitude, the right approach and the right mentality and go down there and try to play well.”
EXTRA POINTS: Utah is 40-40 against Pac-12 foes since joining the conference in 2011. ... The Utes have held nine opponents to under 100 yards rushing this season. ... Whittingham is 5-4 against Arizona. ... Utah closes out the regular season next Saturday at home against Colorado.
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Utes on the air
No. 7 Utah (9-1, 6-1)
at Arizona (4-6, 2-5)
Arizona Stadium — Tucson
TV: FS1
Radio: ESPN 700AM