Arizona Football: Five Huge Plays in the Oregon State Game

Oct 10, 2015; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats safety Tellas Jones (1) warms up before the game against the Oregon State Beavers at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona football fans asked for changes, some even asked for changes in personnel, but we always knew that our coaches knew what they were doing.

Coach Rich Rodriguez was triumphal after the Oregon State game where his team won by 37 points, 44-7. Last week he told us he was losing sleep, and he was miserable. After the game, he mentioned that the team relished the heat, the 1:00 pm game time and more, “It was important to get a win..hopefully I’ll sleep better tonight.”

Thank goodness! He deserves it. Bravo Coach Rod! Wildcats fans should be quiet this week so you can concentrate on your next opponent.

It was obvious by the playmaking and the confidence of our Wildcats defensive team that there were changes made to positions on the defensive team. Coach Casteel and crew found the magic potion to bring our Wildcats a way to win and win big!

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Steve Rivera, GOAZCATS.com Senior Writer, explains the changes made on Defense by the Arizona football coaches, couldn’t have come soon enough.

"Up front is where some of the changes occurred. Much-hyped Freddie Tagaloa was moved from left tackle to left guard in place of Zach Hemmila with Layth Friekh earning the start at Tagaloa’s old tackle spot. A small twist between two big players and it worked. And on the defensive end, Jake Matthews moved from strong-side linebacker to middle linebacker and DeAndre’ Miller was moved from weak side linebacker to strong side and junior college Paul Magloire was moved to linebacker."

Devonte’ Neal and Jeff Worthy did not play on Saturday, and Jamar Allah only got in a couple of plays. Scooby Wright, with his newly shaven head, is walking around in a removable cast and is working hard to recuperate yet remained sidelined as well.

Defensive linebacker Paul Magloire was excited to play, he knew all week that he was going to play, but he had to keep it from all of us, and not tweet about it. “It was good, I was excited about it all week,” said Magloire. He continued, “Coaches put their faith in me, and they coached me up all week, at that point it was just my time to go in and execute..we did just what coach Rod told us to do, to have fun..you win games like that..we feed off everyone’s energy.”

Next: No. 1 - Will Parks Monster Hit on Jordan Villamin

Jul 31, 2015; Burbank, CA, USA; Arizona Wildcats safety Will Parks at Pac-12 Media Day at Warner Bros. Studios. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

No. 1 – Will Parks hit OSU wide Receiver Jordan Villamin and knocked him silly.

Arizona Wildcats safety Will Parks made five tackles on Saturday, but one tackle was heard around the world. The tackle was a big, huge, massive, violent, text-book, NFL-style hit on Oregon State wide receiver

Jordan Villamin

who never saw it coming. Villamin seemed as if he was knocked unconscious by the hit, but ended up walking off under his own power after an extended on-field medical evaluation.

Fans we polled in the Arizona Football Chat group almost unanimously voted for this play as the biggest plays of the game:

Lori B. – “Philly Will with the smack down for sure!!!”

Benjamin S. – “Will Parks hit, it’s not even close.”

Craig L. – “Win was great, but after two weeks of tackling-optional defense, the hit was pretty swell.”

When Paul and Jarvis were asked about the Will Parks hit, “He got us all hyped and ready to go, I know the fans were excited about it..I was excited getting in Will’s face and hyping up some more,” said Magloire. Jarvis McCall Jr. chimed in, “Personally I got hyped again seeing it on the big screen.”

By the way, it seems Villamin is fine.

Honestly, this play will not be forgotten, for a very, long, time!

Next: No. 2 - The Anthony Fotu Interception

Oct 10, 2015; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats defensive lineman Anthony Fotu (42) runs over Oregon State Beavers quarterback Seth Collins (4) after an interception during the second quarter at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

No. 2 – Anthony Fotu Interception

JUCO transfer Anthony Fotu made sure he was at the right place at the right time. Fotu read the quarterback perfectly, and batted the ball from mid-air and then caught it on the way down. Anthony saw the end zone in front of him and ran straight towards it. He ended up short of a touchdown, tackled by the OSU quarterback on the one-yard line. That play set up the following play when Orlando Bradford scored first touchdown just minutes later.

Coach Rich Rod sees some teasing coming Fotu’s way, “He’ll probably get teased for not scoring, and that he was celebrating so much on the sidelines that he was late for the extra point. I haven’t forgotten that.”

We won’t forget this play either; Wildcats fans mentioned this play in addition to the Parks hit as one of their top plays they enjoyed in the OSU game.

Next: No. 3 - Orlando Bradford scores his first touchdown

Oct 10, 2015; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats running back Orlando Bradford (21) runs the ball for a touchdown during the second quarter against the Oregon State Beavers at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

No. 3 – Orlando Bradford scores his first touchdown of his Arizona Wildcats career.

A true freshman hailing from Louisiana, running back Orlando Bradford scored first, his second and his third touchdown for a hat trick of Wildcats touchdowns in the OSU game. Bradford played a little in the games leading up to the Oregon State game, but he hadn’t yet made his presence known to this degree.

