No. 10 Utah stuffed by Arizona defense, stumbles at home

SALT LAKE CITY — Noah Fifita threw for 197 yards and two touchdowns and Arizona’s defense stopped No. 10 Utah four times on fourth down, helping the Wildcats beat the Utes 23-10 on Saturday night.

The Wildcats never let the pressure get to them, even when the Utes made it a one-point game and had the sellout crowd behind them.

“This is a special win,” Arizona coach Brent Brennan said. “There’s so much pressure to perform… but they all started playing this game of football because it’s fun. …And, boy, did we have fun tonight?”

Arizona (3-1, 1-0 Big 12) had an outstanding defensive performance with two interceptions, eight pass breakups and seven tackles for loss.

“We knew they were going to make some plays and there was going to be some adversity, but we just went out there, had fun, made plays and performed our best,” Arizona linebacker Jacob Manu said.

Utah (4-1, 1-1 Big 12) again played without quarterback Cameron Rising. Freshman Isaac Wilson moved the ball but couldn’t convert it in the red zone and threw two interceptions.

Fifita hit Tetairoa McMillan for a 41-yard pass on third-and-11 and then threw a 35-yard touchdown to Keyan Burnett on another third-and-11 to make the score 23-10 with 8:13 left play.

Burnett had five receptions and 76 yards, a career-best.

Tao Johnson intercepted Fifita in the end zone on the first play of the fourth quarter before Wilson drove down the field and found Caleb Lohner for a 20-yard TD reception to cut the lead to 16-10 with 11:54 to play.

In the third quarter after Tyler Loop’s 53-yard field goal, Wilson was intercepted by Genesis Smith on the next play. Loop’s subsequent 33-yard field goal gave the Wildcats a 16-3 lead.

Using quick passes to evade Utah’s pass rush, Fifita capped a seven-play, 75-yard drive with a 3-yard TD pass to Jeremiah Patterson to give Arizona a 10-3 halftime lead.

“Noah Fifita is just a great soccer player and leader,” Brennan said.

Fifita completed all seven passes on the Wildcats’ first drive, but it was Kedrick Reescano’s 23-yard run that set up Loop’s 47-yard field goal.

The Wildcats stopped the Utes’ first two possessions on downs, both inside Arizona’s 10-yard line on fourth-and-2.

“Lefty points out there,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “We were terrible in the red zone. Terrible. Terrible. Until we fix this, we will continue to have problems.”

Utah fans and the team were waiting to see if Rising would be able to play after he injured his throwing hand on September 7th. Again, it was a mid-game decision, but Wilson was the one running away with the offense. Rising, a seventh-grader, has played just four quarters total this season after sitting out entirely last season.

Arizona now has a road record of 6-31-1 against AP Top 10 teams. The Wildcats’ defense gave up the fewest points to a top-10 team since the program defeated No. 10 Miami 29-0 in the 1994 Fiesta Bowl.