Arizona Football: Huskies Win 49-3, Spook the Wildcats

The MGM Vegas Sports Book slotted Arizona Football in at a +4.5 line, but they were wrong, Arizona lost by 46 points.

Not going to lie, this is not an easy article to write, it’s utterly painful.

Will Parks tweeted out a hashtag this week that had to tug at your heartstrings, especially if you are a Wildcats fan who has been complaining about the defense: don’t count us out or #DontCountUsOut.  Parks is a senior leader on the defense, and he took last week seriously. But it didn’t make a difference how hard the Wildcats practiced, they were totally outplayed tonight losing badly to the Huskies 49-10.

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It was a quarterback shuffle, Anu Solomon in, Solomon out and Jerrard Randall in, Randall out and Solomon back in. Both quarterbacks connected with receivers, Randall ran the ball for 46 yards, Solomon for -3, but neither could get the ball in the end zone. Washington’s defense was firing on all cylinders, and their offense seemed to finally get their groove on, scoring more than double what they have scored all season in Pac-12 conference play.

Washington’s quarterback Jake Browning did not look like a quarterback coming back from a shoulder injury; he went 16-24 for 263 yards and four touchdowns.

There was no way the Wildcats were going to make any progress when they were too busy turning the ball over. The Wildcats turned the ball over four times in the game. Solomon’s ‘no interceptions’ streak over, it was stopped cold by the Huskies. Arizona was averaging 42 points a game before tonight, but tonight the Wildcats scored only three points, 39 points less than their average.

During the post-game IMG Sports Network interview with Brian Jeffries, Coach Rich Rodriguez and quarterback Anu Solomon both accepted blame for the loss. “It was awful, coached awful, obviously didn’t play good,” said Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez, “We didn’t play well up front..didn’t get it done.”

“They just played better than we did..I blame part of it myself, get the ball out quickly..they just knew what was coming,” said Solomon, “We both gotta do better on both sides of throwing and running. Together, you know, me and Jerrard, we just gotta forget it and move on to next week.”

Wildcats fans were despondent on Twitter, and at one point asked for a group hug that Zona Zealots obliged.

Biggest Plays:

• 1sr Qtr:   Fourth and Four Gamble with 12 min left in first, Solomon converted on a pass to Nate Phillips
• 1st Qtr:   Casey Skowron scored a 27-yard touchdown, which would end up being the only score for the Wildcats on the night
• 1sr Qtr:   Referee became a Wildcat defensive lineman as he helped the Arizona defense by getting in the way of a Washington pass, forcing a fourth down and a punt, 6:11 left in the quarter
• 1st Qtr:   Deandre’ Miller made a huge Sack, loss of 7
• 2nd Qtr: Huge stuff on punt return by Jamar Allah, NFL Style
• 2nd Qtr:  Arizona 41-yard pass completed, Anu to Nate Phillips
• 3rd Qtr:  Arizona was able to get a stop on a sack by Jack Banda 8:29 left in the quarter
• 3rd Qtr:  Huskies Dwayne Washington rushed for a 69-yard touchdown looking like Arizona Commit Khalil Tate

Next: Arizona Football: Has the Wildcats Defense Given up?

Biggest Struggles: 

• 1st Qtr: Third down conversions for both teams
• 1st Qtr: TURNOVER No. 1 – QB Solomon Intercepted
• 1st Qtr: TURNOVER No. 2 –  QB Randall Interception 44 sec left in the quarter
• 2nd Qtr: QB Solomon back in, three and out
• 2nd Qtr: RB Jared Baker struggled with rushing the ball, 19 attempts for 67 yards, average 3.5  yards
• 2nd Qtr: Arizona’s defense allowed red-zone scoring for three Husky touchdowns at this point
• 2nd Qtr: TURNOVER No. 3 – Hail Mary in final seconds of the half by QB Solomon intercepted
• 3rd Qtr: First series of the half, Arizona’s defense allowed Washington to march down the field and scored a touchdown, Arizona fans on Twitter, asked for a group hug
• 3rd Qtr: With 9:45 in the quarter, Washington had already surpassed their season Avg passing yards, of 211.9 with a total thus far of 220 yards
• 3rd Qtr: TURNOVER No. 4 – Backward pass by WR Samajie Grant dropped from QB Solomon, and the Huskies picked up the ball and ran with it to the Arizona 21
• 3rd Qtr: WR Shun Brown signaled for a fair catch on the kickoff, Arizona had to start their drive at the Husky 3-yard line

Notes: 

Oct 31, 2015; Seattle, WA, USA; Arizona Wildcats

• 1sr Qtr: Anu Solomon and Cayman Bundage got the start
• 1sr Qtr: Nate Phillips and Luca Bruno got an early start with tackles
• 1sr Qtr: High Snaps in the first series; Anu handled them nicely
• 1sr Qtr: Nick Wilson did not make the trip
• 1sr Qtr: Devonte’ Neal broke up an almost touchdown with seven min left in the first
• 1st Qtr: Randall subbed in with a minute left in the quarter
• 1st Qtr: Arizona’s Offense- FG, Interception, Punt, Interception
• 2nd Qtr: Anu got his passing game going with his receivers in the last series of the half
• 2nd Qtr: Arizona’s Offense-Punt, Punt, Downs, Interception (2nd for Solomon, this one was a Hail Mary)
• Halftime: Anu Solomon: 14-25 for 132 yds and 2 Int, Jared Baker: 12 rushes for 35 yds, Nate Phillips: 3 catches for 56 yards
• 3rd Qtr: Orlando Bradford subbed in for Jared Baker at Running back
• 4th Qtr: More of the same Wildcats we watched play in the Washington State game, except, the Wildcats offense could not get themselves into the end zone, Washington tacked on a touchdown to their 42 points making their score an excruciating 49

Painful, disappointing, upsetting, you could come up with a whole bunch of adjectives Wildcats fans and the team feels right now, and none of them are positive. Let’s call this an ‘educational’ season, rebuilding doesn’t fit since we had a team at the beginning of the season that could have been a contender. How many of you fans actually sat through and watched the entire game?

There are a lot of lessons this season, a lot to learn. There is no replacement for gaining experience. Let’s hope our beloved coach, you know the one we didn’t want any other schools to talk too, stays and rectifies what is not going right.  Even if it’s next season, we can live with that.

Wildcats fans Beardown, win or lose!