The Arizona Wildcats lost to Utah 38-29 on Saturday afternoon at Arizona Stadium. Here are some pertinent notes, quotes and statistics from the UA’s loss in the 2021 home finale:
NOTES
* Arizona suffered its third straight loss by less than 10 points. The average margin in the Wildcats’ first six defeats was 18 points.
* Arizona lost to Utah for the fifth straight time. The Wildcats defeated the Utes four consecutive times from 2012-15.
* Arizona did not commit a turnover for the first time this season. The Wildcats entered Saturday with 20 giveaways, tied for third most in the nation. The last time Arizona did not lose a turnover was against Utah in 2019.
* Arizona’s 14-point first quarter was its highest opening period of the season and the most the Wildcats have scored in the first quarter since posting 21 points against NAU on Sept. 7, 2019.
* Arizona committed five penalties for 33 yards, its lowest totals since the opener vs. BYU (4-19).
* Lucas Havrisik’s 57-yard field goal in the second quarter tied the school record and marked the fifth time in program history a Wildcat has made a field goal from that distance. Havrisik has two of them, having made a 57-yarder on Oct. 28, 2017, against Washington State.
* QB Will Plummer led Arizona in rushing for the second straight game. He gained 50 yards, including a career-long 43-yard touchdown run.
* Receiver Stanley Berryhill III’s four catches gave him 68 on the year, 10th most in a single season in program history.
* Freshman receiver Dorian Singer tied his career high with five catches and set a career high with 84 yards. He has 13 catches for 195 yards in the past three games.
* Arizona’s blocked punt for a touchdown in the fourth quarter was the Wildcats’ first blocked punt for a TD since Orlando Vargas scored off a blocked punt at Arizona State in 2009. Nazar Bombata registered the block, his second of the season. Rhedi Short recovered both of them.
* UA linebacker Jerry Roberts matched his career high with 10 tackles. He has 32 tackles in the past three games.
* Senior LB Anthony Pandy finished second on the team with eight tackles, giving him 200 for his career.
QUOTES
UA coach Jedd Fisch on his team’s toughness and determination: “I thought our team played extremely hard and battled all the way until the end. Did what we asked them to do. We asked them to be an extremely physical football team. They were that today. I give so much credit to our players. We've been banged up all year. You’ve got two options when you are where we are: You either say, ‘I'm gonna fight to get back,’ or you're going to say, ‘Eh, maybe I'll try to take one more week.’ You saw our team today. and every single player that could play played. They battled all week long in practice to find a way, extra treatment. Some guys didn't practice yet played. Some guys couldn't play. The whole deal. And you just see how committed our team is to playing hard, to doing everything they can to try to find a way for a win.
Fisch on the unsuccessful 2-point conversion attempt: “We were trying to run a variation of a run-pass option, where Berryhill was going to try to flip it to (Michael) Wiley. Wiley was gonna flip it back to Will (Plummer). Will was trying to go out in the end zone. They played cover-2. They had shown more blitz zero in that situation. ... We had to take a timeout to get the personnel right. And then we're missing a guy because Tayvian (Cunningham) got hurt. So we had to put somebody else in the game. We were hopeful that that the corner was gonna bite up and try to tackle Wiley when he was coming around on the double reverse and flip it over the top to Will. But that just didn't get executed.”
Fisch on whether Plummer was limited because of a shoulder injury: “I didn't feel he was at all. I thought he played a good game. He's probably gonna want to take back about five or six plays that we missed high or had a chance at somebody. Wad some great opportunities today, and I thought he played a good football game with a lot of room to grow.”
Fisch on the team’s postgame demeanor: “What pleased me is the fact that our guys are so committed to making this thing right. That they just so want to be a part of the change. You've got guys that are coming up to me, the Tre Masons, the Anthony Pandys, saying they wish they had another year. Versus the other deal where it's, ‘This is time for me to go.’ When you hear that from the captains and from the guys that want to be a part of it, it makes you feel like you’ve got something really special that's brewing. I think what we'll have here in the next year or two will be.”
Berryhill on why the team was upset after the game: “The game was down to the wire for the most part. We know that we could have won that game as easily as we lost it. So yeah, of course people are going to be upset. Now we just gotta work on executing and pay attention to details so when it does come down to the wire like that, we’ll come out on the other side.”
Berryhill on Short returning the blocked punt for a touchdown: “We blocked a punt against Washington, and Rhedi dove on the ball. So we've been giving him crap about diving on the ball; he could have scooped and scored. He said when it happens again, he's gonna score. It happened again, and he scored.”
Berryhill on the lessons he’ll take from his time at Arizona: “Learning how to face adversity and rolling with the punches. You never know what you're gonna get/ Ee've had three different head coaches. You learn a lot. A lot of ups and downs and turnarounds. But it prepares you well for life.”
Pandy on Utah beating Arizona’s blitzes: “I think it was just good play-calling by their offense, to just recognize what we were running sometimes. So maybe we gotta do a better job of disguising a little bit more. That’s all that was.”
STATS
* Utah had 26 first downs; Arizona had 16
* Utah had 174 rushing yards; Arizona had 102
* Utah had 468 total yards; Arizona had 329
* Utah averaged 6.3 yards per play; Arizona averaged 5.1
* Utah possessed the ball for 33 minutes, 51 seconds; Arizona had it for 26:09
* Utah converted 6 of 12 third downs; Arizona converted 7 of 15
* Utah scored touchdowns on 5 of 6 trips inside the red zone; Arizona scored on 1 of 4
* Utah RB TJ Pledger had 119 yards and 2 TDs on 25 carries
* Wiley had 4 catches for 48 yards and 1 TD
* Havrisik kicked off 7 times and had 7 touchbacks
* Utah’s Junior Tafuna had 9 tackles and 1.5 TFLs
* Utah’s Cole Bishop had 8 tackles and 3 TFLs
* Arizona’s Jaxen Turner had 8 tackles and 1 TFL
* Arizona’s Jalen Harris had 6 tackles and 1 TFL
