The happiest man in Arizona’s postgame locker room shook his arms back and forth and wiggled his hips.
Dancin’ Rich Rodriguez was back.
Before the season, Rodriguez made waves as he Whip/Nae Nae-ed his way into a viral video sensation with the Arizona gymnastics team.
He hadn’t danced much since then, in part because there wasn’t much to be happy about.
There is now.
With their 37-30 double-overtime win against 10th-ranked Utah on Saturday, the Wildcats snapped a three-game losing streak in a season that’s long felt imminent doom. Arizona will go bowling, too, after appearing destined for a 5-7 regular-season finish.
“The trajectory … certainly when you lose a couple in a row it’s like, you know you’re not going in the right direction,” Rodriguez said after Saturday’s win. “But I never felt that the team was not trying to give us their best.”
The Wildcats’ milestone win can best be described in fours.
It’s four straight wins against Utah.
Four straight years with a win against a Top-10 opponent.
Four our straight bowl appearances, the first time in school history.
And 32 wins in — that’s right — four years, the winningest four-year stretch in program history.
Rodriguez’s postgame demeanor after a loss isn’t always a pretty sight. It didn’t help that in recent weeks, the rumor mill ran rampant with speculation of his dreaming of moving on to schools like Virginia Tech or South Carolina.
In the locker room, dancing, Rodriguez didn’t look like a coach preparing to move on from the Old Pueblo.
And Arizona (6-5 overall, 3-5 Pac-12) didn’t look like a team ready to end its season early.
“This is a team (Utah) that was top-10 in the country, has a lot of good players playing with confidence,” Rodriguez said, “and it’s a great win for us, at least to make our guys feel good.”
Added senior defensive end Reggie Gilbert: “It feels great. I’m just really glad with how we played, it showed the country what we’re made of and how good we are.”
Injuries in the midst of a season with 12 games in 12 weeks have been brutal.
All-American linebacker Scooby Wright has missed all but six quarters, Derrick Turituri has been out, Nick Wilson hasn’t been himself, and Anu Solomon, against the Utes, suffered his second concussion of the season.
To this point, the Wildcats have been both bent and broken. Saturday, after Solomon went down and Arizona also lost its latest middle linebacker, Jake Matthews, to a foot injury, the Wildcats bent, but did not break.
Quarterback Jerrard Randall entered Saturday’s game, threw four incompletions and an interception, then went and uncorked the best ball of his career on a double-overtime touchdown pass to Nate Phillips.
“I didn’t even know he caught it,” Randall said. “When I saw him haul it in, I was pretty happy. I couldn’t get anything done all night throwing the ball, but I got that one touchdown, and I think that it was amazing. “
It’s unclear if Solomon will play Saturday against Arizona State — or Wright, Turituri, Wilson or offensive lineman Freddie Tagaloa, for that matter — but Arizona is playing with as much confidence as its had in more than a month.
Arizona is headed to the postseason. And by winning Saturday, it could keep the Sun Devils (5-5, 2-5) out of a bowl.
If that happens, maybe Rodriguez will add more postgame dance moves to his arsenal.
“As big as that one (Utah) was,” Rodriguez said, “our rivalry games are always the biggest.”
