The Arizona Wildcats lost 45-20 to No. 14 Utah on Saturday in Salt Lake City. Here are some pertinent notes, quotes and statistics from the UA’s setback:
NOTES
* Arizona lost its fourth game in a row and for the sixth straight time against Utah. It’s the Wildcats’ longest losing streak since their school-record 20-game skid from 2019-21. Their last win against the Utes came on Nov. 14, 2015. It was their fourth consecutive win in the series.
* Utah is 83-25 at home under Kyle Whittingham. The Utes have won 13 in a row and 24 of their past 25 at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Saturday marked the 75th consecutive sellout at Rice-Eccles.
* Arizona allowed 45-plus points for the fifth time in six Pac-12 games – all losses. Unlike the previous four, the Wildcats were able to take the ball away (twice) and sack the quarterback (once).
* Arizona had multiple takeaways for the first time since Week 2 vs. Mississippi State. The Wildcats’ nine forced turnovers are three more than they had last season.
* Arizona lost four fumbles for the third time since 2000. The previous two instances: Dec. 11, 2020, vs. Arizona State and Nov. 10, 2001, vs. Stanford.
* The Wildcats had a minus-2 turnover margin. They are 0-4 this season when losing the turnover battle.
* Utah had 306 rushing yards. The Utes are the third team to rush for 300-plus yards against Arizona this season (Cal, Oregon).
* Utah’s 457 total yards were the fewest by a UA opponent since Colorado had 340 on Oct. 1. The Wildcats allowed more than 500 yards in each of their previous Pac-12 losses.
* Utah averaged 5.7 yards per play, the lowest figure for a UA opponent since Colorado (5.6). Arizona allowed at least 8.1 yards per play in each of its previous Pac-12 defeats.
* Arizona’s 20 points were its fewest since Oct. 8 vs. Oregon (22). The Wildcats’ 387 total yards were also their fewest since that game (356). Arizona scored at least 31 points and gained at least 526 yards in its other four Pac-12 contests.
* Arizona has rushed for 150-plus yards in back-to-back games for the first time since Weeks 2 and 3 of the 2019 season.
* Arizona had a season-low 14 first downs. The Wildcats’ previous low was 19 vs. Mississippi State.
* Utah possessed the ball for 37:59 and had a season-best TOP margin of 15 minutes, 58 seconds. It was the Utes’ largest TOP margin since Nov. 23, 2019, at Arizona (19:04).
* RB Michael Wiley’s 57-yard run in the first quarter was the longest rushing attempt of his career, surpassing a 45-yard rush against Colorado in 2020.
* With two catches against Utah, tight end Tanner McLachlan moved into a tie for fourth place on the Wildcats’ single-season TE leaderboard with 27 receptions.
* Anthony Simpson’s 51-yard reception in the fourth quarter was the longest of his career and the longest career completion for quarterback Noah Fifita. Fifita’s fourth-quarter TD pass to former high school teammate Tetairoa McMillan was the first passing touchdown of his collegiate career.
* McMillan led the team with 78 receiving yards on four catches. He now has seven TD receptions, tying Jacob Cowing for the team lead.
* Cowing had a team-high five receptions but gained a season-low 29 yards. He also lost two fumbles. Fellow WR Dorian Singer recorded season lows with one catch for 9 yards.
* DE Hunter Echols recorded a sack in the first quarter to bring his season total to 4.5. He had 1.5 sacks in four seasons at USC.
* Safety Gunner Maldonado (nine), defensive end Sterling Lane II (five) and cornerback Ephesians Prysock (five) all set career-high marks in tackles for the Wildcats.
* Arizona’s fourth-quarter safety, on a tackle by DJ Warnell, was its first since Sept. 25 of last year vs. Oregon.
QUOTES
UA coach Jedd Fisch on his team’s competitive spirit: “I love the way our team fights. It is special. You can feel them on the sideline. You get a defensive stop, you hold them to a punt and then you drop the punt and you have to put them right back out there at the 9-yard line – and all 11 of them sprinted out there. I can point to numerous times that that occurred in the game. We get a safety, and the first thing Noah Fifita says to me is, ‘Let's go score a touchdown and let's go for two.’ That's what you want.”
