Utah defensive end Connor O'Toole breaks up a pass to Arizona wide receiver Dorian Singer during the second half of Saturday's game in Salt Lake City.

 Rick Bowmer, Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY — Arizona needed to play its best ball to upset No. 14 Utah. Instead, the Wildcats played arguably their worst game of the season.

Before and after a driving rainstorm drenched Rice-Eccles Stadium, Arizona couldn’t hang onto the football. Four fumbles, plus a handful of other critical mistakes, led to a 45-20 loss to the Utes in front of an announced crowd of 51,919. Most had left by the fourth quarter, when the rain finally subsided.

The defeat was Arizona’s fourth in a row and dropped the Wildcats to 3-6, 1-5 in the Pac-12. Once 3-2, Arizona now needs to win its final three games to earn a bowl berth.

"I'm very disappointed in the outcome tonight," UA coach Jedd Fisch said. "We need to coach better. We need to play better. We need to protect the football better. Those three things. We start and stop there. If we don't do that well, none of it's gonna matter."

Three of the four teams that have beaten Arizona were ranked in the top 15 at the time (and still are). Washington wasn’t ranked but might be next week after defeating No. 23 Oregon State on Friday. Arizona visits No. 12 UCLA next week.

Utah (7-2, 5-1) won its third in a row. The Utes have defeated the Wildcats five straight times.

"We knew this was going to be quite a challenge," Fisch said. "Our team isn't set back at all. I just hope we're all healthy."

Arizona running back DJ Williams is tackled by Utah defensive tackle Simote Pepa (77) during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, in Salt Lake City.

Most of Arizona’s losses since Pac-12 play began could be pinned on the defense. This time, it was the offense and special teams that faltered.

Arizona put the ball on the ground seven times and lost four fumbles. Quarterback Jayden de Laura, who’d been playing extremely well, was charged with five fumbles (two lost). Jacob Cowing, who’s been playing at an all-conference level, muffed a punt that led directly to a Utah touchdown.

Those miscues, and others, led to a plus-22 advantage for Utah in average starting field position.

"To point to the elements would be an easy copout," Fisch said. "We didn't handle it well. ... It was on the ground like eight times. So I would imagine it was probably the elements. But I would also imagine that we didn't do a very good job protecting the ball, and that's disappointing."

Arizona’s defense forced two turnovers, ending a streak of three games without a takeaway. The Wildcats also halted a three-game sackless streak.

"It’s something that we can build on," said defensive end Hunter Echols, who had Arizona's lone sack. "It’s for sure something that we're proud of. But we didn't get the W."

Utah quarterback Cameron Rising returned to the lineup after being a late scratch last week because of a knee injury. Rising completed just 13 of 25 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown but, critically, didn’t turn the ball over.

Rising didn’t have his leading receiver, tight end Dalton Kincaid, who was out because of an upper-body injury. Arizona’s leading receivers were missing in action for most of the night.

Cowing and Dorian Singer had just three catches for 19 yards by the time freshman Noah Fifita replaced de Laura with 10:16 remaining.

Fifita completed a fourth-and-4 pass to Cowing for a 13-yard gain. Cowing fumbled on the play and appeared to injure his right knee. He had to be helped off the field.

"We’ll know tomorrow," Fisch said regarding Cowing's injury. "We won’t make any comments on that until we know for sure where we're at there."

Utah had expanded its 28-10 halftime lead to 38-10 by that point. Leaning mostly on their ground game, the Utes outgained the Wildcats 214-138 in the second half. Utah finished with 306 yards rushing.

Utah held a 14-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. The inclement weather hadn’t arrived yet, but Arizona’s sloppy play foreshadowed what was to come.

De Laura lost a fumble on the opening drive. Arizona held and forced a punt on the ensuing possession, despite a pass-interference call against Christian Roland-Wallace that had the veteran cornerback fuming.

The punt was downed at the 2 and tilted the field in Utah’s direction. The Utes got the ball back at the UA 37. Jaylen Dixon’s 7-yard touchdown on a jet sweep made it 7-0.

Arizona quickly answered — although not as quickly as it initially appeared. It looked like Michael Wiley had a touchdown on a 58-yard run down the left sideline. Despite Wiley staying in bounds and appearing to touch the pylon as he lunged for the end zone, he was ruled down at the 1. Two plays later, de Laura scored from the 3 to tie the score at 7-7.

Utah responded with a 75-yard touchdown drive, capped by freshman quarterback Nate Johnson’s 8-yard keeper.

The Wildcats were in position to possibly tie the score early in the second quarter. But breakdowns in pass protection turned first-and-10 at the Utah 24 into fourth-and-20 at the 34. Fisch oddly elected to go for it, and de Laura was sacked, giving the Utes the ball at their 40.

"It would have been a 52-yard field goal. That's a lot for us. We're about 40% over 42 yards, and we haven't kicked one over 50," Fisch said. "The sky punt was not really what we wanted to do there. We felt like we had a good call. We had three guys over the sticks. And we had Cowing. They A-gap blitzed it, and we didn't squeeze it. We wound up not able to protect it. But we got what we thought we were gonna get there. It was a weird situation."

Ja’Quinden Jackson’s 32-yard run moved the ball to the UA 3. Jackson scored from there to make it 21-7.

Arizona then made a critical mistake. With the wind blowing and the rain intensifying, Cowing tried to field a punt that was sailing over his head. He couldn’t corral it. The muff gave Utah the ball at the 9. Johnson scored on the next play, bumping Utah’s lead to 28-7.

"It was a tricky one," Fisch said. "If you can catch it, now you’re in normal offense rather than backed-up offense. The wind took it for sure. But I trust Jacob Cowing’s hands. He just misjudged it, and he wound up dropping it. But he made the right decision trying to catch it."

The Wildcats were able to get a field goal with 44 second left in the half thanks to a 45-yard pass from de Laura to Tetairoa McMillan. But even on that play, de Laura had to scoop the ball up after it had hit the turf.

Extra points

  • Fifita threw his first career touchdown pass with 57 second to play, connecting with high school teammate McMillan for 2 yards.
  • Freshman Wendell Moe started at left guard for Arizona. It was the first start and first appearance of Moe’s college career. Veteran Josh Donovan, who started seven of the first eight games, alternated with Moe.
  • Freshman tailback Rayshon "Speedy" Luke returned to action after missing the past five games because of an ankle injury. Luke gained 40 yards on two carries in the first half. He finished with three rushes for 42 yards.
  • Gunner Maldonado got the start at the “Star” DB spot. DJ Warnell had started the previous two games there.
  • Cornerback Isaiah Rutherford returned after missing the past four games because of a knee injury.

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Contact sports reporter Michael Lev at mlev@tucson.com. On Twitter: @michaeljlev