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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah football finally ran out of gas.
In a season defined by the multitude of injuries sustained to several key players — including three starters on defense prior to Saturday's game — Utah didn't have enough left in the tank to compete against a streaking Arizona team still in contention for a Pac-12 championship game appearance.
Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham is the first to not use the injuries as an excuse to the season — "We've got to accept the fact that they outplayed us, outcoached us, and that's that" — but it's hard to ignore it as a contributing factor to the team's once-promising season.
The Utes sustained at least 11 officially reported season-ending injuries and have had more than 30 players on their two-deep roster miss at least some time due to injury this season. Even then, Utah simply got beat by Arizona Saturday afternoon.
And though Utah can point to several reasons why, none will erase its win-loss record this season, which now features four losses in conference play — the first time since 2017. With the latest loss, Utah has dropped out of the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time this season, but is the leading team "receiving votes."
The fall out of the top 25 for Utah is the first time since the 2021 season after the Utes lost to BYU in Week 2. Utah eventually climbed back into the poll that season before finishing ranked No. 12 after a loss to Ohio State in the team's first appearance in the Rose Bowl.
Washington secured its 11th win of the season Saturday against a ranked Oregon State team to lift the Huskies to No. 4 in the rankings, up one spot from last week. Other ranked Pac-12 teams include No. 6 Oregon, No. 15 Oregon State and No. 16 Arizona.
After the penultimate weekend of the regular season, Georgia remains at No. 1 in the poll as a near unanimous pick. Behind the Bulldogs is No. 2 Ohio State, which jumped Michigan. Florida State, which was previously ranked fourth, dropped to No. 5 despite a win, though quarterback Jordan Travis suffering a season-ending injury may have played into the drop.
