ASU football perhaps could not have asked for a better start to Thursday’s senior night game against No. 15 Utah at Sun Devil Stadium.

A fumble recovery on Utah’s first play from scrimmage, an early 13-0 lead and holding the Utes to just 23 yards of total offense in the first quarter are just three examples of ASU’s promising start.

However, redshirt sophomore quarterback Manny Wilkins threw an interception to negate that fumble recovery, Utah ended up leading 21-20 at halftime and the Utes eventually outgained ASU 241 to 125 in total offense while their stifling defense held the Sun Devils to just six second-half points.

ASU’s (5-5, 2-5 Pac-12) 49-26 loss to Utah (8-2, 5-2) was its fourth in a row and fifth in six tries. But Thursday night’s loss seemed much closer than the score indicates.

Once again, explosive plays doomed ASU. The Sun Devils gave up a 64-yard touchdown pass from Troy Williams to Raelon Singleton and touchdown runs of 82 and 40 from running back Joe Williams.

Utah’s defense also tallied 11 sacks and 22 tackles for loss.

“You know going into this game that you have to play great defense, you can’t give up cheap touchdowns,” head coach Todd Graham said. “We were even on the turnovers, so the negative plays and the big plays were the difference.

I think the negative plays, especially the sacks, were the big issue.”

Utah quarterback Troy Williams completed 21 of 37 passes for 296 yards and four touchdowns, and Joe Williams carried 15 times for 190 yards and two touchdowns. Additionally, three of Singleton’s four catches were touchdowns.

Graham said the team ran a Cover 4 defense for the majority of the night in an effort to minimize explosive plays.

“We thought we needed to pressure less,” Graham said. “Our production in sacks and tackles for loss have gone way down, but we’re still having the same issues with big plays. That’s a little frustrating.”

Graham said there is a transition involved with dialing down the pressure a bit, noting that it forces the staff to make more calls for the players to understand.

He said the unit has had its positives — like the performances of Laiu Moeakiola and Marcus Ball — but noted its overall inconsistency.

“We’re not vertically cutting people off,” Graham said. “We work on that every day and we go into the game with a specific game plan…Just as a unit, we’ve not played well…It’s just not making plays, especially on the vertical ball.”

ASU had its moments, the biggest being when freshman wide receiver N’Keal Harry dropped the ball on a trick play, but picked it up and juked out what seemed to be the entire Utah defense for a 31-yard touchdown.

But it also had its downfalls.

The game’s defining moment came in the third quarter when ASU was called for pass interference on 3rd-and-8 and 3rd-and-11 situations, which extended Utah’s drive. However, the Utes committed three straight penalties, which backed them up to a 1st-and-35 situation.

ASU trailed 28-26 at the time and had a chance to hold Utah scoreless on that drive, but Troy Williams completed a 23-yard pass on first down and a 24-yard touchdown on second down to extend Utah’s lead to 35-26.

Graham declined to comment on the penalties to avoid “saying something he’d regret.”

“I thought those two plays were critical,” he said.

The sequence seemed to deflate ASU’s energy. Utah then scored 21 points in the fourth quarter while holding ASU scoreless.

Graham always notes the importance of being able to run the ball while also stopping the run on defense. On Thursday night, junior running back Kalen Ballage carried 15 times for 56 yards and a touchdown, but fellow backs Demario Richard and Nick Ralston combined for just 27 yards.

“We just got stoned up front,” Graham said. “We just got whipped up front, which was my impression watching the game. We had to do some innovative things…I really thought we could have won that game, but it’s tough when you can’t run the football.”

Graham noted the team’s focus on “owning the ball.” ASU had one more turnover than the Utes on Thursday. However, Graham said his team just played poorly when it counted most.

ASU travels to play No. 4 Washington next week and then finishes up in Tucson for a Territorial Cup matchup against Arizona in the final game of the year.

After starting the year 5-1, ASU must now win at least one of its next two to become bowl eligible.

“We’ve got a lot to play for and we’ve got a lot to coach for. It’s frustrating, I’m really frustrated. That’s when you find out what you’re made of. We’ll rise again.”