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

TEMPE, Ariz. — It was a Micah Bernard kind of night.

But Arizona State's Cam Skattebo was better.

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

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

Utah (4-2, 1-2 Big 12) had a chance to reclaim the lead early in the fourth quarter, but a holding penalty pushed Utah back 10 yards, and then starting quarterback Cam Rising, who made his return under center for the first time since Baylor, couldn't pick up enough yards on third- and fourth-down throws.

It was that kind of night for Rising.

The seventh-year quarterback showed signs of progress to his throwing hand before the game with a glove on his right hand, but he suffered a leg injury one minute into the game that left Rising limping and noticeably off.

Rising struggled to connect on short throws, missing receivers high and mostly low, and couldn't move much in the pocket with his limited mobility as a result of the leg injury.

"Just played like shit," Rising said. "That's about it.

"I just wasn't playing well. I think the guys were doing a great job getting open and stuff, and I just wasn't able to throw down the ball and get it to him accurate, and just weren't able to move it because of that."

It was enough discomfort that there was some question about whether Rising should be replaced at halftime by freshman Isaac Wilson, who has started in his stead in the last three games. But Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said Rising wanted to play.

"No, he wanted to play, and he felt very strongly that he wanted to stay in the game," Whittingham said. "He's won a bunch of ball games for us. It was very apparent that he's not 100%, but it's a coaching decision to decide who gives you the best chance to win the game, and that's who you put in there.

"You can see the rust; it was three weeks off, four weeks — whatever it's been — 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 passing, a career low 43% as a quarterback.

But even with 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 eclipsing the 100-yard mark.

His effort, though, was not enough despite it being a one-score game down to the wire.

Whittingham said it was a game where "we got out-coached" and that it was similar to what led to a loss against Arizona two weeks ago.

"A very similar conversation to what we had after the Arizona game: We got out-rushed, we were awful in the red zone, lost the turnover margin, 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 woes in the red zone, we may not win another game this season till we get it fixed; that's how important it is.

"You cannot win football games — rarely, if ever — with a bunch of field goals," he added. "You just can't. It just doesn't work. We had four field goals, and that's as negative as it is a positive, because you can't win kicking field goals as a general rule."

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 could get the Sun Devils to third- and fourth-and-long situations, but the defense lost contain and Leavitt easily picked up first downs.

When Utah's offense started to click and got in 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 could get no closer as Skattebo capped a five-play, 75-yard drive with a 47-yard score with 2:41 to go to help Arizona State take an 8-point lead.

On Utah's final drive of the night, Rising threw his third pick to end the night. All that was left was for Arizona State to get into victory formation and the fans to rush the field.

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