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Arizona Football: Wildcats Fall Short of Comeback Against Cougars

By Shereen Rayan

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The Arizona Football team had high hopes of continuing their win streak, but the Wazzu’s offense could not be stopped by the Wildcats defense.

Coach Rich Rodriguez took the mic at the post-game presser today after losing a heartbreaker to Washington State, coaches questions lasted a full 37 seconds. One of the reporters actually asked Rodriguez, who was going to play quarterback next week.

Awkward.

Cayleb Jones felt Jerrard Randall did a great job coming in to spark the team, “He did a great job,” Jones said, “His number was called late and he was ready. And coaches always preaching, especially when someone else gets hurt early in the year, preaching all the guys behind the number one have to be ready and Jerrard did a great job.”

The game was an offensive battle as predicted. Wazzu came out strong and on the Cougars first drive they scored a passing touchdown to Gabe Marks.

Washington State 7   Arizona 0

The big question of the week, who would start at quarterback for the Wildcats, was finally answered, it was Anu Solomon. Arizona failed on their first series; Solomon looked good until the offense switched to the running game and Nick Wilson was stuffed forcing a nice punt by Drew Riggleman.

On Wazzu’s second drive, things went better for the Wildcats, and they eventually forced a punt.

Anu ended up running the ball twice in a row, sliding on the second try. Then Anu did something out of character; he pulled off his helmet almost like he was asking to be taken out of the game for one play that is an NCAA rule. Then, almost on queue, Jerrard Randall stepped in for that one play saving a very high snap from becoming a fumble. Rodriguez couldn’t have scripted that any better. High snaps and bad snaps would continue to plague the Wildcats.

RELATED STORY –> Arizona Football: High Snaps and Quarterbacks

In Wazzu’s next drive, the Cougars progressed eighty yards. The Cougars methodically picked at Arizona’s defense, and unfortunately for the Wildcats, were able to score their second touchdown on a 43-yard pass for Luke Falk to Gabe Marks. These two Cougars were not done scoring points.

Washington State 14   Arizona 0

HIGH SNAPS CONTINUED…this had to be fixed.

Thank the football gods! Anu handled those high snaps a lot better in this game. After several attempts by the pair, Anu handed the ball off to Jared Baker, who plowed his way into the end zone for Arizona’s first touchdown.

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Washington State 14   Arizona 7

At Beginning of the second quarter, the tide started to turn in the Wildcats way. The Cougars punt went deep into the end zone, and Nate Phillips was there to catch it. After an excellent reception,  he was off to the races scoring a 69-yard touchdown. Exciting! Tie Game.

Washington State 14  Arizona 14

Arizona’s defense struggled most of the second half as Falk continued doing what he does best and was able to march his Cougars easily down the field. Gabe Marks scored his third touchdown of the day that far on a pass from Falk. Marks had caught five passes at that point, and three of them were for touchdowns.

Washington State 21   Arizona 14

As luck would have it, on the resulting kick return, Shun Brown had made some significant progress with the ball until he lost it. Wazzu capitalized on the turnover scoring another touchdown.

Washington State 28   Arizona 14

Anu attempted a 34-yard pass to Cayleb Jones, who caught it in style. Just like that Arizona had a passing game going. Wazzu had racked up three pass interference penalties. In the red zone, Rich Rod’s playing calling proved he knows what he’s doing, and Jared Baker ran for his second touchdown of the day. Nick Wilson hadn’t come back in the game; Baker seemed to take over on running back.

Oct 24, 2015; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats wide receiver Cayleb Jones (1) catches the ball as he is tackled by Washington State Cougars safety Shalom Luani (18) during the fourth quarter at Arizona Stadium. The Cougars won 45-42. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Washington State 28  Arizona 21

Devonte Neal forced a fourth down and goal with four yards left for a touchdown and Wazzu almost went for it, but then called a time-out and brought out their field goal team.

Washington State 31  Arizona 21

There were 23 seconds left in the half. Coach Rod decided to go for it, or at least try. First a Hail Mary, fail, then a run, fail, and then it was halftime.

Falk made 30-38 passes for 335 yards and four touchdowns. Arizona’s defense allowed Falk to earn a whopping 79% completion rate for the half.

Anu completed 12 of 19 passes for 145 yards and no touchdowns. He rushed for 24 yards that must have been hard for him; he seemed still spooked by the concussion he incurred from weeks ago. Can’t blame him.

These stats tell the story.

Shortly after breaking the 400-yard mark in passing yards, Falk ended up handing off the ball to Gerard Wicks for the next touchdown.

Washington State 38  Arizona 21

Jerrard Randall in at quarterback and on the first play, he ran for 59 yards getting the Wildcats in scoring position. In the red zone, on fourth and one, and after a bad snap, the Wildcats turned over the ball on downs.

