Nobody thought Arizona could do this except the Wildcats and the ever-believing Brent Brennan.
The team that was overwhelmed at Kansas State two weeks ago was overwhelming over No. 10 Utah in a 23-10 win in front of a stunned sellout crowd at Rice-Eccles Stadium at Salt Lake City.
The Wildcats beat Utah for the first time in 10 years there despite a long travel delay on Friday that prevented the team from reaching Salt Lake City until after midnight.
Brennan noted that his players were “eating hamburgers at 2 in the morning” after their arrival.
“But it didn’t matter,” Brennen said on the 1290-AM postgame show. “They stayed together and found ways to make plays we needed to.”
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The Utes, the preseason favorite to win the Big 12 title, entered the game 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the Big 12 with an impressive win at Oklahoma State last week.
Utah was a 10-point favorite over the Wildcats, who were coming off a bye week after losing 31-7 at K-State in what was a non-conference game.
Arizona’s record against AP Top 10 teams on the road is now 6-32-1.
It was Brennan’s first win over a ranked team on the road in his eight years as a head coach.
Arizona (3-1, 1-0 Big 12) defeated Utah in Salt Lake City for the first time in 10 years and have upended the Utes and their legendary coach Kyle Whittingham two consecutive seasons.
“I think the players staying together, keep believing in each other and playing until the last whistle … I am just so proud of how they responded through all of the adversity,” Brennan said.
The defense played its best overall game in recent memory, limiting Utah to 84 yards rushing while intercepting two passes thrown by true freshman Isaac Wilson.
Utah veteran Cam Rising was in unifom but did not play because of a hand injury.
Arizona cornerback Tacario Davis played like an NFL first-round selection with a suffocating defense on former Wildcat receiver Dorian Singer, who had his moments in the first quarter but was a non-factor the rest of the game. Singer had 96 of his 155 yards receiving in the first half.
Davis had five of Arizona’s eight pass break-ups.
The defense set the tone in Utah’s first two possessions of the game. The Utes came up empty despite driving 64 yards on 13 plays to the Arizona 11 and 73 yards on 10 plays to the Arizona 2.
Noah Fifita completed 19 of 31 passes for 197 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
Two of his 19 completions occurred in one of the best drives in Arizona history.
Utah cut the lead to 16-10 with 11:54 left and the Rice-Eccles crowd was deafining.
On third-and-11 at the Arizona 25, Fifita threw downfield and connected with Devin Hyatt on a 41-yard pass play.
Two plays later, on third-and-11 on the Utah 35, Fifita threw a scoring strike to tight end Keyan Burnett to put the Wildcats ahead 23-10 with 8:13 remaining.
“I think the best part about that (Arizona’s performance) is they did that for each other,” Brennan said. “They love each other. It was so important for them to just play good football together.
“They weren’t going to let anything talk them out of that. They were just going to keep fighting for each other. I think that’s what we saw, and that’s what made it so amazing.”
The Anaheim (Calif.) Servite High School alums — Fifita, Tetairoa McMillan and Burnett — took center stage.
Burnett finished with five receptions for 76 yards while McMillan made six catches for 50 yards.
Another former Servite standout, linebacker Jacob Manu, had eight tackles and was part of a tackle for loss.
Fifita also hit Burnett on a key third down-and-7 pass with the Wildcats on their 10 early in the third quarter. The 21-yard completion in which Burnett showed his athleticism by diving and landing one foot before going out of bounds ignited a drive that resulted in Tyler Loop’s 53-yard field goal that gave Arizona a 13-3 lead with 7:36 left in the third quarter.
Genesis Smith, playing for injured Treydan Stukes, then had an interception picking off a pass that was thrown directly at him.
Loop again made a field goal, from 33 yards, to give Arizona a 16-3 lead with 6:33 left.
Arizona opened the fourth quarter first down-and-10 on Utah’s 26 after the Utes turned the ball over on downs at the Wildcats’ 44 with 1:26 left in the third period.
Fifita made his lone costly mistake of the game, throwing an interception in the end zone with McMillan double covered.
Utah took only five plays to go 80 yards for its lone touchdown of the game, a 20-yard pass from Wilson to Caleb Lohner with 11:54 remaining.
Despite the very loud atmosphere, Fifita responded on Arizona’s following drive with the two significant passes to Hyatt and Burnett.
Utah could not get closer than the Arizona 48 in its last three possession, with the last pass by Wilson intercepted by Gunner Maldonado with 2:26 left.
“We had four fouth-down stops and forced two turnovers — two interceptions. I mean, that’s incredible,” Brennan said. “So that’s something that we’re going to continue to harp on.
“I think Coach (Duane) Akina (defensive coordinator) and the defensive staff just did an awesome job getting the team prepared. The way the players practiced this week, just the attention to detail, the effort, the intensity and physicality they put in the practice environment gave us a chance to win this game tonight.”
Arizona nearly doubled Utah’s production on the ground, rushing for 164 yards.
Kedrick Reescano rushed for 73 yards on seven carries while Quali Conley had 72 on 14 rushes.
Canyon del Oro graduate Kayden Luke, a freshman who is a preferred walk-on, played as a fullback in short-yardage situations. He had his first rush in college, a 4-yard bulldozing run in which five tacklers had to bring him down.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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