The Utes lost their second game of the season Saturday night at Arizona, and although head coach Kyle Whittingham thinks his team put up a good fight, they were unable to hang in there — mainly because of Anu Solomon.
The Arizona quarterback had plenty of time to throw the ball, escaped the pocket on numerous occasions and extended several plays that probably should have been tackles for loss for Utah.
“Unfortunately, we came up short on Saturday night,” Whittingham said. “For us it really came down to not having an answer for their quarterback. We didn’t respond very well to the throwing game.”
Penalties also hampered the Utah defense. The team committed 10 penalties, and a handful of them were pass interference calls. Whittingham knows this is what gave Arizona momentum early on, and those calls extended what should have been dead plays.
When the game was tied at 27, Whittingham felt hopeful, but he knew his chances were slim when Devontae Booker fumbled the ball.
“I really thought we were going to win the game when it was tied up and we had the ball there at the end driving,” Whittingham said. “Then we ended up fumbling the ball at midfield. We had our chance. We have nobody to blame but ourselves.”
Tied for first in the Pac-12
Since USC won a close game over Colorado on Friday night and UCLA dropped one against Washington State, the Utes and Trojans are tied for first in the Pac-12 South. If the season ends this way, however, USC wins the tiebreaker because of its earlier win over Utah a few weeks ago.
“These next two weeks will be very interesting,” Whittingham said. “We [have] no margin for error. Our backs are to the wall. We got to try and find a way to beat UCLA this weekend. Anything can happen, and we’re by no means out of it.”
Tom Hackett knows if the Utes do not win their last two games he is going to be really disappointed, considering the amount of returning players. Even if the team does finish with one more win than last year, that won’t be enough for Hackett, who realizes the Pac-12 has little to no hope of making the College Football Playoff after last weekend.
“First year I’ve been here that we’ve had a shot at a really good bowl game,” Hackett said. “This one [loss] hurt more than last time. A one-loss Pac-12 team could easily make a case for the playoff, obviously a two-loss probably won’t happen, so that stings and it’s a shame.”
Mounting injuries
The depth on the defensive side of the ball has been much-needed, with several players going down due to injuries. Whittingham appreciates the backups stepping up when needed but hopes to be at full strength sooner rather than later.
The defense missed Hunter Dimick and Reggie Porter against the Wildcats. This week, both Dimick and Porter will receive limited reps in practice, and Whittingham is optimistic they will be ready to go this weekend.
“We hope they’re ready, but there’s no guarantees,” Whittingham said. “Obviously we missed them. Hunter’s one of the best defensive ends in the conference and Reggie has been very consistent, steady all year long for us. If we are in fact able to get those guys back that will be a big plus.”
Meanwhile, Booker was sidelined for a few plays against Arizona, and Whittingham is not sure how he will be heading into this weekend’s game with UCLA.
“It’s question marked right now,” Whittingham said. “We’ll know a lot more after today.”
@kbrenneisen