Arizona Football (2-2, 1-0) runs all over the Oregon State Beavers in Corvallis en route to their second straight win of the season!
Another week of college football, a second straight win for the Wildcats, as the Arizona Football team ran all over the Oregon State Beavers in Corvallis.
A week since demolishing Southern Utah in Tucson, fans looking for more positives in the 2018 season, can find a few more in the conference opener!
Arizona Wildcats
While it’s never easy traveling to the Northeast, Reser Stadium has been notoriously unkind to Arizona in recent memory. Their last win in Corvallis coming in 2009!
Well, once again they would have to overcome the inclement weather and unique travel plans to take on the Beavers.
Coming in as four-point favorites, the Wildcats were all business in this one. Despite Oregon State receiving the ball first, a quick three-and-out by the Beavers would give the Wildcats the ball and a chance to capitalize.
And capitalize they did in a big way! Arizona would take the ball from their own 42, marching 58 yards in five plays to take the first lead and score of the game. Redshirt sophomore running back J.J. Taylor would take the ball on a handoff, scampering slightly to the left and up the sideline for an Arizona touchdown from 40-yards out!
A few series later, the Beavers would respond, equalizing this game at 7-7. However, that was as close as it would get from here on out!
Khalil Tate and Taylor would be a big part in the Wildcats’ next scoring drive that would eventually lead to a 21-yard touchdown pass from Tate to Shun Brown. Brown would catch a short pass to the left, where he would eventually work his way back across the field, finding a seam with Tate leading the way to make it 14-7 Wildcats.
Unfortunately, that would be all the scoring we would see from a bit of a sloppy first half of football. Wildcats led at the break 14-7!
Luckily in the opening drive of the second half, it was back to business for the Wildcats. Arizona would go 75 yards on 12 plays (including a huge fourth-down conversion from Jake Glatting) that ended in a Shawn Poindexter touchdown to make it 21-7!
On their next series, the Wildcats would again drive the field at will, this time going 94 yards in nine plays for a touchdown that would be capped by an eight-yard scamper from Gary Brightwell.
The Beavers would score again, but the Wildcats would continue their stifling defense to keep them out of the end zone for the rest of this one.
Arizona would add one more score late in the fourth quarter, again coming from Taylor, as the Wildcats’ running back raced 62-yards into the end zone for the exclamation point touchdown! Taylor would finish the day with 284 yards on 27 carries.
The Wildcats would go on to win by a 35-14 final, improving their record to 2-2 (1-0) on the year!
Taking care of business on the road!
— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) September 22, 2018
Cats rush for 442 yards and win their Pac-12 opener. #BearDown | #EraZona pic.twitter.com/i6SQpfJuP8
More impressive than the offensive production was the Wildcats’ defense stepping up and making some big-time plays today!
Granted they were playing Oregon State, the Beavers’ potent offense was held to just 238 yards and 14 points! Colin Schooler once again had a tremendous game, finishing with 10 tackles (seven solo) and four tackles that went for a loss! Tony Fields II also logged 10 tackles and Scottie Young six in his first full game. Getting PJ Johnson on the field proved huge for Arizona as he logged his first sack.
Arizona will return to action next Saturday, when they take on USC in Tucson. The Trojans will be fresh off an impressive win over Washington State.
At Zona Zealots, we are excited about the Wildcats’ win and hope this continues to provide confidence to this young team. Arizona looked a lot better this week! Bear Down, Arizona!