Luke Bottari ‘probably’ will be Utah’s starting QB at UCF as Isaac Wilson exits with injury

A season that’s featured a heavy dose of bad injury luck took another turn for the worse for Utah on Saturday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Quarterbacks Cam Rising, Brandon Rose and Sam Huard had all suffered season-ending injuries prior to Saturday’s 31-28 loss to Iowa State, and then Isaac Wilson left the game with an injury.

The injury occurred with 3:23 left in the third quarter. Wilson was pressured and scrambled for a 4-yard gain before being stopped by Iowa State defensive end Joey Petersen, who grabbed hold of the Utah quarterback’s left leg and rolled over on it.

After the play, Wilson immediately grabbed his left knee as trainers rushed out onto the field. The true freshman had to be helped off as he limped to the sidelines and into the medical tent.

Following some time in the medical tent, a Utah football staff member took Wilson’s helmet and Wilson emerged from the tent a little bit later. He walked over to the quarterbacks area on the sideline, where Rising put his arm around him before Wilson went to the locker room.

The former Corner Canyon star later returned to the sidelines sporting a knee brace on his left leg.

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Before his injury, Wilson was 8 for 8 for 74 yards. He started the game with a crisp 46-yard pass to Daidren Zipperer, but after that, he failed to generate much for Utah’s offense.

He held onto the ball too long, was too indecisive and didn’t see open receivers.

Luke Bottari, the fifth-string quarterback, sparked Utah’s offense, rushing for 56 yards on a 10-play, 91-yard drive that ended in a touchdown, which gave the Utes a 28-24 lead with 5:51 left.

After Iowa State scored a touchdown to take a 3-point lead with 1:31 left, Bottari moved the Utes to the Cyclones 33-yard line before drawing an intentional grounding penalty that moved Utah back nine yards.

Bottari got six yards back on the next play, but was nowhere close on a downfield pass on third-and-13, setting up a 54-yard kick by Cole Becker that was wide right to hand the Utes their seventh straight loss.

As Utah prepares for its season finale at UCF next Friday, Bottari will likely be the Utes’ starting quarterback.

“Luke Bottari came in and really did some good things. I’m proud of Luke. Probably will be our quarterback next week as it’s looking,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.

“We won’t know for a day or two, but I hope Isaac’s going to be OK and don’t think it’s real serious, but again, reserve judgment until we get the final doctor results.”