Coming back from being injured, Bradford had the game of his life so far as a Wildcat. Nick Wilson had gone down temporarily with an injury to what seemed to be his elbow, and in ran Bradford.

“I was just excited. I was doing my job. Coach called my number, and I just wanted to produce for my team,”

Orlando said post-game

.

Arizona Wildcats

His first touchdown came with 9:06 left in the second quarter, a one-yard run.

I had a delayed reaction in the stands, I stood up and cheered only after it was announced who scored, “OMG! Orlando scored his first touchdown!” Everyone stared at me, and hopefully I enlightened the fans around me. I felt like an Auntie on Family Weekend, learning about these freshman Wildcats before they come to the school, then boom! They are on the big screen scoring big points!

Bradford’s second touchdown also came in the second with 3:44 left, he scored on a two-yard run into the end zone. “That’s two for Orlando,” I exclaimed out loud again, much to my Wildcat sophomore’s chagrin.

His third touchdown happened to be the last score of the game, and this time he ran for a six-yard touchdown with 04:37 left in the third quarter. The Wildcats did not score again but were already ahead by 37 points (Arizona 44, Oregon State 7.) “That’s three! Three touchdowns for Orlando Bradford,” I said proudly to a thinning heat-stroked crowd sitting in section 18 around row 30.

Congrats Orlando! Keep up the great work!

Next: No. 4 - Anu Solomon's two bombs

Oct 10, 2015; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats quarterback Anu Solomon (12) high fives fans during the Wildcat Walk before the game against the Oregon State Beavers at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

No. 4 – Anu Solomon’s 71 and 46 yard passes 

Heeeeeeeee’s Baaaaaackkkkk!

Anu Solomon is back and playing well. So well, that he continued his streak of games without any interceptions and threw two major bombs in the first half of the game. The first long ball was a pass to David Richards (46 yards) early in the first quarter.

The second bomb was 25 yards longer than the first to Johnny Jackson (71 yards) early in the second quarter.  Solomon made 17-30 passes for 276 yards; 117 of those yards came from these two pass completions.

Anu is back, and we are Lovin’ it!

Next: No. 5 - Jake Mathews Sack

Aug 29, 2014; Tucson, AZ, USA; UNLV Rebels running back Keith Whitely (28) evades a tackle from Arizona Wildcats linebacker Jake Matthews (47) during the second quarter at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

No. 5 – Jake Matthews QB sack.

Jake Matthews walked on to the Arizona football team. Yesterday he made the only sack on OSU quarterback Seth Collins, and it was a huge sack forcing a fourth down. The Wildcats defense has sacked quarterbacks eleven times so far this season by ten different players. Hopefully, Matthews’ first sack is the first of many.

According to Daniel Berk of Tucson.com, ‘Matthews was drafted in the 38th round of the 2013 MLB draft by the Kansas City Royals, turned down a chance to play baseball to walk-on with Arizona football.’

According to his bio, Jake’s hometown is Tucson, Arizona. The son of Clint and Alison Matthews, both UA graduates and Matthews is majoring in pre-neuroscience and cognitive science. Impressive.

Next: Honorable Mention: Other notable plays from Jones and Skowron

Sep 19, 2015; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats place kicker Casey Skowron (41) kicks a field goal during the first quarter against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks at Arizona Stadium. Arizona won 77-13. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Honorable Mention: Other notable plays on Saturday include kicker Casey Skowron and wide receiver Cayleb Jones.

Casey Skowron stripped the ball out of an OSU Players hands on a kick-off return

For a quick second, we all thought it was a turnover. Instead, it was ruled dead on the spot. Wildcats fans loved his tenacity and fortitude, taking the team on his shoulders trying to force a turn-over. Usually, the attempt is commendable and forgettable, but not when it’s your kicker doing the picking, then you remember it.

Skowron was a perfect three-for-three in field goals, and four-for-four in point after attempts scoring 13 out of the 44 total points for his team.

Cayleb Jones toss back to Anu Solomon

Then there was this play where Solomon passes to Cayleb Jones, who tosses it back to Solomon. I heard the look on Rich Rod’s face was priceless. “That was a moment that Cayleb will forever hope to forget, I’m sure,” said Rich Rod in his post-game presser, “from the moment it happened until tomorrow’s film session, he says he was trying to make a play, and I cannot repeat what I said to him.”

In all fairness, there were so many huge plays this weekend it’s hard to talk about them all, and that’s a good thing.

The team played well, and they have a working basis and strategy to build upon on in the coming weeks. Today the team will start preparing for the Colorado Buffaloes, who were convincingly beaten by our Arizona State rival Sun Devils by 25 points, 48-23. I would assume everyone feels confident, but again, this is the Pac-12 South, and anything can happen.

The Arizona football team and all Wildcats fans are looking forward to beating the Buffs! Go Cats!

Next: Arizona Football: Redemption Weekend, OSU Beat Down