Utah is headed to Tucson for its final road game of the season, where it will play the Arizona Wildcats.
The past three meetings between the two have resulted in wins for Arizona, most notably last year when the Wildcats had their way with the Utes, winning in Salt Lake City 42-10. Gionni Paul was unable to play in that game because of an injury, and even more frustrating, he could not watch the game from the sideline because it was raining.
Paul was in a cast and was not allowed to get it wet, so he was forced to retreat back to the locker room, where he couldn’t stand the thought of not doing anything to help his team win.
“Just me sitting in the locker room, all by myself, I remember Arizona just owning us,” Paul said. “Just that feeling inside that I can’t help my team. They really came to play — they played better than us, they outcoached us. Taking over this year, we need to remember that feeling and we don’t want to feel it no more.”
Coming off of a performance where he forced two turnovers at Washington, Paul is more confident than ever in his abilities to get the win. Head coach Kyle Whittingham expects not only Paul, but the entire defense, to pressure the quarterback, but considering the front seven Arizona has, it won’t be easy.
Arizona has one of the toughest offensive lines the Utes will have to face this season, and Whittingham is preparing his team to be up to the challenge.
“The O-line plays exceptionally,” Whittingham said. “Very well coached on the O-line. Great grasp of the spread run game. They do a great job offensively.”
Whittingham also clearly remembers the Wildcats’ dominant performance the last time the two teams met, and he is eager to erase that memory. Even though Arizona is not having a great year — the Wildcats are currently 5-5 on the season — the Utes are not at all thinking they already have the game won.
“They’ve had our number the last three years, so there’s no chance of us overlooking these guys,” Whittingham said. “We got to be at our best. Three years in a row — their team is very dangerous.”
As for Utah’s offense, Devontae Booker had plenty of touches against Washington, but Whittingham would really like to see an improvement in the passing game.
Last weekend, Travis Wilson was 12-of-25 and threw for a pedestrian 155 yards. Whittingham’s ideal passing game is obviously above 50 percent and around 250 yards of production through the air. The Utes need to find other ways to move the football down the field aside from Booker’s run game.
“We need to be more productive throwing the football,” Whittingham said.
This was one game Paul was not going to miss, and since the beginning of the season has kept his eyes on the Wildcats.
“I marked this game on my goals, to beat Arizona,” Paul said.
The game kicks off at 8 p.m. MST.
@kbrenneisen