Arizona Football : UCLA Pummels Cats In Tucson
By Brad Malone
Yesterday Arizona football players and fans discovered what it feels like when you do a belly flop into a pool full of piranhas.
It hurts, bad.
The No. 9 UCLA Bruins came into Tucson and dominated the No. 16 Wildcats in an old fashioned 56-30 keister-whooping.
It’s hard to sugar coat this one, but I’ll do my best with some Clint Eastwood inspiration.
Arizona Wildcats
The Good
Scooby’s Back
After having to miss most of the season thus far, it was apparent that Scooby Wright was obviously not in game shape.
That didn’t stop him from making plays. He tied Will Parks to lead the team with seven tackles.
The Running Game
The Wildcats rushed for 353 yards against the Bruins.
Nick Wilson rushed for 136 yards, and it was the first time in ten tries that the Cats lost a game in which he rushed for over 100 yards.
When Anu Solomon left with an injury in the second quarter, backup quarterback Jerrard Randall picked up where he left off last game against NAU.
On his first play, he ran 39 yards for a touchdown, giving the Arizona faithful their last glimmer of hope for the evening, when the Cats trimmed the lead to 14.
Sparky Lost
If you thought you suffered a gut punch as a Wildcat fan on Saturday, at least you didn’t have to witness your team completely meltdown in the final seconds of the half like the Devils did.
Sep 26, 2015; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Rich Rodriguez signals from the sidelines during the fourth quarter against the UCLA Bruins at Arizona Stadium. UCLA won 56-30. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports
ASU surrendered two touchdowns to USC thanks to two turnovers at the end of the half. The Trojans led 35-0 at the half and ended up winning 42-14.
It’s the last time Arizona fans root for USC this year. That might change if the Cats need the Trojans to beat the Bruins later in the season.
The Bad
Anu Solomon Got Hurt
In the second quarter, Arizona fans worst nightmare since Scooby’s injury came true.
Solomon got injured.
After gaining a first down on a nice scrambling play, Anu went down and appeared to have a head injury.
He left the game and never returned.
We will be on the edge of our seats until when we find out what happened and if Solomon can suit up against the Cardinal on Saturday.
More Skowron Hurdles
Casey Skowron missed his first extra point in his Arizona career two weeks ago at Nevada at the beginning of the second half.
Last week against NAU he got back on track and went 10 for 10.
On Saturday, he missed another extra point and a short field goal to end the half.
This kid has been through a lot. If anybody knows how to bounce back from adversity, it’s Skowron. Skowron bounced back at the end of the game hitting a 44-yard field goal in the third quarter and made the extra point on the Wildcats last touchdown.
Defense
The Cats gave up nearly 500 yards of total offense and in the first half allowed the Bruins to score at will.
Their inability to pressure freshman Josh Rosen caused them headaches throughout the night.
Arizona did force two three-and-outs to start the second half, but it was too little too late.
The Ugly
GameDay Letdown
Everything was going to plan until around 6:00 p.m. when the Bruins started racking up points.
Twelve hours earlier the campus was in a frenzy.
Thousands were screaming as College GameDay cameras were showing the passion of the Arizona diehards.
Fast forward back to the game at halftime, and Arizona was being embarrassed on national television.
I wish all those high-profile recruits would have come on a different weekend.
Chrome Helmets
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Sure, they look cool but they are just the copper helmets the Cats could never win in, painted over with red chrome.
Can we just get rid of these things?
The Score
This one was U-G-L-Y and extremely hard to watch, but I did anyway.
College football is fickle and week to week things change in an instant. Things don’t look too good after this one, but it’s only one game.
The Cats have eight more to go, and nothing is impossible, just difficult.
Rich Rodriguez and his staff have been here many times before. It’s going to be fun to see if the Cats can bounce back from this kind of adversity.
Hopefully, Anu Solomon is OK.