No. 16 Utah at Arizona State: How to watch, listen to or stream the game
By Joe Coles,
3 days ago
Utah Utes wide receiver Dorian Singer (3) celebrates a catch for a first down against the Arizona Wildcats in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
No. 16 Utah (4-1, 1-1) at Arizona State (4-1, 1-1)
Weather: Sunny with temperatures in the mid 90s at kickoff, dropping to mid 80s by end of game.
The trends
For Utah: The Utes have had two weeks to stew on their loss to Arizona and fix some of the pertinent issues — poor red-zone offense, missed tackling and some shaky run defense — before heading to Tempe to face Arizona State.
For Arizona State: Picked last in the Big 12 preseason media poll, the Sun Devils have already surpassed last year’s three-win total and enter the matchup with the same record as the Utes — 4-1. Arizona State is fresh off of a 35-31 win over Kansas that featured a game-winning touchdown drive with two minutes left.
What to watch for
According to the Action Network’s Brett McMurphy, Utah quarterback Cam Rising will make his return to game action after missing the last 3.5 games with a finger injury.
Rising was expected to start against Oklahoma State three weeks ago but was a game-time scratch, so until the veteran quarterback is actually playing in a game, nothing is for certain. Assuming that Rising does play, it provides a big boost for the Utes, who lost to Arizona in part because of their inability to cash in in the red zone in the first half and put points on the board in the second half.
The senior elevates Utah’s offense to a new level when healthy, and through four combined quarters this season against Southern Utah and Baylor, Rising threw for 346 yards and seven touchdowns.
The big question: How will Rising look in his first action in a month after reportedly dislocating his finger and suffering a laceration in the Week 2 win over Baylor? Rising has been hard at work rehabbing and Utah isn’t going to put him out there until he’s close to 100%, but it’s something to watch as he plays his first game since early September.
Key player
Darryl Webb
Cam Skattebo, Arizona State RB: While quarterback Sam Leavitt, a one-time Utah transfer target, has the ability to win through the air, the Utes want to force the Sun Devils into throwing it and getting away from their bread and butter on the ground.
So far this season, ASU is running the ball on 62.5% of offense plays, with the vast majority of the carries (111) going to star running back Cam Skattebo. Skattebo has rushed for 615 yards and six scores, while the dual-threat Leavitt has added 257 yards and four scores on the ground.
Arizona State enters the game with the nation’s No. 17 rushing attack, while the Utes’ rush defense is No. 31 in the nation, which should make for an interesting battle.
After struggling to contain Arizona’s rushing attack two weeks ago, including too many missed tackles, the Utes had some physical practices with live tackling during the bye week and hope to be improved on Friday.
“That’ll be the key this week. They’re a run-heavy team and they’re well over 200 yards a game rushing, and if we’re as noneffective as we were in the Arizona game, it’s going to be a long night,” Utah coach Whittingham said. “And so that is the big challenge for our defense is to step up and become what we know we can be against the run.”
Quotable
“They’re playing well, 4-1, impressed with a lot of things about their football team. They’re much more productive offensively this year than they were able to be last year. The tailback is a tough, hardnosed guy. Some good receivers, just very productive on offense. Quarterback is definitely a dual threat, so we got work cut out for us.” — Utah coach Kyle Whittingham
“Unfortunately, you play a Friday night game and Utah is off a bye, so I don’t know how we got a schedule where we have six days and they have a bye week, but it’s possibly the worst scenario you could ever have is have a short week when another team has a bye. So I don’t know how that happened, but we’re going to have to be as fresh as physically possible. It’s all about being fresh for this football game. They’re going to be fresh.” — Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.
Local News
Comments / 0