No. 16 has taken down No. 1 — at the least in a single sense.

Utah, the preseason favourite within the Massive 12, misplaced 27-19 Friday night time to the crew projected to complete final within the league, Arizona State.

How did it occur? Listed here are three takeaways from No. 16 Utah’s second straight loss, one which drops the Utes to 4-2 total and 1-2 in Massive 12 motion and places their hope of a league title and School Soccer Playoff look on the ropes.

It was the Skattebo vs. Bernard present

Two bruising operating backs starred in Tempe.

On the Utes’ facet, it was Micah Bernard.

For the Solar Devils, it was Cam Skattebo.

Skattebo obtained the ultimate say — he ran for 158 yards and two second-half touchdowns that helped Arizona State rally after falling behind within the third quarter.

His landing runs of fifty and 47 yards electrified the gang, and his 21-yard over-the-shoulder catch on third down on ASU’s remaining landing drive simply added to the lore of his unforgettable night time.

Bernard, for his half, stored Utah within the sport.

With Utah’s offense struggling to complete drives — a standard theme — even with Cam Rising again on the sector (extra on that in a minute), Bernard was referred to as upon repeatedly to assist save the Utes.

He delivered with a 129-yard speeding night time on quite a lot of robust runs, whereas additionally including 61 receiving yards.

Bernard scored Utah’s solely landing of the night time, on a 6-yarder on third and objective when he adopted his blockers to stroll in untouched.

That briefly gave the Utes the lead again at 16-13, however quickly after got here Skattebo’s 50-yard landing run, whereby he broke by a number of deal with makes an attempt to provide the Solar Devils the lead again for good.

That TD run was emblematic of a problem that crept up once more for Utah, two weeks after its loss to Arizona.

The Utes missed a number of tackles on protection, and absolutely it will likely be a degree of emphasis transferring ahead for a protection that, even with injured starters like Karene Reid and Connor O’Toole lacking, isn’t residing as much as expectations.

How did Cam Rising look? Not like himself

Now, on to Rising.

Sure, the Utes’ seventh-year quarterback was again within the lineup for the primary time since Utah’s win over Baylor, however he didn’t appear like himself.

Nowhere close to near the two-time Pac-12 successful quarterback Utah followers bear in mind.

Rising took successful on the Utes’ opening drive, the place his leg was rolled on by a defender and left him limping. He additionally struggled to have any zip on his throws, as he returned after injuring his throwing hand.

The consequence: a 16 of 37 passing effort for 209 yards and three interceptions.

Two of these interceptions have been significantly damaging.

Within the second quarter with Utah driving contained in the crimson zone, the Solar Devils’ Caleb McCullough leapt to intercept Rising on the Arizona State 9. That squandered an opportunity for Utah to tie the sport.

Then, with underneath two minutes remaining and Utah needing eight factors to tie the sport, Rising was once more intercepted by McCullough on a go to the skin.

That ended the Utes’ remaining possession and sealed the loss.

Questions will abound what Utah will do at quarterback going ahead after an motionless Rising regarded like a shell of the chief that this system has recognized.

Pink-zone woes strike once more

Cease me when you’ve heard this earlier than: Utah struggled to complete drives within the loss to ASU.

Seven instances, the Utes superior a possession contained in the Solar Devils 30. These seven drives led to 1 landing, 4 area objectives, an interception and a turnover on downs.

Within the crimson zone particularly, Utah solely scored on two of its 4 journeys contained in the Arizona State 20, amounting to 10 factors.

Within the fourth quarter whereas trailing 20-16, Utah went for a fourth and eight on the ASU 24. Rising was hurried and threw quick and low to Cash Parks.

Parks was in a position to catch the go whereas sliding, however it was 4 yards wanting the road to realize and led to a pricey turnover on downs.

Within the first quarter, Utah’s first two drives ended up in Cole Becker area objectives — it introduced up recollections of the crew’s earlier loss, towards Arizona, when the Utes couldn’t end red-zone drives in the long run zone.

Certain, Utah ended up with six factors this time round as in comparison with zero factors on its first two drives towards the Wildcats, but when Utah scored a pair of touchdowns to begin the sport, issues would have been vastly completely different.

It’s disheartening on an evening when Utah was in a position to edge ASU in complete yards, 349 to 343, and advance the ball contained in the opponent’s 30-yard line on 70% of its drives, that the Utes couldn’t put up greater than 19 factors and only one landing.

There are quite a lot of points to unravel, with TCU coming to city subsequent weekend.