Wow! What an offensive explosion by the Arizona Wildcats tonight against the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels. The final score of tonight’s ball game was 58-13, the same as last seasons game at UNLV, and Arizona football is now 1-0 on the season. Redshirt freshman QB Anu Solomon really impressed in his first start and RB Terris Jones-Grigsby solidified his number one spot on the depth chart. Lets take a quick look at the game and how things broke down.
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Things started off slow for the Wildcats in the first quarter with Solomon and his wide receivers not having the timing down. He missed two touchdown throws on the same drive, but still looked poised and confident. Then, it started clicking. Solomon threw a beautiful 39-yard touchdown pass to Nate Phillips for his first career touchdown. He followed that up the next drive with a 63-yard touchdown pass to Samajie Grant. 14-0 after one.
The second quarter began with a 41-yard field goal by Jonathan Leaiva of UNLV to get the Runnin’ Rebels on the board in 2014. Former Arizona Women’s Soccer manager Casey Skowron made his first career FG with a 29-yard make midway through the second quarter. Following a 48-yard FG by UNLV’s Nicolai Bornand, the Wildcats got back on the board with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Solomon to Trey Griffey. 24-6 Wildcats at the half, so we still had a game.
Then the floodgates opened up in the third quarter. Three touchdowns were scored by the Wildcats in the quarter started off by a 92-yard hookup between Solomon and Austin Hill, which is the third longest in school history. UNLV scored their only touchdown of the game, on the next drive, when QB Blake Decker connected with WR Anthony Williams on a two-yard touchdown pass. The was the last anyone saw the UNLV offense in this one.
Aug 29, 2014; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats running back Terris Jones-Grigsby (24) runs the ball under pressure from UNLV Rebels linebacker Tau Lotulelei (55) during the third quarter at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports
After the UNLV touchdown, RB Jones-Grigsby recorded his first career touchdown from two yards out, in addition to his first career 100-yard rushing game. Also scoring his first career rushing touchdown, and getting his first 100-yard rushing game, was freshman Nick Wilson. Wilson had an 85-yard touchdown run late in third quarter that brought the Wildcats to 689 yards of total offense, three away from the school record. 48-13 after three and the game was over.
After a William Parks interception to start off the fourth quarter, Anu and offense came back on the field and broke the school’s single-game total offense mark with a six-yard run, to get Arizona to 695. Skowron added a 39-yard FG and then the Wildcats offense ended the game with a Connor Brewer three-yard touchdown run to make it 58-13.
All in all a great opener for the Wildcats. Multiple school records were broken and a lot of guys got playing time. Here is a quick list of the records broken, and some other little tidbits, from tonight:
- 787 (!!!!) total yards breaks the total offense record besting the previous mark of 691, from 1969 against New Mexico
- Anu Solomon broke the Arizona freshman QB record for pass yards (425) and touchdowns (4)
- The Solomon to Austin Hill 92-yard TD was the third longest in school history
- It was Hill’s seventh career 100-yard game in his career
- Terris Jones-Grigsby gets his his first career start, rushing touchdown, and 100-yard rushing game
- Nick Wilson also had his first 100-yard rushing game and first rushing tocuhdown
- The WIldcats had two RBs (Jones-Grigsby and Wilson) and two WRs (Hill and Nate Phillips) record 100-yard games
- 10 Wildcats caught a pass tonight
- The Wildcats had four scoring drives of 40 seconds or less
- The Wildcats has no turnovers tonight
- 58-13 is the same score from the 2013 game in Las Vegas, also a Wildcat win
What a game by the Wildcats, and we barely mentioned the defense who had a pretty good game, only giving up 13 points and forcing one turnover, an interception by William Parks, but the story of this game was the offense.What a great way to start the season! Hats off to Rich Rodriguez and the entire Wildcat team. We will be back tomorrow for more news and recaps from tonights 58-13 Arizona thrashing of UNLV tonight. Bear Down!