Micah Bernard passes the century mark, but the No. 16 Utes fall to the Sun Devils on the road

TEMPE, Ariz. – It was a Micah Bernard-style night.

But Arizona State's Cam Skattebo was better.

Bernard capped a 12-play, 79-yard drive late in the third quarter, giving the Utes their first (and only) touchdown of the game and a narrow 16-13 lead on an otherwise poor night for No. 16 Utah.

And yet it was Skattebo who did everything right down the stretch, including touchdown runs of 50 and 47 yards, as the Sun Devils pulled away from the Utes for a 27-19 victory at Mountain America Field on Friday night.

Utah (4-2, 1-2 Big 12) had a chance to regain the lead early in the fourth quarter, but a holding penalty pushed Utah back 10 yards, and then starting quarterback Cam Rising came back under center for the first time Since Baylor, he hasn't been able to rack up enough yards on third- and fourth-down throws.

It was such a night for Rising.

The seventh-year quarterback showed signs of progress with his throwing hand before the game with a glove on his right hand, but suffered a leg injury a minute into the game that caused Rising to limp and noticeably miss out.

Rising struggled to connect on short throws, missing receivers high and mostly deep, and couldn't move much in the pocket due to his limited mobility due to the leg injury.

“Just played like shit,” Rising said. “That's all.

“I just didn’t play well. I think the guys did a great job of getting on offense and stuff, and I just wasn't able to throw the ball and hit it accurately and I just wasn't able to move . “that’s why.”

The discomfort was so great that the question arose as to whether Rising should be replaced at halftime by freshman Isaac Wilson, who had started in his place the last three games. But Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said Rising wanted to play.

“No, he wanted to play and he had a strong feeling that he wanted to stay in the game,” Whittingham said. “He won a number of ballgames for us. It was very obvious he wasn't 100%, but it's a coaching decision to decide who gives you the best chance to win the game and you put them there.”

“You can see the rust; it was three weeks off, four weeks – whatever it was – but he’s a heck of a quarterback and he’ll bounce back.”

Rising finished the night – his first complete game since the 2022 season – throwing for 209 yards and three interceptions on 16 of 37 passes, a career-low 43% as a quarterback.

But despite the inconsistencies on offense, Bernard continued to put the team on his shoulders to give Utah a chance against Arizona State (5-1, 2-1 Big 12).

Bernard finished the night with a team-high 129 rushing yards and a touchdown on 21 carries – his fourth game this season to eclipse the 100-yard mark.

However, his effort wasn't enough, even though it was only a single point until the end.

Whittingham said it was a game “where we got outplayed” and that it was similar to the game that resulted in a loss to Arizona two weeks ago.

“A very similar conversation to the one we had after the Arizona game: We got overrun, were terrible in the red zone, lost the margin of turnover and missed a bunch of tackles,” he said. “And so, unfortunately and very disappointingly, it’s the same storyline. And as long as we have our problems in the red zone, we may not win another game this season until we fix the problem; That’s how important it is.”

“You can’t win football games — rarely, if ever — by making a ton of field goals,” he added. “You just can’t do it. It just doesn't work. We had four field goals, and that’s as much a negative as it is a positive because you basically can’t win by kicking field goals.”

On defense, Utah was without four starters – Connor O'Toole, Karene Reid, Sione Fotu and Keanu Tanuvasa – and couldn't contain dual-threat quarterback Sam Leavitt. The Utes were able to get the Sun Devils to third and fourth-and-long situations, but the defense lost control and Leavitt easily picked up first downs.

As the Utah offense began to take hold and entered the red zone for the first time of the night, Rising threw his first interception of the game.

Even then, Utah had a chance late but couldn't get any closer as Skattebo capped a five-play, 75-yard drive with a 47-yard score with 2:41 left to give Arizona State an eight-point lead .

On Utah's final drive of the night, Rising threw his third pick to close out the night. All that was left was Arizona State getting into victory formation and fans storming the field.