Utah beats Arizona 40-39 in late-season thriller

Utah quarterback Devon Dampier accounted for four touchdowns in a 40-39 victory over Arizona early Sunday. The win keeps the No. 2 Utah team unbeaten at 10-0 and positions it for a College Football Playoff berth. The game concluded in Tucson, Arizona, after a series of logistical hurdles and a frantic final sequence.

The Utes arrived in Tucson just after noon on Saturday due to a Friday FAA ground stop that delayed their morning flight by a full day. The delay pushed the kickoff to 8:30 p.m., three hours later than originally scheduled. Utah fell into an 11-point deficit early in the contest while trying to adjust to the late start.

Arizona’s Noah Fifita led the Wildcats’ offense with 356 passing yards and three touchdowns. He connected with Isaiah Mizell on two scores, the latter being a 10-yard pass that gave Arizona a 39-33 lead with just over three minutes remaining in the game. The Wildcats, ranked No. 22, had just come back from a deficit against TCU the previous week to extend their home win streak to seven.

Dampier answered Fifita’s final score with a 70-yard touchdown pass to Creed Whittemore with 2:25 left on the clock. Utah’s defense followed up with a stop on fourth down to seal the result. Dampier finished the game with 204 passing yards and two touchdowns, along with an interception and a fumble loss. He also ran for 100 yards and two additional scores, totaling four touchdowns for the Utes.

“Our culture is no excuses. We live by it,” Dampier said. “No one’s going to feel sorry for us if we would’ve lost this game, so that was just kind of the mindset.”

Arizona coach Brent Brennan praised his team’s resilience in the late-night setting. “To me, this night, the way it went start to finish, speaks to our belief, our resilience and our response,” Brennan said. “The way our guys responded all night I thought was really, really special.”

Utah players acknowledged the unusual travel schedule. Whittemore, who recorded five catches for 92 yards, compared the experience to a high school Friday night game. “It was like getting on a bus and going and playing a game like in high school,” Whittemore said.

Utah coach Morgan Scalley noted the difficulty of the matchup. “What a crazy game,” Scalley said. “We knew this wasn’t going to be an easy one.”

The victory extends Utah’s winning streak to 16 games across two seasons and its Big 12 conference winning streak to 12 straight games. Arizona finishes the game at 7-3 overall and 4-3 in the Big 12.

Utah is scheduled to play at TCU next Saturday. Arizona will travel to Kansas State for its next contest next Saturday.