Wazzu Ball.

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The Wildcats finally stopped the Cougars from converting on the third down, setting up a very long field goal, and then a penalty on Wazzu turned the FG attempt into a punt, Wildcats took over at the Wazzu 25.

Something needed to happen for the Wildcats, and it needed to happen quickly.

Coach Rod made two significant changes; he changed his QB, and he changed his Center to redshirt junior OL No. 65 Zach Hemmila, which proved to help to turn things around. Wonder why this move wasn’t made a couple of games ago. In any case, thank goodness the change was made as the snaps were under control for the rest of the game! Hemmila for Center! Maybe now Cayman Bundage can play his normal linebacker position.

Then he called a play that you could not script, it looked like a double reverse, but it worked and eventually Randall was able to pass three yards to Cayleb Jones for the touchdown.

Washington State 38  Arizona 28

On to the fourth quarter.

Arizona Wildcats
Arizona Wildcats /

Arizona Wildcats

Cougars continued to do their thing on offense, but the Wildcats defense stepped up. Devonte Neal made a great play, forcing a fourth down and ten yards to go. The Cougars went for it, after all they made most of their third down conversions, why not?

Well, Wildcats fans, it didn’t work. The Wildcats defense turned up the heat; maybe they just needed time to warm up or something.

Arizona ball.

Randall’s passing game was kicking in, a great pass to Johnny Jackson who caught it while, in the air, he passed his way down the field. On the fifteen yard line, with fourth down and two yards to go, Rich Rod went for it. Jared Baker ran in a 6-yard touchdown plays later.

Washington State 38  Arizona 35

On the next run, Wazzu hung out in the red zone for some time, and the Wildcats forced another fourth-and-one play but the Cougars pushed through made first down and then Marks scored his third touchdown.

Washington State 45  Arizona 35

It took a minute and 19 seconds for Randall to take the Wildcats 75 yards to the end zone to score after five plays; Jared Baker caught a 20-yard pass for an Arizona touchdown. The Wildcats were only three points down with about a minute41 seconds left in the game.

Oct 24, 2015; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Rich Rodriguez walks on the sideline during the fourth quarter against the Washington State Cougars at Arizona Stadium. The Cougars won 45-42. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Washington State 45  Arizona 42

The onside kick was close; it seemed Nick Wilson was held, but no call was made by the referees. The Cougars grabbed the ball, and the clock started ticking. Arizona reserved three timeouts for the end of the game, and used all three in those last seconds, but to no avail. In the end, Wazzu was able to take all the time off the clock and with 20 seconds left Coach Rod took off his headset, that was game.

Notes on Arizona’s Defense:

  • No turnovers – a turnover could have helped immensely
  • Two sacks, Jeff Worthy, involved in both
  • Most Tackles – Paul Magloire with 11 Tackles
  • Total Tackles – Arizona 72  Washington State – 51 (no sacks)

Notes on Offense:

  • TotalYardsby Quarterback
    • Solomon 12 – 20, 145 yds, 0 TD, 0 INT, Rushed 3 times for 24 yards
    • Randall    11 – 16, 137 yds, 2 TD, 0 INT, Rushed 10 times for 1o5 yards
    • Falk           47 – 62, 514 yds, 5 TD, 0 INT, Rushed 9 times for 16 yards
  • Most Touchdowns
    • Arizona – Jared Baker 3/ QB Jerrard Randall 2
    • Washington State – Gabe Marks 4/ QB Luke Falk 5
  • Most Yards Rushing Oct 24, 2015; Tucson, AZ, USA; Washington State Cougars wide receiver Dom Williams (80) runs the ball during the second quarter against the Arizona Wildcats at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports
    • Arizona – Jerrard Randall 10-105
    • Wash St – Jamal Morrow 5-59
  • Most Yards Receiving
    • Arizona – Cayleb Jones 8-131
    • Wash St – River Craycraft 8-102
  • TotalYardsbyTeam
    • Arizona    483
    • Wash St   631
  • TotalFirstDownsbyTeam
    • Arizona   24
    • Wash St   34

Analyzing these stats one would imagine the score would have been lopsided in Wazzu’s favor, and yet, there was only a three-point difference in the final score, 45-42.

Onto the next one, which is in Seattle Washington against the Huskies on Halloween, October 31st  at 8 p.m.

Keep your chins up Wildcats fans; hopefully the Wildcats will get some of their injured players back soon and can win a few and get into a bowl game. You have to admit, if you didn’t give up on the team, and you watched the attempted comeback, it was impressive, just a little too late.

Next: Will T.J. McConnell make the Sixers Roster?

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