Fisch on Arizona’s turnovers: “We'll certainly need to clean up a lot of things. Most of it came with just ball security. You give Utah (four) turnovers. I would imagine that the stat is oh-in-a-million in beating them. So not planning on that to ever happen in a game again. We’ve got to learn from it and be better.”
Fisch on de Laura throwing a long incomplete pass on third-and-1 in the third quarter: “We called option to run the ball there to the weak side, and they lined up their free safety down there and blitzed it. Well, they were gonna blitz it. The Will linebacker walked up into the B-gap. When those things happened, we checked out of the play. It was press coverage on Jacob Cowing. Traditionally he has been fantastic in those scenarios. Jayden gave him a chance, and we wound up not winning.”
Fisch on the lack of production for Cowing and Singer: “We didn't do a good enough job being able to attack their defense. We had opportunities that we didn't do a great job of taking advantage of. We had times that we could have taken advantage of it, and we had a breakdown somewhere else. I certainly could coach better. All in all, it was not our best game, and clearly that's why the production wasn't what the production has been every other game or most of the games this year.”
Fisch on the run defense: “I know that they had 300 yards rushing, but you gotta think about the way the game was going too. When you turn it over as much as we turned it over ... they had 38 minutes time of possession. They handed the ball off, it felt like, a lot. They had 55 carries. When you have the ability to hand it off 55 times, you're going to have a lot of yards rushing. We had 25 carries for 156. So I guess if we doubled it, we'd have 50 for 312. What we're trying to do is avoid those games where 55 runs occur.
Fisch on the defense overall: “They fought. They got them off the field. They took the ball away twice, they stopped them at the 1-yard line going in. We always tell them, you defend every yard, every blade of grass. When you do that, those things happen.”
Wiley on his long TD run being overturned by replay: “I had no idea. I think they said my hand hit the pylon first, so they called it down at the half-yard line. It was unfortunate, but we still got in (two plays later).”
Wiley on the offense's main objective entering the game: “Ball security. That's the No. 1 thing. You can’t win games with turnovers.”
Wiley on Fisch’s message after the game: “Basically, it's time to go. We’ve got this three-game season. We’ve gotta win these next three to (make) a bowl game. We’ve just gotta find a way to go 3-0.”
Echols on the rainy weather in Salt Lake City: “Well, for us on the defensive side, we love that. We love when it's a wet, kind of squirmy game, because that creates turnovers. You see that they have to deal with that as well. We love it, and we embrace it.”
Echols on Utah having an average starting point at its 42-yard line: “Obviously, the chance of scoring a touchdown when you’re defending half the field is pretty high. ... We don't complain (about) where the ball is put down on the field. We just go out there and swarm and compete at a high level.”
Whittingham on the Utes’ victory: “Another good effort from our guys tonight. We had some good performances from guys filling in for our other guys. ... Our defense played well for the entire night, created takeaways and was good on third downs. The real story of the game was our offense's ability to run the football with 300-plus yards rushing. Anytime you did that, you are going to control the game. It was great to have Cameron (Rising) back tonight. He wasn't as sharp as he usually is, but that'll come. Overall another step in the right direction for us.”
Whittingham on the key to Utah’s running attack: "The offensive line. The offensive line did a great job of blocking things up and re-establishing the line of scrimmage. 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."
STATS
* Utah had 27 first downs; Arizona had 14
* Arizona averaged 6.2 yards per rush; Utah averaged 5.6
* Arizona averaged 7.0 yards per play; Utah averaged 5.7
* Arizona had 4 penalties for 55 yards; Utah had 1 for 15
* Utah converted 8 of 12 third downs; Arizona converted 3 of 11
* Utah scored touchdowns on 6 of 8 trips into the red zone; Arizona was 2 of 3
* Utah's average starting field position was its 42-yard line; Arizona's was its 21
* Wiley had 105 scrimmage yards on 8 touches
* Fifita was 5 of 10 for 72 yards and 1 TD
* Utah’s Ja’Quinden Jackson rushed 13 times for 98 yards and 1 TD
* Arizona LB Jerry Roberts had 4 tackles, 1 TFL and 1 forced fumble
* Utah’s JaTravis Broughton had 6 tackles, 1 sack and 1 pass breakup
