3 takeaways from No. 16 Utah's devastating loss at Arizona State

No. 16 has taken down No. 1 — at least in one sense.

Utah, the preseason favorite in the Big 12, lost 27-19 Friday night to the team projected to finish last in the league, Arizona State.

How did it happen? Here are three takeaways from No. 16 Utah’s second straight loss, one that drops the Utes to 4-2 overall and 1-2 in Big 12 action and puts their hope of a league title and College Football Playoff appearance on the ropes.

It was the Skattebo vs. Bernard show

Two bruising running backs starred in Tempe.

On the Utes’ side, it was Micah Bernard.

For the Sun Devils, it was Cam Skattebo.

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

His touchdown runs of 50 and 47 yards electrified the crowd, and his 21-yard over-the-shoulder catch on third down on ASU’s final touchdown drive just added to the lore of his unforgettable night.

Bernard, for his part, kept Utah in the game.

With Utah’s offense struggling to finish drives — a common theme — even with Cam Rising back on the field (more on that in a minute), Bernard was called upon time and again to help save the Utes.

He delivered with a 129-yard rushing night on a variety of tough runs, while also adding 61 receiving yards.

Bernard scored Utah’s only touchdown of the night, on a 6-yarder on third and goal when he followed his blockers to walk in untouched.

That briefly gave the Utes the lead back at 16-13, but soon after came Skattebo’s 50-yard touchdown run, wherein he broke through several tackle attempts to give the Sun Devils the lead back for good.

That TD run was emblematic of an issue that crept up again for Utah, two weeks after its loss to Arizona.

The Utes missed several tackles on defense, and surely it will be a point of emphasis moving forward for a defense that, even with injured starters like Karene Reid and Connor O’Toole missing, isn’t living up to expectations.

How did Cam Rising look? Not like himself

Now, on to Rising.

Yes, the Utes’ seventh-year quarterback was back in the lineup for the first time since Utah’s win over Baylor, but he did not look like himself.

Nowhere near close to the two-time Pac-12 winning quarterback Utah fans remember.

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

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

Two of those interceptions were particularly damaging.

In the second quarter with Utah driving inside the red zone, the Sun Devils’ Caleb McCullough leapt to intercept Rising at the Arizona State 9. That squandered a chance for Utah to tie the game.

Then, with under two minutes remaining and Utah needing eight points to tie the game, Rising was again intercepted by McCullough on a pass to the outside.

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

Questions will abound what Utah will do at quarterback going forward after an immobile Rising looked like a shell of the leader that the program has known.

Red-zone woes strike again

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Utah struggled to finish drives in the loss to ASU.

Seven times, the Utes advanced a possession inside the Sun Devils 30. Those seven drives led to one touchdown, four field goals, an interception and a turnover on downs.

In the red zone specifically, Utah only scored on two of its four trips inside the Arizona State 20, amounting to 10 points.

In the fourth quarter while trailing 20-16, Utah went for a fourth and 8 at the ASU 24. Rising was hurried and threw short and low to Money Parks.

Parks was able to catch the pass while sliding, but it was 4 yards short of the line to gain and led to a costly turnover on downs.

In the first quarter, Utah’s first two drives ended up in Cole Becker field goals — it brought up memories of the team’s previous loss, against Arizona, when the Utes couldn’t finish red-zone drives in the end zone.

Sure, Utah ended up with six points this time around as compared to zero points on its first two drives against the Wildcats, but if Utah scored a pair of touchdowns to start the game, things would have been vastly different.

It’s disheartening on a night when Utah was able to edge ASU in total yards, 349 to 343, and advance the ball inside the opponent’s 30-yard line on 70% of its drives, that the Utes couldn’t put up more than 19 points and just one touchdown.

There are a lot of issues to solve, with TCU coming to town next weekend.