Utah Won, But Mistakes Have To Stop: Utah 30, Arizona 24

Utah got through its Pac-12 opener with a win, but there were some major problems. 

Utah 30, Arizona 24

Game Preview & Prediction
Prediction: Utah 30, Arizona 20
Line: Utah -3.5, o/u: 57.5

Contact @PeteFiutak

The Utes got the Pac-12 road win.

But the success and the undefeated season won’t last for long if the big problems aren’t fixed.

Helped by five takeaways – or five Arizona turnovers, depending on which way you want to look at it – Utah survived despite being outplay and outworked.

Losing QB Tyler Huntley to a shoulder problem early on can’t be blamed for the issues. Huntley hit 8-of-9 passes for 98 yards and a score before getting hurt, but Troy Williams stepped in and was fine.

No, Utah’s struggles came from penalties – lots and lots of penalties.

A problem all year – getting hit 28 times in the first three games – the Utes were flagged nine times for 83 yards, to go along with two turnovers and an abysmal time trying to keep things moving on third downs.

And now comes Stanford and at USC. With or without Huntley, the Utes are good enough to win both of those games.

But they can’t keep screwing up.