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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utes came into Saturday night's do-or-die matchup against Arizona with a defense that ranked No. 18 in the nation against the run, yielding just 110.6 yards per game. Before Saturday, Utah hadn't allowed more than 200 yards on the ground to a single team this fall. (UCLA had gained the most against Utah, rushing for 171 earlier in the season.)
Clearly, the Utes hoped to continue having success against the run when Arizona and its star running back, Ka'Deem Carey, arrived Saturday at Rice-Ecles Stadium.
But in that objective, the Utes failed big time.
Carey, the conference's sophomore rushing leader, ran for 204 yards and a touchdown to lead the Wildcats to victory. It was the first time a team — let alone a single player — had rushed over 200 yards on the Utes this season. Carey's 7.8 yards-per-carry average had to have several wondering why the Wildcats bothered throwing the ball 27 times (for an average of only 5.9 yards per pass).
"Their running back is a terrific player," Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. "He rushed for over 200 yards. I can't remember an individual that rushed for 200 yards on us, but he did."
"He's the leading rusher in the Pac-12, and we didn't do good enough," defensive end Trevor Reilly said. "The defensive ends, we didn't play well enough. That's basically it."
But Carey wasn't the only Wildcat stampeding over the Utah defense. Quarterback Matt Scott — who was vomiting during the game — kept the ball 13 times for 74 yards. Junior Daniel Jenkins also carried the ball seven times for 42 yards.
In all, the Utes gave up 320 yards on the ground and 480 total yards.
"That's one heck of an offense they've got," Whittingham said. "The tempo and schematics of it all are very, very good."
Despite relenting so many yards to Arizona, the Utes actually led the game going into the fourth quarter. A Jenkins touchdown carry tied the game at 24 early in the final period, making it anybody's game.
And then Utah failed to convert a fake punt, turning the ball over on downs in its own territory. Arizona quickly capitalized, and the Utes couldn't respond.
Not only did the Wildcats' rushing attack stomp on the Utah defense, Arizona's players trod down upon what small hopes the Utes were clinging to of qualifying for a 10th-straight bowl berth.
Instead, Utah will go bowl-less for the first time since 2002.
"It's a tough one to swallow, seeing that I've been to a bowl game every year since my freshman year," said senior receiver DeVonte Christopher, who caught a touchdown pass on Senior Night. "To not make it to a bowl game is kind of bizarre, especially as the senior class. We grew up in this program seeing a lot of winning. So to not go to a bowl game is pretty disappointing."
"We just didn't get the job done in enough games this year," Reilly said. "A lot of games we should have won, but excuses aren't worth anything. We just didn't get the job done enough times this year."
Whittingham hinted that changes to the offensive philosophy may be in Utah's future. A faster-paced, more-uptempo offense — like Arizona's — is becoming the norm for teams in the Pac-12.
"That seems to be the way the game is trending," Whittingham said. "I'm going to evaluate everything in the offseason, and that's something we definitely need to look at. The trend is definitely heading in that direction."
There is one more game to be played first, however. The second annual Rumble in the Rockies is the closest thing the Utes will get to a bowl this season, and that will take place Friday at 1 p.m. in Boulder, Colo. when Utah battles Colorado.
"We're just going to have to make next week our bowl game," senior kicker Coleman Peterson said.
"We let them come in here and get the win last year, keeping us out of the Pac-12 championship game," Christopher said. "So we're definitely looking forward to going into their house and playing hard."
"It's a pride and character game," said Whittingham. "There's nothing else on the line, but that should be enough every week. You shouldn't need a carrot in front of you to play hard and compete and play your best, which I believe our guys will do."
Tyson Maddy has covered University of Utah athletics as a contributing writer for KSL.com Sports since 2011.
