Utah suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday night in a frustrating performance against Arizona. The Utes couldn't execute well enough, especially in the red zone, leading to a 23-10 defeat to the Wildcats at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Here are the takeaways from the loss:
The bad offensive showing is largely on Ludwig
Wilson made some bad freshman mistakes after the Wildcats adjusted on defense. After starting 7-7, Wilson finished 13-33 passing. That's not good, but it’s also not the main issue. Offensive Coordinator Andy Ludwig is seasoned enough that he should be able to adjust to his talented 18-year-old quarterback’s skillset and comfort zone.
Sure, it was primarily Whittingham’s call to go for it twice on 4th down in the red zone, but the play-calling by Ludwig was predictable. So far this season, this team struggles to run the ball near the goal line.
How Ludwig is evolving with Wilson will show over time, but even Rising was somewhat restricted by him on adjusting at the LOS during his first Rose Bowl season.
It seems like every year Ludwig calls a head-scratching game or two. On Saturday, he didn’t put his guys in many spots to succeed or make many adjustments throughout the game. Ute fans can only hope that’s the end of that for 2024. A limited playbook can’t be an excuse, whether it’s true or not.
Missed too many big plays
The Utes' defense struggled unexpectedly against Arizona's rushing attack as they broke off several large runs, including gains of 23, 36, and 19 yards in the first half, and continued with chunk plays of 18 and 12 yards in the second half.
Although Utah eventually tightened up against the run, Arizona's passing game surged in the second half. The Utes allowed completions of 21, 41, and 35 yards between the third and fourth quarters, exposing their vulnerability to deep throws. Utah’s secondary struggled to defend against these plays, and Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita capitalized by making big throws at crucial moments on two key third and 11 conversions. Notably, a lot of this falls on Utah’s usually reliable pass rush, but Utah had zero sacks and Fifita hit on several plays while he was dodging them in the pocket.
While the defense was trying to limit Arizona's top receiver, Tetairoa McMillan, they were vulnerable against other receivers to connect with Fifita. In total, the Wildcats generated explosive plays accounting for 228 yards — it doesn’t seem like much, but they hit the big plays when they needed to.
Utah was simply outplayed in all aspects
As previously mentioned, Utah’s defense was outplayed most of the night, but Arizona won in all aspects of the game.
Overall, the Utes couldn't establish any rhythm, particularly on offense in the run game and were held to just a total of 87 yards. They didn’t give Micah Bernard the ball enough and they need to give him the ball more in the crucial downs and situations.
“[We] left points out there,” said Coach Whittingham. “We were horrible in the red zone — awful, awful. And until we get that fixed, we’re going to continue to have problems. Couldn’t convert on fourth down — 0 for 4 on fourth downs — so that’s the reason for the outcome.”
“We should have had 21 points in the first half but we squandered those opportunities.”
For a brief moment, Utah found some life late in the game after safety Tao Johnson picked off Fifita in the end zone. That set up Wilson to lead Utah on a six-play, 80-yard drive including a 37-yard dime up the middle to Dorian Singer and 20-yard touchdown to Caleb Lohner.
But that wasn't enough to make a comeback as Fifita led the Arizona offense on an eight-play, 87-yard drive finished off with a 35-yard touchdown to Keyan Burnett. Arizona simply out-executed and out-hustled Utah in every facet of the game.
The one positive: Dorian Singer
Dorian Singer showcased his ability to get free in a tough defensive matchup against Tecario Davis. Despite facing tight coverage, Singer found ways to slip past defenders for critical receptions. In the first half, Singer hauled in seven of Wilson’s passes for 104 yards, including two receptions for 22 and 28 yards. In the second half he tallied another 51 yards, with a crucial 37-yard reception that set the Utes up for a touchdown to cut the Arizona lead to six.
It wasn’t all perfect going up against Davis, who looks to be a first-round draft pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. There were also several questionable no-calls where Singer appeared to draw pass interference penalties.
Going forward, it’s clear that Singer is back to being one of the best receivers in college football. It’ll be important for him and Rising to get back into a rhythm when Rising returns.
Up next
The Utes have a bye and could see a significant drop in the rankings, as they’ve struggled to play well without Rising under center. While they’re not beat up physically, they are without two captains in Rising and linebacker Karene Reid. Rising should be good after the bye week, although fans have hit their point of frustration with timelines. If not, Ludwig needs to put more trust in Wilson and increase the playbook fast.
After the bye, Utah heads toTempe to take on the Arizona State Sun Devils.
