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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah suffered a big loss at home to Arizona two weeks ago.
Noah Fifita led an unexpected eight-play, 87-yard drive to put the Wildcats up 13 points with eight minutes to go, and freshman quarterback Isaac Wilson — who passed for a career-high 280 yards on 40 passing attempts — didn't have his best game, though that was not the reason the Utes lost.
With Cam Rising still questionable, the base assumption is that Wilson will roll out for the Utes once again. This time, it will be Arizona State as the Utes travel to Tempe to take on the Sun Devils, who Utah has won four straight against.
How can the Utes overcome the loss and use the bye week to their favor against ASU?
Take advantage of red zone opportunities
The Utes haven't been great in the red zone this season, especially against Arizona, where Utah turned the ball over on downs its first two possessions in the red zone. Utah is converting a touchdown in red zone trips just 50% of the time, but head coach Kyle Whittingham said the teams wants to be at least 70%.
Whittingham said "we're about 20% off of where we need to be" in the red zone. The target is 70% touchdowns and Utah is at 50% right now.
— Josh Furlong (@JFurKSL) October 7, 2024
Whittingham said there's an argument for kicking field goals last week, but the analytics heavily weighed in the favor of going for the first down/touchdown in the red zone.
— Josh Furlong (@JFurKSL) October 7, 2024
"If you kick field goals a lot, you're not going to win a lot of games."
The Utes are No. 87 in the nation in the red zone scoring at 82.35%. In 22 attempts, the Utes have only scored 11 touchdowns and have turned the ball over four times, two against Arizona.
With either Wilson or Rising, the Utes need to be better at getting the ball in the end zone or taking the 3 points. Arizona State is tied for the worst efficiency in red zone defense this year, allowing all 12 drives in the red zone to end in points — nine of them coming via touchdown.
Balanced offensive attack
Arizona State's defense has been inconsistent. Through the first two games, the Sun Devils held its opponents to just 57.5 rushing yards per game — not including sack yardage. But over the last three games, the Sun Devils have been torched on the ground, giving up an average of 143 yards per game — again, not including sack yardage.
Teams have also had solid success in the passing attack against ASU. Again, through the first two games the Sun Devils held opponents to a staggering 173 yards per game. Through the last three, teams are throwing for 243 yards per contest. Totaled up, Arizona State's defense has given up nearly 400 yards of total offense.
A balanced run game with Micah Bernard and Jaylon Glover, who Whittingham said could get some reps, will be able to keep Arizona State on its toes to set up play-action passes for the quarterback.
Why does that matter? Wilson is 21-of-32 passing on play-action passes this year for nearly 300 yards and two touchdowns, according to Pro Football Focus. The only other passing stat he is better at is screen passes, where he is a perfect 8-of-8.
Defend the run
Senior Cameron Skattebo, like the defense, has had an inconsistent year. Though No. 6 in the country in rushing yards, Skattebo has had only two really good games this season.
He rushed for 262 yards against Mississippi State and 183 yards against Kansas, but Skattebo has rushed for under 65 yards against the other three opponents he's faced.
Skattebo has still found ways to be useful, however, scoring twice at Texas State and Texas Tech. So even if the yards aren't piling up, the touchdowns are.
Quarterback Sam Leavitt has also been solid in the run game this year. Leavitt has 282 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns, tripling his season total of 84 last year at Michigan State.
Utah is currently No. 60 in the country in run defense, per PFF, at a respectable grade of 76.9. Limiting the rushing attack will force Arizona State into a one-dimensional offense, giving them a defensive boost in Tempe.
The No. 16 Utes will take on the 4-1 Sun Devils on Friday, Oct. 11 at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN.
