Arizona Football: Huskies squeak by Wildcats who prove they are a worthy opponent
The first conference game for both the Washington Huskies and Arizona Wildcats is in the books. Arizona football has a lot to be proud of even though they lost in OT 35-28.
Game summary and some thoughts…Arizona football vs. Washington football:
Disappointing? Yes. Washington came into the game 3-0 and ranked No. 9 in the nation. Arizona Football came in 2-1, unranked and on their second and third strings in the main positions like quarterback and running back. Quarterback Brandon Dawkins threw one interception but was the key to keeping the Cats in the game all the way into overtime.
Dawkins stats were more than impressive; Passing 19-31 for 167 yards, rushing 13 for 176 yards. That’s 343 total yards and three touchdowns. Brandon topped the rushing stats for the team, J.J. Taylor came in second with 97 yards, Shun Brown caught seven passes for 114 yards.
The Wildcats showed a ton of heart, and that the still have things to work on. The good news is they all want to get better, and that will start tomorrow.The Wildcats gave a top ten team a true fight, one the Huskies will not forget. It wasn’t a dominating victory for the Huskies; it was a squeaked out win.
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Something we wish wouldn’t have ever happened: We wish J.J. Taylor didn’t break his left ankle, it’s the end of his season. He will most probably need 6-8 weeks of recovery. Our hearts pour out to this phenomenal athlete, he will have to help from the sidelines.
The injury changed the game according to Rich Rod, “We run the whole offense with him, so when he was out, it changes things. It was unfortunate and changed the game.”
Hanging your head? Well no, not hanging our heads, we should be proud that of our team. Most predicted that we would be slaughtered, but that did not happen, we brought the Huskies to the edge, they were nervous they could lose the game.
First Half Recap
Washington came into the game 3-0 and ranked No. 9 in the nation. Arizona Football came in 2-1, unranked and on their second and third strings in key positions like quarterback and running back.
Arizona scored on the first series, so that highly touted defense was something less than desired for Coach Petersen, allowing 15 plays less than 10 yards and resulting in a Dawkins touchdown.
It was the first time Washington has trailed in the first quarter this season. But the offense, yikes, they had their way with Arizona’s defense right off the bat but then had to punt.
Nate Phillips returned the ball towards his team’s sidelines after the ball hit him, he never called for a fair catch.
Things were looking good, and Rich Rodriguez was smiling, he was trying so hard not to show what he was feeling. But the smile turned upside down shortly after. Apparently, the refs said Nate signaled something, not a fair catch, but the ball was called back.
This was the first game in which Washington had trailed in the first quarter this season.
Rich Rod called a fourth and one play, but the Huskies defense stuffed our running back. Washington got the ball back deep in Arizona territory, and Arizona missed out on putting points on the board. Rodriguez loves to go for it on fourth down. In retrospect, a field goal would’ve won the game for the Cats.
no. Would have called it "gutsy" or said they saw something.
— Brad Allis (@WSRBrad) September 25, 2016
On the ensuing series for the Huskies, they ran a reverse, and one missed tackle allowed John Ross to score a 32-yard touchdown. It was his sixth of the season, 15th of his college career. IT would not have happened without their QB Jake Browning how made a crucial tackle.
Like letting the air out of a balloon, Brandon Dawkins overthrew a long ball to a Husky instead of a Wildcat, his first in 64 passes in this three starts.
What was most disheartening was that Nate Phillips fumbled the ball on the next punt return, and Washington recovered it. None of the Wildcats turnovers turned into Husky points, though, so that’s positive, right?
On Defense, Cody Ippolito and Paul Magloire combined for two key sacks pushing back Browning six and then four yards at the end of the half. That made it 4th down forcing a field goal attempt. The football Gods shined down on the Cats when the Huskies missed a 45-yard field goal. What a great break that was.
Score tied at 14-14, the two team headed into the locker room. Momentum kept shifting throughout the half; it was a tight game.
