“Bottom line is, they made a couple more plays at the end and we didn’t,” said Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham, whose simple statement during Monday’s press conference echoed the disappointment felt by players and fans in the wake of his team’s narrow loss to Arizona.
Saturday was the first game of the Utes’ season to go into overtime, and despite an unusually productive night from Travis Wilson, Devontae Booker and co., Utah’s offense was unable to find the end zone when it mattered most, falling short in the second overtime.
On the defensive side of the ball, Whittingham felt the team excelled at shutting down the run but was penalized too much and simply unable to match the career night by Arizona quarterback Anu Solomon, who threw for 277 yards and scrambled for another 86 before being injured in the fourth quarter.
“For us, it really came down to not having an answer to their quarterback,” Whittingham said. “He had an exceptional night. He threw the ball well, escaped the pocket numerous times and extended the play. We just didn’t respond very well to the throwing game.”
The Utah defense is looking to regain an edge against the passing game, bolstered by the returns of defensive end Hunter Dimmick and cornerback Reggie Porter, who will join in limited practice this week — welcome news for a team that has lost more than a few starters to rigorous Pac-12 play.
“We hope they’re ready,” Whittingham said. “Obviously we miss them — Hunter is one of the best defensive ends in the conference, and Reggie has been very consistent and steady all year long for us.”
Following the defeat, a playoff berth for the Utes would take nothing short of a miracle, and the team’s fragile one-game lead in the Pac-12 South has evaporated. The Utes now control only half of their destiny, as wins in the final two games of the regular season would still require a USC loss for Utah to make it to the conference championship.
“We have no margin of error — our backs are to the wall. Now we’ve got to find a way to beat UCLA this weekend,” said Whittingham.
The series is tied 2-2 since the two teams became conference opponents, with the Utes winning last season’s contest in a 30-28 nail-biter. In this year’s match-up, the Utah defense will again have to try and find an answer for a nationally-recognized underclassman quarterback and a stellar wide receiving corps.
“They’ve got no weaknesses [on offense],” said Whittingham of the visiting Bruins.
True-freshman Josh Rosen and the rest of the Bruin offense have been a veritable force in each of their seven wins this season, averaging just under 500 yards of total offense per game. Like the Utes, UCLA will also be looking to bounce back after a narrow defeat at the hands of Washington State this weekend.
Aside from finding a way to pressure Rosen and limiting the number of big plays, Utah will have to address some concerns on offense. Namely, a number of costly drops by the receivers against Arizona and the possibility of having to establish the run-game without a full-strength Booker, who is currently undergoing evaluations on an undisclosed injury sustained on Saturday.
“I think that if our offense is firing on all cylinders, there are enough things that we can exploit on their defense with the passing game,” said wide receiver Britain Covey.
When asked what the key to winning the game would be, Covey said the team would need to be confident and do a better job of capitalizing on possessions and good field position. In spite of the loss, he said the team is still extremely motivated to do whatever it takes to win the Pac-12 South and is excited to be defending its championship aspirations with a pair of home games.
“This is a huge game. I’m glad we get to have it at home,” said Covey. “I love playing at Rice-Eccles. I feel like we have an edge over any team that has to come here.”
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