Arizona Football Journal Week 3 : Cats Chop Down Jacks
By Brad Malone
Does everyone feel better? I know our Arizona Football Wildcats were playing our little brother from the Flagstaff, but boy did that 77-13 win feel good.
It was a relief to see our Cats set all-time school records with 77 points and nearly 800 yards of total offense on Saturday night.
On top of that, No. 10 UCLA won a squeaker, making them a perfect 3-0 coming into Arizona Stadium next Saturday night. It will be the highest profile game in the country next week.
Before we set our sights on the Bruins, let’s let this victory marinate in our consciousness just a little while longer.
QB’s Gone Wild
Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports
Anu Solomon had his best game of the season so far. He threw for 285 yards and had four touchdowns through the air. He also had 21 yards rushing on four carries with one rushing touchdown.
Solomon got to take off most of the second half. That gave Jerrard Randall time to rack up some yards. He rushed for 149 yards on three carries. He added two highlight reel touchdowns with runs of 72 and 73 yards. Remember last week Randall showed off his speed while scoring on a 57-yard score.
It now was third string quarterback Brandon Dawkins turn. He continued the fun with a 43-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter
But wait, there’s more! Fourth-stringer Zach Werlinger joined the party with an 11-yard scamper for a touchdown later in the quarter.
The four QB’s combined for five rushing touchdowns with 267 yards rushing on eleven carries. That’s 24 yards a carry!
63 Unanswered
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
When NAU cut the Arizona lead to 14-13 in the second quarter, I wasn’t terrified, but I was a bit concerned.
Nothing to worry about, the Lumberjacks would not score again.
Arizona would go on to score 63 straight points. David Richards, Nick Wilson, and Randall had two touchdowns a piece in this span.
Johnny Jackson was also part of the 63 club when he scored on a 13-yard pass from Solomon early in the third quarter. It was his third touchdown in three games.
Dawkins and Werlinger finished the run with their fourth quarter touchdowns.
American Ninja
Samajie Grant is getting back into the swing of things.
He had a nice catch over the middle for a touchdown early in the second quarter, but what caught my eye was all the ninja moves Grant was putting on the Lumberjack defense.
He made a cool spin maneuver on one play; that gained 14-yards in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, he topped that move by jumping clear over an NAU defender while gaining another 14-yards.
He finished with six catches for 47 yards.
The Wave
With about 6:00 left in the second quarter and the Cats leading 28-13, Arizona Stadium started the wave.
The wave is a pretty cool thing if you are at a minor league baseball game, but when I’m at a college football game, and it’s still a two-touchdown game, I’m not a big fan.
I love that over 51,000 Tucsonans came out to the stadium last night, I just wish some of them would have saved the wave for the fourth quarter.
The fans enthusiasm was great, but it would have been nice if they realized the Cats were on offense, and they needed some quiet time.
It got so bad during the wave that posted on the billion dollar jumbotron was a kind warning, ‘Quiet Please: Offense at Work’.
Arizona Wildcats
Moses 7:24
After Randall’s 72-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, the parting of the red sea begun.
With 7:24 left in the quarter, Cats fans began to trickle slowly down the steps of Arizona Stadium into the beautiful Tucson evening.
Cam Can
In the second quarter, Anthony Lopez sacked Case Cookus for an eight-yard loss, but a personal foul penalty by cornerback Cam Denson gave the Lumberjacks a first down. Three plays later NAU would score on a 62-yard touchdown, cutting Arizona’s lead to one.
Later in the quarter he redeemed himself by recording his first sack of the season.
In the second half, Denson allowed another first down because of a pass interference call.
This time, he added his first interception of the young season.