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Before the Utes' season started, Travis Wilson uttered the following words: "I'm looking forward to having a great season. I want to finish out my last year on a good note, finish out strong. I think coach [Aaron] Roderick has some great plans to fit me into the offense and get it rolling. I've just got to make sure I execute what is called and perform well each week."

Well. Week 6 went kind of OK. A Pavarotti kind of OK.

Final numbers on the board at Rice-Eccles on Saturday night: Utah 34, Arizona State 18.

Pavarotti got beat up pretty bad, absorbing many hits, but the singing, the sweet notes, went on.

Certainly, victory couldn't have been taken here had Wilson not played the way he did. He looked, at times, as though he were auditioning for the NFL, again and again making big throws, letting his receivers make some great catches — if you haven't gone back and reviewed that 42-yard one-hander by Kenneth Scott, you should — and keeping them busy.

He threw 36 passes, completing 26 of them, for 297 yards, all while Utah's run game, at least until the final minutes, was held not just to a slow trot, rather to a Michael Jackson-style moonwalk. In the first quarter, the Utes ground attack was, quite literally, under par. It had minus-2 yards. At the turn, it was still minus-2. Near the end of the round, it was minus-27.

Which would have been great had they been playing in the John Deere Classic.

All told, it stood at plus-72, 62 of those yards coming on a Devontae Booker TD run at the end.

Everybody knew ASU was going to get aggressive here. Kyle Whittingham had talked about — and attributed the Utes' past struggles against ASU to — the aggressiveness of the Devil defense, and both defenses attacked on this night, going after Mike Bercovici and Wilson. On the occasions when the defense blitzed and missed, Wilson, in particular, hurt the Sun Devils.

Utah's initial touchdown was the result of the Utes doing what was necessary, with Wilson hitting multiple receivers, covering 69 yards, punctuated by a short Wilson-to-Harrison Handley scoring throw. The Devils loaded up the box and had their toll exacted.

ASU answered with a 100-yard kickoff return by Tim White.

Another return — off a punt — set up a Sun Devil field goal that would have been a touchdown had Tom Hackett not made a great tackle 13 yards out. Score four for the punter. A side question: How great a punter is this kid, continually reversing the field and rolling the ball out inside the 20, and often the 10?

Wilson kept slinging it. His performance was illustrated and surmised nicely on a two-play drive in the second quarter that was comprised of consecutive throws to Scott, including that one-handed ditty early in the second quarter, which gave the Utes their 14-10 halftime lead.

The second half wasn't quite as passing proficient, but it was enough.

Far away were the memories of the Utah quarterback being the weak link in a paper chain, of Wilson being something south of Pac-12 worthy. Without him, the Utes would have been dead, again, against the Devils. Without him, the Utes likely would have lost their 12th straight to Arizona State. With him doing what he did, Utah's offense was salvaged and saved.

A few contributions down the stretch from Booker, from Andy Phillips, from the Utah defense, contributed to the win against the Devils that had been 39 years in the waiting.

Not just that. The undefeated Utes, three games into the league season, sit atop the Pac-12 South, a spot that carries more and more weight with every passing week, with nobody else having fewer than two losses.

"We're halfway through," Whittingham said, speaking of the entire season.

So far, Travis Wilson is getting exactly what he said he wanted.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson.