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Arizona-Stanford game blog: Cardinal outclasses the Wildcats

Stanford's Anthony Wilkerson scores on a 24-yard touchdown run ahead of linebacker Paul Vassallo in the first half. Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona failed to mount any momentum after halftime, when the Cats were hanging in there, down only 16-10.

Jaime Salazar’s missed field goals at the end of the first half (45 yards) and the beginning of the second half (36 yards) robbed the Wildcats of momentum, but that wasn’t the only problem.

The defense allowed scoring drives of 91, 81, 80, 72, 65, 64, and 57, ineffective against the run and the pass. The offense didn’t score in the second half.

Stanford won 37-10.

* * *

Stanford scores again. It’s 37-10 with 4:27 to go. I thought Arizona had a chance to keep this game close, but the Wildcats can’t compete for 60 minutes against an elite team.

* * *

The Arizona defense can’t use poor field position as an excuse. Stanford has scored on drives of 80, 81, 65, 64, 72 and 57 yards.

* * *

Juron Criner nearly pulls off an 80-yard touchdown. After catching a pass on a bubble screen, he is tackled by CB Harold Bernard and rolls over an Arizona lineman. Criner gets up — no whistle — and continues running for an apparent score.

Replay goes against Arizona, though, as he is ruled — correctly — to have had his elbow down. It ends up being a 9-yard play.

* * *

Arizona can’t cover Stanford’s tight ends. Andrew Luck has his pick of two wide-open players behind the UA secondary, connecting with tight end Levin Toilolo for a 34-yard score on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Stanford leads 30-10.

* * *

An ineffective third quarter for Arizona, which missed a field goal on the opening possession and hasn’t mustered any momentum since then.

The Cats commit a huge penalty late in the quarter, as they are called for offsides — in the neutral zone — as Stanford is lined up to kick on fourth-and-3. The penalty gives the Cardinal a first down, and Stanford, leading 23-10, was on the march as the game moved into the fourth quarter.

* * *

Attendance: 49,636. Have fans given up already? The Cats drew 51,761 for NAU … but can’t turn out in bigger numbers on a nice night for sixth-ranked Stanford and the future No. 1 pick in the draft?

* * *

Speaking of Stanford tight ends, Zach Ertz catches a 16-yard TD on third-and-8 with 5:22 to go in the third quarter. That ends an 81-yard drive as Stanford takes a 23-10 lead. Stanford’s top three tight ends have eight catches for 146 yards.

* * *

Stanford is showing off its best-in-the-nation group of tight ends. Andrew Luck on third-and-3 from the Stanford 31, fools the Arizona defense and goes over the middle to a wide-open Levine Toilolo for a 39-yard gain.

* * *

Nick Foles is only 1 of 7 since completing 17 consecutive passes.

* * *

Tweets former Arizona basketball walk-on David Bagga: “I’m signing up to be arizonas field goal kicker”

* * *

Arizona would have been tied … if not for two missed field goals by Jaime Salazar. He ended the first half with a 45-yard miss to the left, and he begins the second half with a 36-yard miss to the right at the end of UA’s first possession.

Time for Alex Zendejas again? Time to go for it on fourth down? Can’t kickoff man John Bonano kick straight?

It’s still 16-10, Stanford.

* * *

A mistake from Nick Foles, who drops the football as he is flushed from the pocket. Right tackle Fabbians Ebbele recovers at the Stanford 43 with 13 seconds left. Foles throws deep incomplete.

Then, with one more chance, Foles tries for it all to Juron Criner, who is — somewhat amazingly — in single coverage on the left side. Has the Cardinal not scouted Arizona?

Cornerback Johnson Bademosi manages to make a “good foul” — called for pass interference as the pulls down Criner’s right arm. Criner almost makes the catch by cradling the ball with his left arm, but it goes incomplete in the end zone.

The 15-yard penalty gives Arizona a chance at a 45-yard field goal, which Jaime Salazar misses wide left. Sigh. The kicking woes continue.

Arizona trails 16-10 at halftime, which isn’t bad. The Cats are hanging in there on defense, coming up with enough key plays, and the they will get the ball to start the second half.

* * *

Nick Foles streak ends at 17 consecutive completions.

* * *

Arizona’s defense stiffens in the red zone, holding Stanford to another field goal attempt. Jordan Williamson goes 3-for-3 on the night with a 33-yarder, putting the Cardinal up 16-10 with 1:27 to play.

Plenty of time for Nick Foles and the Cats to answer.

* * *

Nick Foles is 15 of 15 for 167 yards late in the first half.

* * *

Yeah, Juron Criner is back. He catches three passes on a 79-yard drive, including a 6-yarder for a touchdown with 5:57 to play before halftime. Criner has four catches for 35 yards.

* * *

Potential big loss for Stanford. LB Shayne Skov leaves with an apparent left leg injury with 9:14 to play.

