By far our poorest performance of the year overall — coaches and players. – Kyle Whittingham
SALT LAKE CITY — It rained, it poured and 20th-ranked Utah got floored. The Utes got worked from start to finish in a 42-10 loss to 15th-ranked Arizona at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
“Got outcoached, got outplayed — pretty apparent,” said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham.
It was the Utes’ most lopsided loss since a 47-7 setback at home to TCU on Nov. 6, 2010.
“By far our poorest performance of the year overall — coaches and players,” Whittingham continued.
Utah (7-4, 4-4) gave up a season-high 520 yards of total offense and allowed Arizona (9-2, 6-2) to score touchdowns on a fumble recovery and an interception return. The Wildcats held the Utes to 17 yards and zero first downs in the opening quarter. They went on to build a 21-0 lead late in the first half.
“I’m really proud of our guys,” said Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez. “We played a really good football team on the road with inclement weather. They handled everything really maturely.”
While Utah’s offense opened with four consecutive three-and-out drives, Arizona scored a touchdown on an 11-yard run by quarterback Anu Solomon.
Leading 7-0, the Wildcats continued to keep the clamps on defensively as the game progressed into the second quarter. The Utes eventually picked up their initial first down — on a 33-yard run by quarterback Travis Wilson — but the drive ended three plays later with an interception. Wilson was picked off in the end zone by safety Jourdon Grandon.
Later in the quarter, Arizona mounted a four-play, 73-yard scoring drive to double its lead. A 17-yard touchdown run by Nick Wilson capped things off.
Utah’s ensuing possession produced another score for the Wildcats. Defensive tackle Dan Pettinato scooped up a fumble by running back Bubba Poole and returned it 31 yards for a TD with 1:17 remaining in the half.
The Utes, however, did respond with an 11-yard touchdown toss from Wilson to tight end Westlee Tonga before the intermission.
Although Utah punted on the opening drive of the third quarter, the Utes did build a little momentum early in the half. Defensive back Justin Thomas recovered an Arizona fumble on the next series, and it wound up leading to a 28-yard field goal by Andy Phillips.
After closing the gap to 21-10, Utah forced Arizona to punt and Kaelin Clay ran it back 87 yards for what appeared to be a touchdown. The return, though, was wiped out by a holding penalty that put the ball all the way back to the Utah 7-yard line. The Utes wound up punting.
The momentum shift proved to be swift and decisive.
Arizona scored three touchdowns in a fourth-quarter span of less than two minutes to pull away handily — scoring on runs of 75 yards and 19 yards by Nick Wilson and off a 39-yard interception of backup Conner Manning by linebacker Tra’Mayne Bondurant.
“As bad as we were, the turning point in the game was the punt return that got called back,” said Whittingham, who noted that the Utes could have pulled to within 21-17 and made a ballgame of it. “It wasn’t to be. It got called back. We made a mistake on it apparently, somewhere, and it kind of spiraled out of control from there.”
Whitingham added that the Utes now need to regroup. They play at Colorado (2-9, 0-8) on Saturday.
“We have one more game, got a chance to win eight games this year in the regular season,” Whittingham said. “That’s our goal, is to try to get that eighth win next week.”
Utah wound up with 384 yards of total offense and 20 first downs. Wilson completed 16 of 29 passes for 143 yards with two interceptions and one touchdown. Manning saw his first collegiate action. He was 2 of 6 for 28 yards and a pick.
Devontae Booker had a solid outing with 142 yards rushing on 23 carries. He joined Clay, Tonga and Kenneth Scott with a team-high four receptions.
The slow start, though, proved troublesome.
“I can’t really pinpoint anything,” Wilson said. “But obviously it’s my job to start fast and I started slow, so I definitely take the blame for that.”
Defensively, the Utes gave up an average of 7.5 yards per play. Nick Wilson finished with 218 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 20 attempts.
“Tonight, they were a good offense and we gave up too many big plays. Give them credit. They were working hard,” said Utah safety Brian Blechen. “But we made it easy on them by blowing a coverage or missing a gap. So that just gives them confidence and helps get them rolling. There were times we were just shooting ourselves in the foot.”
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