UA-WSU game blog: Cats cruise to win, get closer to first place
by Anthony Gimino on Nov. 07, 2009, under SportsCats beat Washington State 48-7. Says UA coach Mike Stoops: “For the most part , we played a very complete game today. It was great to see special teams getting those two touchdowns. This was a very positive game for us, especially going into Cal next week.”
Arizona moves to 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the Pac-10, a half-game behind Oregon (5-1), which lost 51-42 at Stanford on Saturday.
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Arizona goes up 48-0 with 7:06 left on a 1-yard run by Taimi Tutogi. John Bonano kicks the extra point at the end of an 8 minute, 7 second drive. Bring on Cal next Saturday.
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It’s 41-0 heading into the fourth quarter. Matt Scott is back at quarterback for Arizona. The Cats are going for their first shutout of a Pac-10 team since Sept. 25, 1993, when they won 33-0 at Oregon State.
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The Arizona defense has forced seven three-and-outs so far … halfway through the third quarter.
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With 7:50 to go in third quarter, Arizona has gone to its second-string defense, which includes true freshman Adam Hall from Palo Verde High at free safety. (Former Tucson Citizen columnist Corky Simpson is in the press box representing the Green Valley News, and he comments that he is “greedy” and would like to see Hall pick off a pass to see what he can do with the ball.)
Another local true freshman, Jake Fischer from Ironwood Ridge, is playing linebacker.
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Nick Foles is back at quarterback for Arizona. Why?
Arizona has freshman Taimi Tutogi — who has seen time at H-back this season — in at tailback, which is a sign that UA isn’t ready to take freshman Daniel Jenkins out of his redshirt.
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Arizona entered the game with minus-1 yard on three punt returns for the entire season. In one swoop, Bug Wright just picked up up 86 and a touchdown. That was the fifth-longest punt return in UA history.
It was a classic case of Washington State out-kicking its coverage with a 61-yard boot. Wright started slowly, then picked out a spot along the right sideline. He got the blocks and sped the rest of the way into the end zone.
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Looks like about half the student section didn’t come back for the second half.
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Total yardage at halftime: Arizona 267, Washington State 91
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Another way to track the Cats game is at the twitter feed from UA athletics — WildcatsLive. They’re experimenting this week with some video from the stands.
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Shades of September. Matt Scott drives the Wildcats into the red zone, but the offense then stalls and settles for a field goal. Alex Zendejas connects on a 27-yard field goal for a 34-0 lead with 1:23 to go before halftime. It’s good to see Scott get some time, though. He did some nice running on the drive, including a 22-yard rush, but his passing is still inconsistent as he missed some throws he could have completed.
For Washington State, QB Jeff Tuel is out with a right knee sprain. Marshall Lobbestael is in. Tuel’s return is questionable.
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Matt Scott comes in at quarterback for Arizona with 8:30 left in the second quarter. He runs from the shotgun formation on his first play, and completes a long pass to Chris Gronkowski on his second play … but it was called back because of a chop block. We’ll be seeing third-stringer Bryson Beirne in the second half.
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Arizona comes up with a defensive stop after Washington State reached first-and-goal from the 9. After a holding penalty and an incomplete pass, WSU quarterback Jeff Tuel scrambles to his left but is caught from behind by linebacker Xavier Kelley, who forces a fumble that Arizona recovers. Tuel, who grew up in Tucson and attended Salpointe Catholic as a freshman, was hurt on the play.
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Total yardage with 13:28 to go in the second quarter: Arizona 178, Washington State 1.
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Arizona capitalizes on the turnover, with Nick Booth scoring a yard out for a 31-0 lead with 13:28 to go before halftime. We’re going to see some seriously deep reserves in the game for Arizona in the second half.
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Brooks Reed, returning from an ankle injury, makes an impact on his second series of the game, speed-rushing past the left tackle and coming around to knock the ball loose from Washington State quarterback Jeff Tuel for a sack. Defensive tackle Lolomana Mikaele recovers for UA at the WSU 14. Reed’s early play is the best sign of the game for the Cats.
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Arizona is finally stopped. Kind of. Washington State holds UA to a 21-yard field goal from Alex Zendejas after the Cats had first-and-goal from the 8. Arizona leads 24-0 with 24 seconds to play in the opening quarter.
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Arizona defensive end Brooks Reed makes his first appearance of the game in Washington State’s latest series. On second down, he bull-rushed left tackle Alex Reitnouer and knocked him down, but QB Jeff Tuel threw the ball to the other side before Reed could get to him. On third down, the Cougars kept in a running back to help block Reed.
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No worries. Arizona drives 65 yards for a 21-0 lead with 7:21 to go in the first quarter. Keola Antolin leaps for a 1-yard touchdown to cap the drive … now, the question is, how many times will he get tackled by his hair?
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In about as pretty a play as you will see, Nick Foles threw from the left hashmark to the right corner of the end zone, where the ball dropped nicely into the hands of Terrell Turner just over a defender and inside the sideline for a 28-yard touchdown. Arizona is doing what it should do — jump all over Washington State. It’s 14-0 with 11:43 to play in the first quarter.
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A couple of quick things from WSU’s first possession: UA’s Brooks Reed did not start at defensive end, and Arizona already has a sack of Jeff Tuel. The Cougars allow a national-high 5.0 sacks per game.
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How do you like that? That didn’t take long. Arizona goes up 7-0 on a 95-yard kickoff return by Travis Cobb, and there is only 13 seconds off the clock. That is UA’s first kickoff return for a touchdown since Chris McAlister went 100 yards on the first play of the 1998 season at Hawaii.
I was there at that game in 1998, and if there was ever a sign of a great season, that was it. It was a stunning reversal of a season earlier when Oregon’s Saladin McCullough returned the opening kick of the season for a touchdown against Arizona. Anyway, that’s my little trip down memory lane.
PREGAME
Normally, we would do three “keys to the game,” but there are no keys other than for Arizona to avoid disaster with turnovers. Straight-up, there should be no way for Washington State to hang around.
So, instead, let’s go for “Three things to watch:”
1. Comeback players. UA receiver Delashaun Dean and defensive end Brooks Reed both could use this game to launch into the final difficult four weeks of the season. Dean has been banged up since training camp and hasn’t spent much time at full health. He said earlier this week that is he “95 percent.” Close enough. Reed has missed almost all of the Pac-10 season because of a sprained ankle, but went through pregame warm-ups today.
2. Will Daniel Jenkins play … and, if so, how much and how well? Jenkins, a true freshman running back, might be pulled out of his redshirt today because of shoulder injuries to Nic Grigsby and Greg Nwoko. It’s a little late in the season to come out of a redshirt; if he plays, that might be a sign than the injuries to Grigsby and Nwoko are going to last beyond this week’s game. Jenkins was one of the most highly rated recruits from the last signing class.
3. How the Wildcats respond to success? Good teams come out and step all over inferior opponents. Arizona has been receiving unusual attention in the past couple of weeks, entering the rankings and moving to second in the Pac-10 with a 3-1 mark. Coaches and players say none of it will go to Arizona’s head. We’ll see.
