NCAAF Game Recap - Utah at Arizona
Sat Nov 23, 2019 10:00 PM EST

Ark
20
LSU
56
F
PSU
17
OSU
28
F
TxAM
13
UGA
19
F
WCU
3
Bama
66
F
Oreg
28
AzSt
31
F
Utah
35
Ariz
7
F
TCU
24
Okla
28
F
MIN
38
NW
22
F
Mich
39
Ind
14
F
Tex
10
Bayl
24
F
Purd
24
Wisc
45
F
BC
7
ND
40
F
Sam
0
Aub
52
F
Temp
13
Cin
15
F
Mem
49
SoFL
10
F
Ill
10
Iowa
19
F
Boise
56
UtSt
21
F
SMU
28
Navy
35
F
OkSt
20
WVU
13
F
TxSt
13
App
35
F
Pitt
0
VaTec
28
F
E Mi
45
NIU
17
F
Ohio
66
BGSU
24
F
Akr
17
MiaOH
20
F
Toled
30
Buff
49
F
NCSt
26
GATec
28
F
ColSt
7
Wyo
17
F
Ball
38
Kent
41
F
JMU
55
URI
21
F
UCF
34
Tul
31
F
ECU
31
UConn
24
F
Kans
31
IASt
41
F
Lib
27
UVA
55
F
MSU
27
Rut
0
F
BYU
56
UMass
24
F
HBU
14
SamHu
37
F
SoAl
15
GASt
28
F
E Ky
29
JacSt
23
F
AF
44
NM
22
F
GaSo
33
ArkSt
38
F
UCLA
35
USC
52
F
ETenn
0
Vand
38
F
LT
14
UAB
20
F
W Ky
28
SMiss
10
F
NorTx
14
Rice
20
F
Mer
7
UNC
56
F
Neb
54
MD
7
F
UT-M
7
KY
50
F
Marsh
13
UNCC
24
F
SJSU
35
UNLV
38
F
Cal
24
Stan
20
F
UTEP
35
NMS
44
F
Syr
34
Lou
56
F
OD
17
MidTN
38
F
CoCar
42
ULMon
45
F
Troy
3
ULLaf
53
F
FlAtl
40
UTSA
26
F
K St
30
TxTch
27
F
MiaFL
24
FLInt
30
F
Hou
24
Tuls
14
F
Tenn
24
MIZ
20
F
Abil
7
MissSt
45
F
Duke
27
Wake
39
F
OreSt
53
WaSt
54
F
Wash
14
Colo
20
F
NEV
35
Fres
28
F
SDSU
11
Hawaii
14
F
Ohio
52
Akr
3
F
WestMI
14
NIU
17
F

Utah 35, Arizona 7

Nov 23, 2019, 10:00 PM EST

Final

1

2

3

4

T

(7) Utah (10-1)

14

0

14

7

35

Arizona (4-7)

0

0

0

7

7

Moss leads No. 7 Utah to 35-7 victory over Arizona
Sun Nov 24, 2019 2:45 AM

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) Zack Moss was barreling through the line for big gains nearly every time he touched the ball. Tyler Huntley’s passing was almost flawless. Utah’s defense was dominant, making one of the Pac-12’s top rushing teams look extremely average.

Another weekend, another blowout.

And now, Utah is the last team standing in the Pac-12’s quest for a spot in the College Football Playoff after crushing Arizona 35-7 on Saturday night.

Utes coach Kyle Whittingham undeniably has his team playing at a high level. So at this point, he’s just guarding against complacency.

“Never take winning for granted,” Whittingham said. “Don’t get bored with winning.”

The Utes looked plenty interested on Saturday, bringing their usual brand of physical football. The 5-foot-10, 222-pound Moss ran for a season-high 203 yards and averaged 7.8 per carry.

Utah (10-1, 7-1 Pac-12, No. 7 CFP) has won seven straight games and is the league’s lone playoff hope after No. 6 Oregon lost to Arizona State 31-28 earlier on Saturday.

But players say they aren’t scoreboard watching.

“It’s going to take care of itself,” Utah linebacker Francis Bernard said. “As we continue to do our job, winning games, dominating, our team believes that the committee is going to make the decision and we’ll just leave it at that.

“We can’t do anything but continue to do our thing.”

Utah’s defense held an opponent to seven points or fewer for the fifth time in six games. Arizona managed just 196 total yards and a big chunk of those came in the fourth quarter when mostly backups were playing.

Huntley completed 19 of 23 passes for 211 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Tight end Brant Kuithe ran for two touchdowns on two carries. He had just one carry all season before Saturday.

The Utes dominated the first half, gaining 291 total yards to Arizona’s 56. They scored on Kuithe’s 3-yard touchdown and Huntley’s 3-yard pass to Demari Simpkins to take a 14-0 lead by halftime.

Utah had a great chance to score a third touchdown just before the break but was stopped at the 1-yard line as time expired. The defensive stand gave the Wildcats a little momentum heading into the second half until Moss ran for a 41-yard touchdown on the opening drive to leave little doubt about the outcome.

