Ka’Deem Carey goes through the Wildcat Walk before the game. Photo by Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports
The Arizona Wildcats moved their record to 3-0, finishing off a mostly drama-free non-conference season with a 38-13 victory over UTSA on Saturday night at Arizona Stadium.
Quarterback B.J. Denker had his most efficient game for the Cats, while Ka’Deem Carey slugged out 128 yards on the ground.
Arizona scored on its first three possessions to help take control of the game. UA’s second touchdown was set up by a Jourdon Grandon interception, the team’s sixth interception of the season.
UA is off next Saturday before opening Pac-12 play at Washington on Sept. 28.
* * *
Javelle Allen enters the game at quarterback for Arizona with 4:18 to play. B.J. Denker completed 14 of 21 passes for 158 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions. He ran 10 times for 90 yards and two scores.
* * *
The announced attendance: 41,661. That’s not what athletic director Greg Byrne could have been hoping for at a revamped Arizona Stadium. He always talks about how he wants fans to come out to see Arizona no matter who the Cats are playing, but the lack of a name opponent is obviously a factor.
* * *
UTSA reaches the end zone for the first time tonight, scoring on a 4-yard run with 9:39 to go. That score is of little consequence, other than hurting UA’s defensive stats for the season.
* * *
Right tackle Fabbians Ebbele never returned to the game after hobbling off in the first quarter, and free safety Jourdon Grandon is spending time with the trainers in the second half, too.
* * *
Ka’Deem Carey has at least 100 yards rushing and one rushing TD in 10 of his past 11 games.
* * *
Ka’Deem Carey finds the end zone for the second time tonight, this time on a 7-yard run around right end, giving UA a 38-6 lead with 13:57 to play. Carey has 33 rushing touchdowns in just 26 games. It’s been tough sledding in the running game tonight, but Carey is up to 119 yards on 25 carries.
* * *
It’s been a sleepy third quarter, but Arizona creates some action as Reggie Gilbert sacks Eric Soza, forcing a fumble. Linebacker Jake Fischer has a scoop-and-score opportunity, but he stumbles and basically tackles himself at the UA 40.
* * *
Unlike in the season-opener (in the rain), the Zona Zoo didn’t stick around en masse in the second half. About half of the student section is empty, although the UA is still running a promotion where five students who are in the stadium in the fourth quarter win cash.
It’s not just the students, though. Attendance is spotty throughout Arizona Stadium, and UA’s quick score to start off the half didn’t help make things more interesting (but that’s good from the team’s point of view).
* * *
RichRod is a go-for-it kind of coach, so a fourth-and-1 try at the UTSA 29 is no surprise. Ka’Deeem Carey does the dirty work with a 1-yard gain, followed by a 24-yard pass from B.J. Denker to Garic Wharton. Two plays later, Denker keeps around left end for a 1-yard score.
Arizona leads 31-6 with 11:43 to go in the third quarter.
* * *
And the half is over. The Cats lead 24-6 and B.J. Denker is over 100 passing yards for the first time this season. He’s 10 of 16 for 113 yards.
* * *
Right tackle Fabbians Ebbele, who left the game in the first quarter, did not return in the first half.
* * *
Arizona got the ball back at its 18 with 1:41 left, given a chance to really put UTSA in a hole at halftime. The Cats end up going three-and-out, though, coming up just short of a first down, and UA punts back to the Roadrunners with about a minute left.
* * *
You can count on at least one Ka’Deem Carey rushing touchdown per game, and here it is with 2:57 to go in the half. He squirms in on a 4-yard run to make it 24-6 for the Cats over UTSA, giving him a TD in each of his past 11 games.
The big play on the drive was a 23-yard pass from B.J. Denker to Garic Wharton.
* * *
Arizona gets a defensive stop, helped by a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on UTSA. The ‘Runners have four penalties for 53 yards; the Cats have one for 5.
Tweets Scott Terrell of TucsonCitizen.com and WildcatUniverse.com: “UTSA is led by a former Miami Hurricane coach & has a bunch of personal fouls. Only surprise is coach isn’t Dennis Erickson.”
* * *
The fourth-down gamble eventually pays off in a 43-yard field goal by UTSA’s Sean Ianno with 8:41 to go before halftime. That’s the second 11-play scoring drive for the Roadrunners, but they still trail 17-6.
* * *
UTSA goes for it on fourth-and-inches from its 47 with about 10:30 left. Evans Okotcha barely picks it up on a run up the middle, but the Roadrunners are penalized for a personal foul penalty after the play, moving them back to the 33. Not that it ends up mattering much, as David Glasco II breaks off a 42-yard on the next play to really put UTSA in business.
* * *
Another good drive by Arizona ends in a field goal attempt as Terrence Miller can’t come up with a third-down catch in the end zone. The Cats put up three more points on Jake Smith’s 23-yard field goal for a 17-3 lead with 14:09 to play before halftime.
* * *
End of the first quarter. Arizona is driving again, at the UTSA 27. Ka’Deem Carey has 51 total yards (18 rushing, 33 receiving).
