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How do you break a curse? A 33-3 run.

After starting Saturday night in a funk that made Utah's own sellout crowd restless in their seats, the No. 24 Utes stormed back with an offensive surge that has quickly morphed into their signature pattern in Pac-12 play. With 26 unanswered points in the second and third quarters and riding a plus-three turnover margin, Utah (5-1, 2-1) beat up on Arizona (2-4, 0-3) for a 36-23 win at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Troy Williams starred after a slow start, throwing for 245 yards and a touchdown and rushing for 73 more yards and two scores on the ground. His one-yard rush with 5:10 left all but sealed up a victory.

It was Kyle Whittingham's 100th career win as Utah's head coach, and his first win over Arizona since Rich Rodriguez has been its head coach. The Utes had lost the previous four meetings to the Wildcats.

Whittingham said he used the week to research other such streaks, and determined his 0-4 mark against Rodriguez's Wildcats "wasn't as heinous as I thought it was."

"But," he added, "it was good to get that corrected."

The game turned Utah's way as Pasoni Tasini wrapped up backup quarterback Khalil Tate for a safety. Cory Butler-Byrd gave Utah possession in Arizona's end of the field, setting up the out-of-sorts offense that had rung up eight false starts to that point and only 101 yards.

Only this time, it was Arizona which started getting the flags: The Wildcats' first three penalties of the game set up Utah at the 3 yard line, where Williams threw a ball to Tyrone Smith that the sophomore caught with one hand.

Utah was down 14-12 with 55 seconds left in the half, and the Wildcats couldn't capitalize after driving into Utah's half, missing a 52-yard field goal.

On the first possession out of the locker room, the Utes took their first lead of the game after Cory Butler-Byrd sweeped across the field for a 69-yard gain that set up a Williams touchdown run from two yards out. The Utes would never trail again after taking the 19-14 advantage.

Utah's roll continued: Safety Chase Hansen laid a bone-rattling hit on Arizona receiver Nate Phillips that loosed the ball and allowed fellow safety Marcus Williams to make a diving interception. The play ended a 54-yard drive into Utah's territory.

It was one of three picks that Utah made on the night, helping compensate for giving up 475 total yards to Arizona's offense.

"We had a few big plays made on us," Williams said. "But we bounced back every time those happened. We never put our heads down. We just kept grinding through the game."

The Utes turned it around for more points for themselves, as sophomore running back Armand Shyne rolled 26 yards untouched for a touchdown in his first career start.

In total, Utah's offense had 455 yards — 210 on the ground and 245 through the air. Utah struggled going down to its 4th-string center, drawing nine false start penalties in the game, including eight in the first half alone.

Troy Williams said Arizona's defense got the Utes flustered with pre-snap movement and calling out their cadence — technically a penalty — but Whittingham was told the referees didn't hear the Wildcats' calls.

But a halftime adjustment to the snap count helped the Utes finish the game with only three second-half penalties — relatively clean compared to the first. Senior center Nick Nowakowski made his first career start after a season-ending injury to J.J. Dielman when back-up Lo Falemaka didn't dress.

"It's like J.J. never left — he's doing a great job," Williams said of Nowakowski. "He was ready to go the whole week."

Keeping in line with the recent rash of health issues, Utah's win was marred by a significant injury: Midway through the fourth quarter after a 14-yard run, Shyne fell to the turf clutching his knee. He was carried off the field by linemen Isaac Asiata and Salesi Uhatafe on either side, cruelly ending his night after becoming the first Ute running back to break the century mark (101 yards, 1 touchdown).

Said Whittingham: "It doesn't look good. It might be season-ending."

If Shyne misses significant time, the Utes will have suffered injuries or retirement to their top four running backs since the season began. Zack Moss and Troy McCormick both didn't dress for Saturday night's game. Jordan Howard filled in at running back for the final minutes, but Williams ran most of the downs himself.

"He's a good runner, and we don't run him enough" Whittingham said. "We've got to get him more involved in the QB run game."

The first play of the night illustrated how seriously Utah took the threat of starter Brandon Dawkins' legs: He stepped up in the pocket, so did Utah's defensive backs. But one of the country's best rushing quarterbacks threw, finding Shun Brown alone behind the secondary, allowing him to run free for a 75-yard touchdown on the first snap for either team.

Meanwhile, Utah's own scoring issues continued in the red zone. On a handful of big passing plays, the offense moved as close as the Arizona 2 yard line. But Tyler Huntley entered the game at quarterback for two snaps, fumbling the ball on the second and moving the offense back eight yards. After a pair of incompletions, the Utes settled for a 28-yard field goal.

Dawkins came back on a second-quarter drive running. After a 31-yard completion down the sideline, the Wildcats had five straight runs ­— the last of which was a 6-yard sprint for his only rushing touchdown of the game.

But after gaining the 14-3 lead, the Wildcats struggled to find consistency: The next drive ended with the safety, and the next five came up empty. Arizona swapped in freshman Khalil Tate on several drives, and finished the game with him under center. But the result wasn't positive: The Wildcats threw two second-half picks and were forced to settle for a field goal on a critical fourth down drive.

Tate did manage a touchdown pass late in the game ­— a 63-yarder to Samajie Grant with 4:15 left. But a two-point conversion attempt failed, and Utah ran out the rest of the clock on the next drive.

"We knew they had beaten us four times in a row," Hansen said. "That's something we wanted to change."

Utah next faces Oregon State in Corvallis. The Beavers got their first Pac-12 win under Coach Gary Andersen Saturday night with an overtime win against Cal, the only opponent that has beaten Utah this year.

Twitter: @kylegoon