AND A MISSED FIELD GOAL!!! WHEW! Arizona 14 Washington 14 RR feels good about the plan! The Wildcats CAN Pull off the upset! pic.twitter.com/rbruPbvFBP
— ZonaZealotsFS (@ZonaZealots) September 25, 2016
The second half……
First lead for the Huskies came at the 11:24 mark in the third quarter with a Browning rushing touchdown, he cruised in untouched.
At times the Arizona defense looked great and then there were times that it seemed the Huskies had their number. As Rich Rod would say, ‘The Defense missed tackles.’
Huge interception at the beginning of the fourth quarter on what would have been a Washington touchdown. Dane Cruikshank intercepted the ball on the Arizona one yard line. But then our third string wide receiver turned running back fumbled the football on the Arizona 26.
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Arizona was still hanging in there. Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles disrupted a touchdown pass by Browning resulting in a Field Goal attempt by Van Winkle. He missed a second field goal!!! Whew!
Arizona could not convert on third down, and the Huskies possessed the ball for the majority of the second half. Dawkins could not complete passes; even his rushing took a hit.
Dawkins was able to redeem himself with a 56-yard run and followed with a rushing touchdown which tied the Huskies 21-21. Not a couple plays later, Lavon Coleman ran 55 yards the other way to put the Huskies ahead by 7, 28-21.
With 3:25 to go, Arizona didn’t necessarily need a miracle, but he did need to get another TD quickly while taking time off of the clock. Washington’s defense, however, needed to take our quarterback out of the game somehow.
Shun Brown caught a Brandon Dawkins pass after a scramble and almost turnover for 54 yards!! It came down to a fourth and three yards, 27 seconds to go for the touchdown? Or the three yards?
Then Dawkins passed to Nate Phillips to get the first down, and the Cats had four more plays to get a touchdown, but it only took one more play. A 3-yard catch by the tight end Josh Kern, his first of the game to get the tie.
Arizona 28, Washington 28.
Big defensive play: Jack Banda sacked Browning, and that sent the game into overtime!
Our hearts were beating hard at this point!
Overtime…
Washington scored first, Michael Barton made a great stop, even so, on the next play Browning passed to Dante Pettis for a touchdown and an extra point.
Washington 35, Arizona 28.
It was Arizona’s turn to score a touchdown, but it wouldn’t happen.
Here’s Brandon’s breathtaking 79-yard touchdown:
Postgame interviews
Rich Rod post game sound bites from the IMG Sports Network interview with Brian Jeffries and Lamont Lovett:
“Effort was good. Certainly, we made key mistakes and critical errors at times — guys believed we could win at all times.”
“We couldn’t get off blocks, and they were controlling the clocks–then we got guys banged up, it was kind of a mash unit out there.”
“He [Brandon]missed a couple of things — he’s a competitive guy, and he made a couple of plays as well.”
“Ran the ball against a stout defense — we still aren’t getting three and outs, and that’s hurting us.”
“We just wanted to get the pace going, we were able to do that in the first half, we were able to play at a fast pace.”
Cody Ippolito, Jack Banda, and Shun Brown sound bites:
“I think we played alright, I think we can play better,” said Banda, “We had Cody back there giving us calls, we did a pretty good job reacting to their shifts.”
“Just to play us. Play Arizona football. We saw the teams they played and what happened to them. They just made more plays than us,” said Cody, “In my opinion, defense wins games.”
“Too many missed assignments, too many missed tackles.”
Shun Brown’s comments: “During the week we were preparing for this — everyone did their job. The first half we were moving the ball really good, the second half, they were just getting stops — Next man, gotta be ready. Tomorrow we go over the film, and fix things — there’s a lot of things we can improve on.”
“We’re ready to fight, whatever team you put in front of us we will fight!”
They did fight, and they will fight, and just like last season, injuries won’t keep this team from fighting with all of their heart. BearDown Zona, times to kick some Bruin butts!