Coming back from their first loss of the season, the Utes are eager to get back on track against the Arizona Wildcats this Saturday at Rice Eccles Stadium.
Utah lost to Cal on Oct. 1 after failing to score a game winning touchdown when the team was just one yard shy of the end zone. Utah now has a 4-1 record. Arizona on the other hand has yet to win a Pac-12 game — the Wildcats have dropped games to Washington and UCLA, but Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez has Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham’s number. Ever since Rodriguez took over the Wildcats, the Utes have been unable to beat them in four straight seasons, including an overtime loss in Tucson in 2015.
Whittingham isn’t thinking about the fact that he has yet to beat Rodriguez, however. He just wants to break that four game losing streak and he wants his team to get the win in Salt Lake City.
“We need to bounce back,” Whittingham said. “Part of being a good football team is being able to rebound and not let a team beat you twice. It was an emotional game, and so it takes its toll, but you got to be able to rebound and respond and put it behind you and get ready for the next team — that’s our challenge.”
Senior Pita Taumoepenu doesn’t recall much from that overtime loss to the Wildcats in November, but he is confident that the Utes will do what is necessary to get a win. Following the loss to Cal, Taumoepenu said the coaches weren’t hard on the guys, but instead tried to motivate them to look ahead to the rest of the season.
“Our coaches always tell us, ‘Hey, this is a lesson for us, so next week we’re going to step and and give everything we got,’” Taumoepenu said.
Quarterback Troy Williams didn’t shine at Berkeley and he didn’t throw for any touchdowns. Williams also feels that he could have ran the ball in for the final touchdown that would have sealed another win for the Utes, but all in all he does feel like Whittingham made the right play calls.
The Utes were without senior wide receiver Tim Patrick for a big portion of last week’s game, but again, Williams has confidence in the entire receiving corps to make the necessary plays.
One thing Whittingham does need his team to do differently is not go down by double digits. The Utes have been playing from behind in their past two Pac-12 games and the players and coaches are aware it’s going to get more difficult to get themselves out of a hole as the season progresses.
Armand Shyne will be starting in his first game for the Utes come Saturday, but the similar distribution of carries between him, Zack Moss and Troy McCormick will probably remain the same until one of the three can pull away from the others.
Shyne fell one yard short of a 100 yard rushing game last weekend and he is anxious to break into those triple digits and show the coaches he deserves to be the starter from here on out.
“It’s a big role, and I’m going to prepare myself so I can do the job right,” Shyne said. “I’m going to make the best out of the opportunity.”
Game time is set for 8:00 p.m.
@kbrenneisen