SALT LAKE CITY — Moving the ball wasn’t necessarily the problem for No. 10 Utah Football in the first half Saturday night, especially considering quarterback Isaac Wilson went 6 of 6 for 76 yards to close out the first quarter.

Until Utah got deep into the red zone.

Utah stopped inside the 10-yard line on its first two drives of the game – turning the ball over on downs on both attempts – before finally having to settle for a field goal on its third attempt. They were the only points of the first half for the Utes.

Making matters worse, Utah’s defense gave Arizona almost everything it wanted thanks to several missed arm tackles and poor angles that allowed quarterback Noah Fifita to work without too much pressure.

Arizona was leading 10-3 at halftime.

Things didn’t get much better for the Utes in the second half, however, as Arizona earned a rare win at Rice-Eccles Stadium – on the night, no less – defeating Utah 23-10.

“Lefty dots out there,” Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. “We were terrible in the red zone — terrible, terrible. And until we fix that, we will continue to have problems. A fourth down could not be converted – 0-4 on fourth downs – so that really was the reason for the result.

“We should have scored 21 points in the first half and we just missed those chances.”

The Wildcats (3-1, 1-0 Big 12) only extended their lead with two made field goals in the third quarter, against a Utes (4-1, 1-1 Big 12) offense that stalled the clock brought was enough again in the second half.

Utah gained some momentum early in the fourth quarter when Tao Johnson beat Fifita in the end zone.

Wilson then led Utah on a six-play, 80-yard drive that included a 37-yard pickup pass to Dorian Singer and a 20-yard touchdown pass to Caleb Lohner to give Utah some life.

But Fifita stayed calm and led the Wildcats on an eight-play, 87-yard drive that was capped with a 35-yard touchdown to Keyan Burnett, ending any hopes for the home team. The touchdown was set up on a 41-yard pass to Devin Hyatt on third-and-11 to keep the drive going and silence a rowdy crowd.

Fifita finished the night throwing for 197 yards, two touchdowns and an interception on 19 of 31 passes for the second-year quarterback.

But even though Fifita and Arizona did just enough to get past Utah, it was the poor execution all around that doomed Utah.

“We didn’t score points when they were there to score,” Whittingham said. “That’s the motto: collect points to win and we just couldn’t do it. In this day and age of football, 10 points probably wins you zero games and that’s why we have to get better.”

“We’re just not good enough,” running back Micah Bernard added. “We’ve been given the play calls, we just have to go on the field and execute them; we don’t do that. I think that will be a focus in the next few weeks. … It should be a focus because.” That is unacceptable to us. You see us moving the ball around the field.

Wilson finished the night throwing for 280 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions on 20 of 40 passes – most of them in the first half, when Wilson and Singer had an unstoppable connection. Singer, who Whittingham called “outstanding,” finished the day with 155 yards on nine catches against his former team.

Although Wilson said it was a team effort, he blamed himself for throwing two interceptions that cost Utah some opportunities on offense, pointing out that execution in the red zone was the biggest Problem that evening remained.

“I know better about these wiretaps; I know better,” he said. “I shouldn’t put the team in this situation. I felt like we were running the ball up and down the field the whole time – running game, passing game – but red zone.”

Bernard added 91 yards on 16 carries for the Utes, being the only positive in the run game. But it wasn’t enough to ease the bitter loss.

“I couldn’t even tell you, man,” Bernard said. “I don’t get too upset, I don’t get too angry. And now I almost just want to hit something. So I’m going to use this for the entire next two weeks. And when we go to (Arizona State), they’re going to feel me, they’re going to feel me.

Utah was without Cam Rising for the third straight week after he injured his throwing hand in the first half against Baylor. Wilson took over starting in his place and suffered his first loss as a starter with the Utes.

Whittingham said Rising is “very close” to returning to the field, and a two-week lead-up to a road trip to Arizona State should help his return.