Arizona Football trampled the Grambling State Tigers in the second half
Arizona Football took on the Grambling State University Tigers on Saturday, and the GSU band took on the Pride of Arizona.
On Hall of Fame Night, former Arizona Football Head Coach Larry Smith was celebrated during the game, finally being honored posthumously. Arizona Legends Ricky Hunley and his brother LaMont Hunley as well as Larry Smiths wife Cheryl, his daughter Ali and his brother Randy were on hand for the ceremony. All joined Lute Olson in the sky box.
Cheryl and Randy Smith. Larry Smith Brother with @rickyhunley in the box! pic.twitter.com/Er1cbg6zAZ
— ZonaZealotsFS (@ZonaZealots) September 11, 2016
Wow! Just Wow! Thanks for this pic @rickyhunley ! BearDown you two!!! pic.twitter.com/hhY2PYLXYZ
— ZonaZealotsFS (@ZonaZealots) September 11, 2016
Anthony Mariscal came in for Tellas Jones, and Brandon Dawkins came in for Anu Solomon. Anu wasn’t dressed up, but was on the sidelines and walked down the Wildcat Walk with a brace on his knee.
Grambling State 7 Arizona 0
Not the way the Wildcats wanted to start this game, and you cannot blame the quarterback or the head coach for this one. It’s all on the defense who got called for a few penalties in the Tigers first series.
GSU’s quarterback, DeVante Kincade, had struggled in his first game passing, but not to begin this game, he threw a 43-yard pass to Chad Williams much to Rich Rod’s dismay. He was yelling at Marcel Yates on the sideline.
It was time for Brandon Dawkins to get his chance.
Grambling State 7 Arizona 0
Dawkins looked good as a dual-threat quarterback to begin the game. He hadn’t yet connected with receivers, but a few of those were on the receivers. He also converted two out of four third-down conversions which were a good sign, but no score in Arizona’s first two possessions.
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Grambling State 14 Arizona 0
The defense was missing in this series. The field was wide open, and quarterback DeVante Kincade took full advantage of it. Kincade passed to Devohn Lindsey for a 26-yard touchdown. Not much to say except Arizona’s defense fell apart, or at least it looked like it.
Grambling State 14 Arizona 3
Just when the naysayers started to complain about the Arizona QB, Brandon Dawkins faked a handoff and kept the ball for a 42-yard play taking the Cats to the Grambling 15 yard line. They were finally knocking on the door.
Dawkins passed to Samajie Grant for 70 yards to the Grambling 27, but Nick Wilson missed a few passes in the end zone, one too high. The Cats Josh Pollack ended up kicking a Field Goal.
Deep into the second quarter, Grambling’s quarterback Kincade, injured himself running and needed help coming off the field. Would the tide turn?
Grambling State 21 Arizona 3
Trevon Cherry took over for Kincade, and the series ended up in a touchdown on a controversial one-yard touchdown run. Grambling’s running back, Martez Carter’s knee never touched the ground. Carter’s elbow had touched at the same time as the ball touched the goal line.
At this point, I’m not enjoying writing this post, all Grambling State! Bring on the band!
Coach Yates needed to figure out what to do. At halftime, the locker room had to be loud.
Grambling State 21 Arizona 10
Dawkins connected with a few receivers including Trey Griffey and Cam Denson, marched the team right down to the RedZone. Wilson ran 15 yards to the four-yard line. The Tigers called a timeout. Arizona had been running a hurry-up offense; maybe they were tired? Or losing their edge.
Dawkins ran the ball into the edge of the end zone scoring his first touchdown of the season. Having a running quarterback is priceless. Grambling was getting their yardage in the air, Zona on the ground.
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Grambling State 21 Arizona 17
The Wildcats finally got a stop on the ensuing GSU Series. J.J. Taylor caught the ball on the punt and ran for 22 yards to the Arizona 36; he surprised everyone on that play.
Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles intercepted the ball from GSU’s backup quarterback. Kincade looks like he wanted to come back into the game. It was all for not, and the Cats went for it on a fourth, and one, and the pressure was on Dawkins who tried to run it over the line for a first down and was not successful. One had to ask, why didn’t they run the ball?
GSU’s Cherry threw the ball away, Jace Whittaker intercepted the ball and gained some yardage on the play. The turnover resulted in an eventual Dawkins to Trey Griffey, 34-yard touchdown pass.
Arizona 24 Grambling State 21
Gaining steam…the defense stepped up, Cody Ippolito recovered a fumble. The turnover helped Arizona’s offense stay on the field. Not going to lie, it felt good to put Arizona first in the score tally.
On to the fourth quarter. Wildcats were on a roll.
Arizona 31 Grambling State 21
Ippolito recovered his second fumble! Turnover number three. The resulting series? Dawkins ran the ball 21 yards for an Arizona touchdown. Two key blocks helped him get there, nice moves on the offense.
Sani Fuimaono created an opportunity for Deandre Miller to sack the GSU quarterback on third down and 15. Arizona’s turn again to score.
Jake Matthews stripped the ball and fell on it, another key turnover for Arizona’s defense resulted on the Arizona 7-yard line. The Tigers were knocking on the door. But it ended up all for not, and the Cats punted to the Grambling 44 on a fourth and one on the Arizona 15.
What sealed the deal? A Jarvis McCall Jr. interception after Matthews pressured the GSU quarterback. That’s what! Arizona was able to run off the last two minutes on the ground, and that was game!
The consensus:
Arizona started out slow on both sides of the ball, and that allowed Grambling state to command the first half of the competition. The Cats went into the locker room ahead 21-3. But luckily, that was short-lived. Dawkins and his offense came out swinging in the second half and scored 21 points in the third quarter. The defense looked fantastic as well in the second half, causing turnovers and sacking the quarterback.
The downside in the third quarter was when Cody Ippolito was called with targeting and ejected from the game. It didn’t look intentional, but the referees want to make sure to keep those tackles in check. Honestly, the missed a helmet to helmet hit on Brandon Dawkins in the first quarter. So if they are going to call those as intentional targeting, it should be called on both teams. This means Scooby’s replacement will be unavailable in the first half of the Hawaii game.
Honestly, they missed a helmet to helmet hit on Brandon Dawkins in the first quarter. So if they are going to call those as intentional targeting, it should be called on both teams. This means Scooby’s replacement will be unavailable in the first half of the Hawaii game.
must read: Arizona Football: Meet Wildcat Commit, Offensive Lineman Cody Shear
Brandon Dawkins and his Cats put up their first win of the season. Brandon scored three touchdowns, ran for 97 yards and passed for 223 yards. His longest pass was to Samajie Grant, who we predicted would shine tonight, for 70 yards, it was a thing of beauty. According to Rich Rod, the tackling was horrid, gross is what we think he said, so there is plenty to work on this week.
On to Hawaii! BearDown Arizona!