#13 Utah Football Dominates In The Desert, Beating Arizona State 34-13
TEMPE, Ariz. – The No. 13 University of Utah Football program came out of the desert with a 34-13 win at Arizona State Saturday night, improving to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in Pac-12 play.
Between a balanced offense and a smothering defense, the Utes controlled the game from start to finish, holding the Sun Devils to 267 yards of total offense, which included just six yards rushing. The six yards rushing was the seventh-fewest allowed by Utah in a game all-time.
Utah produced 465 yards on offense between the 205 on the ground and the 260 through the air, finishing the game with 26 first downs and 6.3 yards per play.
GAME LEADERS
Quarterback Cameron Rising went 19-of-29 passing (2 TDs, 1 INT) for 260 yards, adding three rushes for 27 yards (9.0 ypc). He linked up with Devaughn Vele (6 rec.) and Dalton Kincaid (4 rec.) for a combined 10 of his 19 completions with Kincaid notching 66 receiving yards and two touchdowns and Vele contributing 63 yards.
Tavion Thomas led the Utes in rushing with 11 carries for 60 yards, averaging 5.5 yards per carry while Jaylon Glover (13 rush, 49 yards) and Micah Bernard (8 rush, 29 yards) also paced the ground game. Ja'Quinden Jackson and Jaylen Dixon each rushed for one touchdown apiece.
On defense, Karene Reid had his first double-digit tackle game of the year with a team-high 10 stops, which included 1.5 tackles for loss. R.J. Hubert and Van Fillinger had five tackles each with Hubert also adding a forced fumble while Gabe Reid had four tackles that included 2.0 sacks.
Cole Bishop also had a standout performance against the Sun Devils, notching three stops (1.0 TFL), his first-career interception and a pass breakup to round out the solid defensive performance.
FIRST QUARTER BREAKDOWN
After Utah had to punt on its first drive of the game, the defense was able to make it a quick possession for the Sun Devils by forcing back-to-back sacks by Lander Barton and Gabe Reid. The Utes took over on their own 47-yard line with 11:41 on the clock with Rising connecting with Kincaid on a 29-yard reverse flea flicker on the second play of the drive, putting the Utes up 7-0.
The Utah defense forced another three-and-out with the Utes taking on their third offensive possession of the night on their own 30-yard line. In a drive that lasted 14 plays, produced 70 yards and five first downs, the Utes found the end zone with 3:16 to go in the quarter after Rising and Kincaid linked up for the second time with a six-yard passing play to give Utah a 14-0 advantage.
SECOND QUARTER BREAKDOWN
The Utes got back on the scoreboard at the 7:03 mark in the second quarter after the defense came up big once again with Clark Phillips III grabbing his first interception of the year. Utah took over on the Arizona State 31-yard line, finding its way to the five-yard line on solid rushing from Jackson before having to settle on a 23-yard field goal from Jordan Noyes for the 17-0 lead.
Arizona State would counter with a field goal of its own, knocking in a 36-yarder with the Utes regaining possession on their own 25-yard line with under five minutes to go in the quarter. Back-to-back deep balls to Money Parks (19 yds) and Vele (25 yds) landed Utah inside the ASU 17 with Jackson finishing the drive off with a two-yard rushing score to make it 24-3.
The Sun Devils would score their second field goal of the game as time ticked away in the second quarter, ending the half with Utah leading 24-6 on a 47-yard field goal. The Utes held Arizona State to just 92 yards of offense in the first half, including -10 rushing yards.
THIRD QUARTER BREAKDOWN
The name of the game was moving chains on Utah's first scoring drive of the third quarter, marching down field for 74 yards on nine plays while taking 3:56 off the clock. Sixty-nine of the yards in the drive came from the Utes' rushing game, including 37 from Thomas, with Dixon finishing the drive with an 11-yard rush to the end zone for a 31-6 lead.
FOURTH QUARTER BREAKDOWN
The Utes scored on its first drive of the fourth quarter with Noyes converting his second field goal of the game, hitting in a 28-yarder with 10:49 left in the game on the end of a nine-play, 24-yard drive. The scoring drive was set up by another solid play on defense with R.J. Hubert forcing a fumble on the final play of the third quarter with Malone Mataele recovering the ball.
Arizona State would find the end zone for the first time in the game with 2:06 left on the clock, scoring on an 11-yard passing play to send Utah home with a 34-13 road victory.
UP NEXT
Utah will return to Rice-Eccles Stadium for its annual Homecoming game on Saturday, Oct. 1 when they take on the Oregon State Beavers. The game will air on Pac-12 Networks at 12 p.m. MT.