“We felt like they were hanging around a little too much,” Moss said. “The score was only 14-0, but we were doing a lot of good things on offense. We just wanted to come out and put some points on the board, so that’s what we did.”

Arizona (4-7, 2-6) has lost six straight. J.J. Taylor ran for 33 yards on 10 carries.

“That’s a good football team we played,” coach Kevin Sumlin said. “We couldn’t get anything going offensively.”

TATE’S SENIOR DAY

It was senior day for Arizona players, including quarterback Khalil Tate, who is close to concluding an up-and-down college career.

He was a breakout star in 2017, when as a sophomore he threw for 1,591 yards and 14 touchdowns and also ran for 1,411 yards and 12 touchdowns.

But coach Rich Rodriguez was dismissed following that season and Sumlin could never get the same results out of Tate, who has mostly regressed during his final two seasons. He’s split time with freshman Grant Gunnell this fall.

Neither quarterback had much success against Utah. Tate was 6-of-11 passing for 39 yards and Gunnell was 8-of-16 for 96 yards and had a 7-yard rushing touchdown.

ANOTHER MILESTONE FOR MOSS

Moss reached 1,000 yards rushing for the season in the first quarter. He’s now run for at least 1,000 yards the past three years, including 1,173 as a sophomore and 1,096 as a junior.

THE TAKEAWAY

Utah: The Utes did what they do best, combining a grinding, efficient offense with a shutdown defense. After Penn State and Oregon lost, they should be in better position to potentially grab a CFP spot.

“Don’t care,” Whittingham said. “Doesn’t matter. We have our hands full with Colorado. We’ve got to try to figure out how to make a first down next week. That’s our objective. Whatever else is happening is none of our business.”

Arizona: It was another tough Saturday for the Wildcats, who couldn’t get Taylor going in the run game. Arizona ends its season on the road against rival Arizona State, which is coming off a huge win over No. 6 Oregon.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

The Utes should at least push past Oregon, which was a spot ahead in the rankings.

UP NEXT

Utah hosts Colorado next Saturday.

Arizona visits Arizona State next Saturday.

---

More AP college football: http://apnews.com/tag/Collegefootball and http://www.twitter.com/AP-Top25

Passing

Utah Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat
T. Huntley 23 19 82.6 1 211 29 1 101.3
J. Shelley 1 1 100.0 0 9 9 0 104.2
Ariz Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat
G. Gunnell 16 8 50.0 0 96 31 0 68.8
K. Tate 11 6 54.5 0 39 21 0 62.3

Rushing

Utah Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
Z. Moss 26 203 7.8 41 1
J. Dixon 2 20 10.0 12 0
Ariz Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
J. Taylor 10 33 3.3 10 0
M. Wiley 2 7 3.5 4 0

Receiving

Utah Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
B. Kuithe 4 81 20.3 29 0
D. Simpkins 4 34 8.5 14 1
Ariz Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
C. Peterson 4 63 15.8 31 0
J. Joiner 1 21 21.0 21 0

Fumbles

Returning

Utah KR Avg KRTD LgKR PR Avg TD LgPR
D. Simpkins 0 0 0 2 28.0 0 39
Ariz KR Avg KRTD LgKR PR Avg TD LgPR
T. Cunningham 2 14.5 0 25 0 0 0
J. Taylor 1 41.0 0 23 0 0 0

Punting

Utah Punt Yds Avg LgPu
B. Lennon 1 31 31.0 31
Ariz Punt Yds Avg LgPu
K. Ostendorp 3 139 46.3 53
M. Aragon 3 117 39.0 45

Takeaways

Ariz Int Yds InTD
L. Burns 1 3 0

Team Stats Comparison

Utah Ariz
Points For 35 7
Total Yards 517 196
Rushing Yards 297 61
Passing Yards 220 135
Passing Completions / Attempts 20/24 14/27
Turnovers 1 0
Interceptions Thrown 1 0
Fumbles - Lost 0/0 0/0
First Downs 28 11
Penalties - Yards 11/110 4/60
Time Of Possession 32:32 28:28
Third Down Conversions/Attempts 6/11 2/12
Fourth Down Conversions/Attempts 0/2 2/4
Punts - Average Yards 1/31 6/43

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter Utah Ariz
Utah 07:21 TD Brant Kuithe 3 yd run (Jadon Redding kick) 7 0
Utah 14:23 TD Demari Simpkins 3 yd pass from Tyler Huntley (Jadon Redding kick) 14 0
2nd Quarter Utah Ariz
No scores this quarter
3rd Quarter Utah Ariz
Utah 02:10 TD Zack Moss 41 yd run (Jadon Redding kick) 21 0
Utah 06:52 TD Brant Kuithe 6 yd run (Jadon Redding kick) 28 0
4th Quarter Utah Ariz
Utah 02:13 TD TJ Green 1 yd run (Jadon Redding kick) 35 0
Ariz 13:10 TD Grant Gunnell 7 yd run (Lucas Havrisik kick) 35 7

Game Information

Stadium: Arizona Stadium, Tucson, Arizona
Attendance: 35,991
Game Time:
Weather: