Utes out for some revenge against Arizona Saturday

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Sports) – Cam Rising warmed up before Utah’s game against Oklahoma State Saturday, but about 20 minutes before kickoff, Kyle Whittingham made the call that Isaac Wilson would start.

“Not enough velocity on the ball, plain and simple,” Whittingham said. “Just not able to to spin it like like he needs to. It wouldn’t work, it just didn’t have that zip on the ball.”

Wilson played well in his second career start, throwing for 207 yards and a touchdown as the Utes beat the Cowboys, 22-19.

“His confidence, his command of the offense,” Whittingham said when asked where Wilson has improved the most. “I’ve said before, he’s got the ‘it’ factor for quarterback. That’s so critical. You got to have the guy that has that it factor that leadership.”

“The decision that they made, no one was surprised by it,” said tight end Brant Kuithe, who ran for a touchdown and caught a 45-yard touchdown pass. “Isaac is the starter for the game, and you kind of have to get behind him. He kind of kept his composure throughout the whole game, came out with the win. That’s the only thing we can ask for.”

Thanks in large part to Micah Bernard, who rushed for a career high 182 yards, including an incredible 62-yard tackle-busting run in the third quarter.

“I will tell you, everybody said I need to finish these runs,” Bernard said. “But when you take a couple of hits, that takes so much energy out of you. So as soon as I took those two hits hit, I was like, ‘oh, I’m still up.; And at that moment I knew. I’m like, dang, I got a long way to run. I was like, ‘yeah, it’s not today.”

“He’s right there at or near the top of the league in rushing,” Whittingham said about Bernard. “He’s been a workhorse, and that that was probably a little more than we should utilize him. He had 25 carries.”

Dorian Singer had his best game as a Ute, as the Arizona and USC transfer had seven catches including one circus catch off his helmet that he somehow hauled in.

“It was just about concentration,” Singer said. “When I felt the ball in my hands I knew this attached to my body and catch it.”

“I like everything about Dorian’s play,” Whittingham added. “He’s very valuable, and I think what you saw Saturday was more indicative of how we should be able to utilize him week in and week out.”

Last year, when they were both in the Pac-12 Conference, Arizona put it on the Utes, 42-17 in Tucson. This year the game is at Rice-Eccles, and the Utes are out for revenge.

“Of course, we always have the mentality for payback,” Bernard said. “It’s at home and it’s a blackout, so we’re going to have some fun, and we’ll come away with a W.”

“We lost last year,” Kuithe said. “But they’re coming to us, so we’ll be ready for them for sure.”

#10 Utah and Arizona will kick off at 8:15 p.m. Saturday at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

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