* * *
B.J. Denker can run a little bit. OK, more than a little. He had a 30-yard TD in the opener vs. NAU, a 35-yard scoring run at UNLV, and he matches that with a 35-yarder with 3:03 to go in the first quarter. He took off on the left side of the field, cut his way across the hashmarks and then survived a collision near the goal line, rolling over receiver Garic Wharton across the goal line.
Officials initially ruled him down at the 1, but the call was correctly reversed.
Arizona leads 14-3.
* * *
Call it the return of Desert Swipe? FS Jourdon Grandon comes up with Arizona’s sixth INT of the season, setting up the Cats at the UTSA 34.
* * *
Arizona had 63 passing yards on opening possession. Had 81 for entire game vs. UNLV. Whatever works.
* * *
Looking for a receiver to step up? How about true freshman Samajie Grant, who hauls in four passes for 46 yards, including a 13-yard score, on Arizona’s opening drive. The scoring pass comes as B.J. Denker is running hard left and back out of the pocket because of pressure before finding an angle to get the pass to Grant, who walks in to the end zone.
Arizona leads 7-3 with 6:14 to play in the quarter.
* * *
Arizona right tackle Fabbians Ebbele shaken up at the 7:08 mark of the first quarter. He hops off the field, favoring his left leg.
* * *
UTSA shows off a variety of offense out of its spread attack — this is what it is known for — and picks up four first downs before settling for a 34-yard goal attempt. Sean Ianno makes it for a 3-0 lead with 10:13 to go. The Roadrunners are mostly a dink-and-dunk outfit, but they did hit a 17-yard throw downfield from Eric Soza to Brandon Freeman on the drive.
* * *
Starting defense is the same; freshman LB Scooby Wright gets his third start, although he’s now wearing “Wright III” across the back of his jersey. I’d prefer if he just went with “Scooby.”
* * *
Arizona win the toss and defers, as is RichRod’s custom.
* * *
Based on pregame warmups, Arizona will be wearing white helmets, red jerseys and blue pants. This is a combination that the team did not use last season, when it was 4-2 with white helmets.
* * *
A nice pickup for Rich Rodriguez, who adds a walk-on transfer linebacker from Cal. David Wilkerson left the Bears camp in August and has been on the UA campus for a couple of weeks, but was only recently added to the on-line roster.
* * *
The Arizona Wildcats are aiming for their second 3-0 non-conference record under coach Rich Rodriguez when they play host to UTSA on Saturday night.
The Roadrunners, led by former Miami head coach Larry Coker, are only in their third year of existence but likely will provide the toughest test for UA so far. UTSA has won at New Mexico and lost at Oklahoma State.
Here is a look at the QBs:
–Arizona’s B.J. Denker, who is 17 of 34 for 168 yards in two games this season, has to be able to beat man coverage.
We wrote about the passing game Friday, and sooner or later, Denker is going to have to make defenses pay for loading the box against the run. Good news is that the Wildcats are having success on the ground regardless of how much the first two opponents wanted to stop the run.
But Denker and the air attack could use some momentum heading into conference play in a couple of weeks.
He was 8 of 21 for 81 yards last week at UNLV.
“After the game, I was a little disappointed in myself, and Coach said, ‘Hey, you’re going to get man all year. So be prepared,’” Denker said. “They are going to say, ‘We want No. 7 to stop us,’ so we’ll see.”
–Eric Soza, the only starting quarterback UTSA has even known (not included a couple of games when he was injured last season) is off to a hot start against New Mexico and Oklahoma State. He has completed 45 of 75 passes for 545 yards, with five touchdowns and two interceptions.
“Boy, he’s really efficient,” said Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez.
“You can tell he’s a smart guy. He’s been in the system. He gets rid of the ball quickly. I have just been really impressed with him. I don’t know if a lot of people know about him. But they’re going to find out about him, especially if he does a performance like he did last week against Okie State.”
Soza was 24 of 41 for 308 yards, with three TDs and two INTs, in a 56-35 loss to the Cowboys.
The Roadrunners don’t have a dangerous down-field game, but Kam Jones and Kenny Bias are two to watch at receiver. Jones, a former quarterback, gets plenty of touches on jet sweeps, too.
PREDICTION
UTSA has talent in its spread offense, with a veteran quarterback, speed on the outside and versatility. It could be very well be an escalating task for the Arizona defense, which has scored more touchdowns (three) than it has allowed (two).
Ultimately, though, this should be another NC — no contest. UTSA did score 35 against Oklahoma State last week, but 28 of those came in the fourth quarter when the outcome was long decided.
So, we’ll give the Roadrunners a late score or two and call it like this:
Arizona 44, UTSA 21, Ka’Deem Carey 185 yards.
PREGAME LINKS
Arizona’s passing game needs big plays to provide balance
Arizona’s Ka’Deem Carey: ‘I just feel like me’ again
Javier Morales (WildAboutAZCats.net) looks at the top players for each team
Greg Hansen’s Mr. Football column at the Arizona Daily Star