How No. 14 Utah ran all over Arizona in another Pac-12 victory

After sitting out last week’s 21-17 win at Washington State, Utah quarterback Cam Rising returned to action in the cold November rain Saturday night. 

He certainly wasn’t as dynamic as everyone has been accustomed to seeing from him the past two seasons.  

Meanwhile, the Utes were without their leading receiver, tight end Dalton Kincaid, who’s dealing with an injury.  

Their leading rusher, Tavion Thomas, didn’t make an appearance until midway through the third quarter (although having Thomas in the backfield again is a positive development for Utah). 

Despite not being at full strength amid the wet conditions at Rice-Eccles Stadium, the No. 14 Utes avoided a slip-up against Arizona.

The Utes leaned heavily on their run game, and their defense, in a 45-20 victory over the Wildcats to remain solidly in the Pac-12 race.

1 of 31

2 of 31

3 of 31

4 of 31

5 of 31

6 of 31

7 of 31

8 of 31

9 of 31

10 of 31

11 of 31

12 of 31

13 of 31

14 of 31

15 of 31

16 of 31

17 of 31

18 of 31

19 of 31

20 of 31

21 of 31

22 of 31

23 of 31

24 of 31

25 of 31

26 of 31

27 of 31

28 of 31

29 of 31

30 of 31

31 of 31

“Overall, another step in the right direction for us,” said coach Kyle Whittingham. “This thing is winding down and we’re right in the thick of it still. Hopefully we’ll get some guys back next week that we were missing today.”

Utah — which led 45-10 with three minutes remaining before giving up 10 points, including a safety — improved to 7-2 overall and 5-1 in conference play. 

While Rising started, making his first appearance on the field since leading the Utes to a 43-42 victory over USC on Oct. 15, he seemed a little rusty after not playing for three weeks.

Rising completed 13 of 25 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown and rushed twice for minus-seven yards. 

Fortunately for Utah, it compensated by rushing for a total of season-high 306 yards. 

“The real story of the game was our offense’s ability to run the football (for) 300-plus yards rushing,” Whittingham said.

“Any time you can do that, most of the time you’ll be in control of the game, which is what happened.”

Running back Ja’Quinden Jackson ran 13 times for 97 yards and a touchdown, Jaylon Glover had eight carries for 69 yards, Micah Bernard gained 48 yards on 12 carries, and true freshman Nate Johnson ran three times for 23 yards — and scored a pair of first-half touchdowns. 

Both Jackson and Glover exited the game with injuries. 

Thomas, who also missed the WSU game, ran eight times for 38 yards. In all, nine different players had carries.

But, of course, Whittingham, and Rising, praised the play of the offensive line. 

“The offensive line was doing a great job of blocking things up and reestablishing the line of scrimmage and getting knock-off on the line of scrimmage,” Whittingham said.

“The running backs ran hard, and they did some good things on their own, but nobody rushes for over 300 yards without the offensive line controlling the line of scrimmage.”

Added Rising on the offensive line: “They did a great job. We were able to run the ball downhill all night. They controlled the line of scrimmage. Any time you do that, it’s good for the offense.

“Whenever everybody’s running downhill and the line is doing their job, blocking, good things are going to happen for the offense and it does take a lot of weight off my shoulders.”

As an offense, the Utes rolled up 457 yards. 

As for Rising, Whittingham enjoyed watching No. 7 engineer the offense again. 

“Cam — great to have him back. He wasn’t as sharp as he usually is, but that will come,” Whittingham said.

“He’s still not completely 100%, but he’s very close. It was great to have him back in the lineup tonight.”

Asked how he’s feeling physically, Rising simply said, “I feel great,” adding that “it just felt good to be running the offense again.”

Defensively, Utah limited an explosive Arizona team that entered the night averaging 32 points and 475 yards of total offense per game to 387 yards and three touchdowns. 

Arizona quarterback Jayden de Laura completed 10 of 20 passes for 159 yards. 

How were the Utes so effective against de Laura?

“We really stressed communication,” said linebacker Karene Reid. “We studied a lot of their route concepts, knowing that they’re a pass-heavy team.

“Based on formation, we were able to talk and sort it all out.”

Utah recorded four takeaways, all fumbles. In all, Arizona (3-6, 1-5) fumbled the ball seven times. The Utes also had three sacks and held the Wildcats to 3 of 11 on third-down conversion attempts. 

“The defense, I thought, played well the entire night,” Whittingham said. “They created takeaways and were good on third down. Good production from our defense.”

Reid said the defensive performance “gave us a lot of confidence. That’s a good offense right there. They have some really good receivers.

“The DBs especially played a great game. We were trying to get after that quarterback and every time he threw it, I felt like for the most part, the DBs were able to break it up.”

Whittingham was also pleased with the special teams, particularly late in the first half, when the Utes recovered a muffed punt that led to a touchdown, lifting them to a dominating 28-7 halftime lead. 

“That was a big play when we recovered the (fumbled) punt,” Whittingham said. 

Utah hosts Stanford next Saturday. 

EXTRA POINTS: R.J. Hubert out the first half due to a targeting call in the second half last week at Washington State. … The Utes have won six consecutive games against Arizona. The Wildcats haven’t beaten Utah since 2015, when Arizona won 37-30 in double overtime in Tucson. … The Wildcats have lost eight consecutive games to a ranked opponent. … Tight end Thomas Yassmin caught two passes for 42 yards and a touchdown.