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Tucson, Ariz. • Utah is no longer in the driver's seat for the Pac-12 South Division title, the Pac-12's College Football Playoff chances, dead.

The Utes fell in double-overtime, 37-30, for their fourth straight loss to Arizona on Saturday night, and the Pac-12 South race is set for a dramatic conclusion between Utah, UCLA and USC.

"You heard a lot about utah having a chance to be in the [playoffs], and rightfully so," said Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez. "They had deserved that. They've earned that. They've had a tremendous season, but they still had to beat Arizona, and our guys came to play."

Devontae Booker finished with 145 yards and a touchdown, tying the school record with his 14th 100-yard game, but it wasn't enough to stop the Wildcats from becoming bowl-eligible and sending off their seniors on a note they denied Utah last November at Rice-Eccles.

Arizona quarterback Jarrard Randall hit Nate Phillips for a 25-yard touchdown on the first play of double-overtime, beating tight coverage from Utah sophomore Boobie Hobbs, and Utah was unable to answer, a fourth-down pickup from Wilson in vain after a clutch sack from Sani Fuimaono and Sir Thomas Jackson.

"Give credit to the Wildcats," Kyle Whittingham said. "They made the plays when they had to. That last touchdown pass, a great throw, great catch."

After the Wildcats won the toss and elected to defend in the first overtime period, Andy Phillips drilled a 40-yarder — his third field goal of the night, breaking Louie Sakoda's school record for field goals, with 58.

But Arizona's Casey Skowron answered with his own third field goal, this one from 35 yards, and Randall followed on the next snap with the game-winner.

Where Arizona had a 200-yard rusher in three straight years against the Utes, it did its damage through the air Saturday, Anu Solomon passing for 277 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for 86 yards and another before he was lost for the game after a hard hit in the fourth quarter.

"We didn't do a good enough job keeping him in the cage," Whittingham said. "Our pass-rush lanes, the integrity of our pass rush lanes, were not good enough, and he's a slippery guy."

Utah had seized the lead two plays after the start of the second half when Travis Wilson found Harrison Handley across the middle for 59-yard score, Wilson breaking Scott Mitchell's school record for total touchdowns, with 73.

Solomon marched the Wildcats 58 yards on the ensuing drive, but after casually escaping Utah's pressure, he forced a pass into the corner of the end zone that was picked off by a toe-tapping Brian Allen.

Utah then extended its lead to 27-20 on a 38-yard field goal from Phillips.

But Arizona answered again, Cayleb Jones catching a Solomon pass and racing from one sideline to the other for a 50-yard gain before Solomon's 6-yard rushing score, stiff-arming walk-on safety Evan Eggiman on his way into the end zone.

After Solomon was forced from the game by a hit from Utah senior defensive end Jason Fanaika, the Wildcat offense at first wilted with Randall at the helm.

Randall's first deep attempt was picked off by Utah junior nickelback Justin Thomas, and Utah later survived a midfield Booker fumble when sophomore safety Marcus Williams dragged Randall down for a loss of 5 before an eventual punt.

Utah couldn't capitalize, though, ending regulation with a punt, another punt, a fumble, a punt and a kneel-down.

The Utes were without three starters on defense — junior defensive end Hunter Dimick, sophomore defensive tackle Filipo Mokofisi and junior cornerback Reginald Porter — and you might've guessed as much during Arizona's first three drives.

Averaging almost 11 yards per play, the Wildcats led 17-7 at the end of the first quarter. Utah struggled to stop the option. It struggled to stop the pass. It struggled to stop Solomon, period.

Meanwhile, Utah was penalized six times for 69 yards, and Wilson was picked off when his deep pass was bobbled by freshman Tyrone Smith and snatched by Jamar Allah, who returned it 25 yards.

But Utah trailed only 20-17 at the half, the beneficiary of some costly Arizona mistakes.

On the Wildcats' first drive, a wide-open David Richards dropped a sure first-down pass from Solomon, which instead set up a 47-yard field goal from Casey Skowron.

The Wildcats later turned it over on downs at the Utah 33 after another dropped pass, and after Jones beat Cory Butler-Byrd down the left sideline for a gain of 46, a bad snap on third down backed the Wildcats from Utah's 4 to its 23, where Skowron's kick made it 20-10.

Freshman Utah wideout Britain Covey raced to the edge after receiving a short pass from Wilson for a 46-yard gain of his own, and after two pass interference penalties against the Wildcats, Wilson completed a 2-yard fade to senior Kenneth Scott and drew within 20-17.

Arizona came out of the gates attacking Utah's corners in one-on-one coverage as few teams have this season, while Utah struggled to pressure Solomon.

"I feel like the biggest problem that we had as a defense was just trying to contain Solomon," Allen said. "We had a couple hits on him, we just couldn't get him down."

The Wildcat sophomore had all day to find Samajie Grant for UA's first touchdown, to cap a 68-yard drive and make it 10-0.

Utah's first score was more the plodding variety, going 75 yards on 13 plays, including a 1-yard score from Booker on his seventh carry of the drive.

Jones accounted for the 17-7 first-quarter lead after officials converged and decided to pocket an offensive interference flag and credit him for a 17-yard touchdown haul.

Phillips hit a 34-yard field goal in the second quarter after J.J. Dielman was called for a 15-yard chop block penalty that stalled the driving Utes.

Wilson, who had gone 19 for 38 for 158 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions in his past two outings against the Wildcats, finished with 219 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

"I thought the balance and the blend of offense was good," said Whittingham, who had called for more passing in recent weeks.

Booker briefly left the game in the second quarter and received attention on the trainer's table before rejoining the action after a couple of turns on the stationary bike.

"I wouldn't necessarily say I'm hurt," he said afterward. "We all get banged-up playing football, but we have to keep playing, and that's what I do each week."

Utah hosts UCLA next Saturday at 1:30 p.m. on FOX.

"We've got to figure out what our deficiencies were, because it doesn't get any easier," Whittingham said. "… That's the nature of the conference. Every week is a challenge, and that's how you want it. That's why you play in a conference like this."

Should USC win out, it would hold a tie-breaker against Utah with its head-to-head victory.

UCLA, with a final game against USC, also controls its own destiny.

Utah requires a USC loss — either next week, at Oregon, or at UCLA — and, obviously, wins in its final two games.

Twitter: @matthew_piper