FINAL: Arizona 35, Utah 24 | The Salt Lake Tribune

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Tucson, Ariz. • Defense took a major poke to the beak on Saturday night here early in the first quarter of the Utah-Arizona game. It exacted some payback with return jabs in the second.

Halftime score: 20-7, Arizona.

As much as the Utes wanted to slow running back Ka'Deem Carey in their initial Pac-12 road game of the season, they couldn't. The Arizona junior had his way at the start against the Utes, passing the 3,000-yard mark for his career. He gained 61 yards in the first quarter and had an impressive touchdown run called back on a referee's whistle. He gained 102 by the end of the half.

Carey ignited the Wildcats' first drive - an eight-play 80-yarder - with three straight carries for a total of 42 yards, including two first downs. After that, quarterback B.J. Denker mixed a couple of passes with a couple of runs for the opening score, putting Arizona up, 7-zip, at the first quarter's 9:17 mark.

The Utes fired back, though, with a TD drive of their own, keyed by a long Lucky Radley run and punctuated with a Travis Wilson pass to Anthony Denham.

Thereafter, a long march by the Cats was stymied deep in Utah territory on a failed fourth-down try. And, then, Ute quarterback Travis Wilson threw a pick-6 from his own 6-yard line, giving Arizona a 14-7 lead. Another Wilson interception sparked an additional Wildcat scoring drive, jacking their happy margin to 13 points before halftime.

Adam Schulz replaced Wilson late in the half. And the final punch to Utah's midsection came when Andy Phillips missed a 42-yard field-goal attempt, his first miss of the season.