Noah Fifita pumped his fist and shouted toward the crowd of silenced Utah fans in Rice-Eccles Stadium.
The Arizona quarterback had just launched a 35-yard touchdown pass to take a 23-10 lead with 8:34 remaining in the fourth quarter. Fifita’s dart was a final blow to the Utes’ late comeback attempt in the final moments of the game.
In the end, No. 10 Utah (4-1, 1-1 Big 12) was defeated by Arizona (3-1, 1-0) 23-10 on Saturday night in Salt Lake City, which was led, in part, by an abysmal offensive performance in the first three quarters of the game.
“Not a great night for the Utes,” Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said postgame. “We were horrible in the redzone. Awful. And, until we get that fixed, we’re going to continue to have problems. ... We just squandered those opportunities.”
Utah’s offense struggled mightily in the red zone, going 1-for-3 in the first half and 2-of-4 by the end of the game.
The Utes were also an inefficient 6-of-15 on third downs.
“We’re just not executing well enough,” Utes senior running back Micah Bernard said postgame. “We have to go on the field and execute. We’re not doing that. I think that’s gonna be an emphasis for the next few weeks. This is unacceptable for us.”
Freshman quarterback Isaac Wilson made his third consecutive start in place of an injured Cam Rising, who is still ailing from a right-hand injury he sustained vs. Baylor.
Wilson finished the game 20-of-40 with 280 passing yards, two interceptions and one touchdown. He now has seven interceptions on the season.
Utah’s defense, which ranked No. 19 nationally heading into the matchup, could not stop Fifita and the Wildcats’ offense. In all, it allowed 197 passing yards and 161 rushing yards.
Next, Utah will head into its bye week before taking on Arizona State (3-1, 0-1) at 8:30 p.m. MT on Friday, Oct. 11 in Tempe, Arizona.
“We have a really good football team,” Whittingham said. “We just have to figure out some some situational football and have everybody re-commit and re-dedicate themselves to finish the second half of the season strong.”