* * *

While the defense is being gashed on the ground, it is also coming up with some stops, forcing Stanford into a 45-yard field goal attempt. Jordan Williamson hits it for a 13-3 lead with 9:42 to play in the second quarter.

The drive covered 64 yards.

* * *

In its six-game losing streak to FBS teams, Arizona has allowed an average of 200 rushing yards per game. It’s more of the same as Stanford has 108 yards — including a 49-yarder by Stephan Taylor — with 12:48 to play before halftime.

* * *

A Stanford player did something dumb. Chris Owusu brings a kickoff back from the end zone, cuts all the way across the field and gets cut down at the 10.

* * *

Can’t take any points in the kicking game for granted at Arizona, so there was relief as Jaime Salazar converts a 27-yard field goal with 14:15 to play before halftime. That cuts the lead to 10-3.

* * *

Freshman RB Ka’Deem Carey sees action late in the first quarter — as promised by coach Mike Stoops — but the story is the passing game.

Nick Foles does deep down the right sideline for a 39-yard connection with Dan Buckner, and he later finds David Roberts for 27 yards over the middle. Arizona is in the red zone as the quarter ends.

* * *

Sweet play by Stanford. On fourth-and-inches from the UA 24, the Cardinal lines up in a power I-formation, with Andrew Luck faking a handoff to the fullback on his right, then tossed the ball to tailback Anthony Wilkerson on the left.

With the defense all bunched near the line of scrimmage, Wilkerson had lots of wide-open space, out-racing defensive tackle Justin Washington to the corner and turning up field for a touchdown and 10-0 lead with 1:59 to go in the first quarter.

* * *

S Marquis Flowers left the game with an apparent left leg injury with 3:02 left in the first quarter. He was replaced by S Mark Watley.

* * *

Another three-and-out for Arizona. No passes thrown to Criner yet.

* * *

Arizona makes a stand after Stanford had first-and-goal from the 3, helped by a 15-yard late hit penalty against Shaquille Richardson. On third down from the 2, Andrew Luck rolls to this right and throws low, trying to hit receiver Griff Whalen.

Cornerback Trevin Wade dives in front of Whalen and makes an apparent interception, but the play is overturned on replay; Wade did not maintain possession. Mike Stoops is not pleased.

Jordan Williamson then converts a 20-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead with 6:11 to play in the first quarter.

(A fun bit of gamesmanship. Stanford took a delay of game penalty to get a better angle on the kick. Stoops declined it.)

* * *

Stanford creeps across midfield on its first drive, but Arizona holds on third-and-2 at its 47, forcing a punt. Arizona fails to do anything with its opening possession, going three-and-out.

Juron Criner was on the field for the first play, so give him a another career start. Arizona went to a pass to Keola Antolin, away from Criner on the first play.

* * *

Arizona win the coin toss and defers the choice to the second half. Put me down as that being the first mistake of the night.

* * *

Juron Criner is dressed out and stretching during warm-ups, a positive sign that he will indeed play tonight. My guess is he’ll get 10 to 20 snaps.

* * *

Arizona Wildcats receiver Juron Criner is expected to play tonight, according to a report from Chris Bonney of WildcatSportsReport.com.

WildcatSportsReport.com was the first to report last week that Criner was not on the trip to Oklahoma State. A day later, the university revealed that Criner had undergone an appendectomy on Sept. 5.

Criner did not practice through Wednesday of this week — the last day of media access to the team — but had been doing some running in practice. Criner likely went through some walk-through activities in the past two days.

It is not known how much, or how effective, Criner will be against Stanford as he pushes the limit on his return from the arthroscopic surgery. Coach Mike Stoops has used an ailing receiver as a decoy before — Mike Thomas, who had a hand injury, in the 2005 game against Arizona State.

Earlier this week, receiver Dan Buckner said: “If Juron is here, the game is going to be easier, but if Juron is not here, we still have a game to play.”

We’ll check in later from the stadium as Criner goes through warm-ups.

* * *

Clemson ended Auburn’s 17-game winning streak earlier today, leaving Stanford with the nation’s longest streak.

The Cardinal has won 10 consecutive games, starting with a victory over USC on Oct. 9, 2010. Included in Stanford’s streak is a 42-17 victory over Arizona on Nov. 6.

Arizona will try to end that streak tonight, starting at 7:45 at Arizona Stadium.

This will be the spot for our in-game coverage and analysis; until then, here is some reading from earlier in the week:

Arizona-Stanford: Five things to watch

Shaq attacked: Arizona cornerback confident amid struggles

Notebook: Can Arizona remain competitive at home?

ESPN analyst: Arizona is ‘going to get rolled’ by Stanford

Time is right to give Ka’Deem Carey an expanded role

Stanford coach on Nick Foles: ‘extremely underrated’

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