The Arizona Wildcats won their third consecutive game, becoming bowl eligible at 6-2 and setting up a big Homecoming game against UCLA on Saturday night.
Arizona, behind three rushing touchdowns and 261 passing yards from B.J. Denker, held on to beat Cal 33-28. Denker completed 24 of 38 passes.
The Wildcats improve to 3-2 in the Pac-12. Cal is 1-8 overall and 0-6 in the league.
Check back at TucsonCitizen.com for more later …
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Ka’Deem Carey breaks off a 17-yard run to move the chains, and that should do it. Carey has 32 carries for 152 yards, just one yard short of his season average.
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Jonathan McKnight comes through for the Wildcats, grabbing the bouncing on-side kick. His hands have been valuable today. The Cats trying to put this one on ice.
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Cal’s Kenny Lawler having a heck of a game, coming up with his third TD catch of the game, this one from 29 yards in the corner of the end zone. The Bears are within 33-28 with 1:42 to go.
So many strange things have happened in the Arizona-Cal series over the years …
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Arizona fails to make it a three-score lead, stalling past midfield and punting back to Cal, which takes over at its 16 after a punt. About six minutes left, and the Wildcats are trying to run out the clock and get out of town.
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Arizona intercepted 12 passes all of last season. The Cats already have 12 this season.
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There’s another big mistake from cal QB Jared Goff, who throws into coverage over the middle on fourth-and-2 from the UA 20. Safety Jourdon Grandon comes up with the interception and a touchback, as the Wildcats stop a second consecutive drive with a turnover.
Now, it’s Ka’Deem time.
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B.J. Denker keeps on the read option, scoring on a 14-yard run for his third rushing touchdown of the game and his 11th of the season. No Arizona quarterback had ever had more than nine rushing touchdowns in a season.
The third quarter ends with Arizona up 33-21.
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Momentum always a play away, and Jonathan McKnight gets it for Arizona with the pick at the Cal 28. Much-needed. If Arizona scores here, we could very well look back at that as the play of the game.
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Well, well, well… Cal’s defense holds and forces an Arizona punt. The Bears have the ball and the chance to take the lead.
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The Bears keep hanging around and are gathering momentum. Cal scores on a 3-yard pass from Jared Goff to Kenny Lawler, who makes a fantastic one-handed catch in the end zone.
Arizona leads 26-21 with 3:34 to play in third quarter. Cal is desperate for its first Pac-12 victory.
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Cal is doing a nice job bottling up Ka’Deem Carey, making him work for his 109 yards on 21 carries. Other than his 42-yarder (which was called back), he hasn’t had any explosive plays as the Bears choose to take their chances by often forcing B.J. Denker to throw.
Denker has been working the edges of the defense as Cal crowds the line of scrimmage, and he has 238 passing yards about halfway through the third quarter.
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Terrence Miller takes a short pass and turns it into as tackle-shredding 60-yard play down to the Cal 15 on the first drive of the second half. Yeah, having big receivers is nice in that way.
Then, on third-and-11 from the 16, Arizona picks up an interference call as Cal tries to defend Ka’Deem Carey, who was lined up in the slot.
Two handoffs to Carey doesn’t do the trick, so B.J. Denker keeps and goes around right end for the TD on a one-yard score.
The Cats do what they need to do to start the half, go up 26-14.
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B.J. Denker is 18 of 28 for 168 yards in the first half, on pace for personal records for completions and attempts. Ka’Deem Carey has 18 carries for 104 yards, reaching triple digits for his 11th consecutive game.
That’s a school record (assuming he doesn’t lose five yards in the second half).
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Two runs by Ka’Deem Carey gets 28 yards, setting up Jake Smith for a 55-yard field goal attempt by Jake Smith, who was good from 53 earlier. It is just short. Nice effort.
The first half ends. Arizona up 19-14.
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Cal reaches the UA 33 with 20 seconds left, but Vincenzo D’Amato is wide right on a 50-yard field goal on fourth down.
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Well, Arizona’s drive goes nowhere, so Cal will have a chance to score last in the first half.
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Linebacker Marquis Flowers comes up with a big solo tackle on third-and-short to force Cal to punt with less than three minutes left in the second quarter. Arizona will get a chance to score before halftime and then get the ball to start the second half.
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Arizona has to punt after reaching the Cal 40. Drew Riggleman does a nice job on the rugby punt, shooting it out of bounds at the Cal 11.
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Cal’s offense comes to life after being dead (or at least extremely sleepy). The Bears cap a 63-yard drive with a nice misdirection pass to Kenny Lawler for a 17-yard score. Arizona leads 19-14 with 6:04 to go in the second quarter.
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True frosh Samajie Grant and Nate Phillips have combined for 11 catches for 105 yards and a TD halfway through the second quarter. The future is so bright at receiver for the Wildcats.
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After surviving the replay review, the Wildcats keep on marching, scoring on a 21-yard pass from B.J. Denker to Nate Phillips, who has now scored via a reception in four consecutive games.
Arizona is up 19-7 with 8:22 to go before halftime.
The Cats are riding the arm of Denker, who has completed 17 of 24 passes.
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Key review moment: Arizona goes for it on fourth-and-4 from the Cal 37, completing a pass to David Richards that the officials spot (favorably, perhaps) just across the first-down line. Cal’s Sonny Dykes runs on the field to challenge the call.
The result: The call stands.
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The Arizona defense has found its footing. Since giving up a touchdown on the opening drive, the Cats have allowed a total of three yards on the Bears’ next five drives.
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The 53-yard field goal by Jake Smith was Arizona’s longest since Nick Folk also hit from 53 in 2004.
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Near the top of the list of things I didn’t think I would see today: A 53-yard field goal from Jake Smith. The Arizona senior, whose career long was 41 and who has been shaky at times, actually had little trouble with the 53-yarder, nearly right down the middle with a few yards to spare.
Normally, that’s the area of the field where Rich Rodriguez likes to go for it on fourth down, but it was too far in this care: fourth-and-19.
Arizona is up 12-7 with 12:54 to go in the second quarter.
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The first quarter ends with Arizona up 9-7. There were 33 passes thrown in the first quarter (15, surprisingly, from B.J. Denker). He completed 11 for 102 yards. Cal’s Jared Goff has thrown eight consecutive incompletions, although he’s been a victim of some drops.
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Will this be a long game? With three consecutive incompletions, Cal’s latest drive lasted 16 seconds.
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One play after Cal stopped Arizona from the 2, the Wildcats get two points on a safety by tackling running back Darren Ervin just before he gets out of the end zone. That was Jared Tevis and Scooby Wright on the stop. Arizona is up 9-7 late in the first quarter.
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Cal stuffs Ka’Deem Carey on fourth-and-goal from the 2. Still, like the call to go for it. But that was one the B.J. Denker should have kept on the read. The Bears had numbers and were ready for Carey.
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Arizona had a safety … for about 60 seconds. Officials confer to overturn a call of intentional grounding in the end zone, ruling that Brendan Bigelow was in the vicinity of Jared Goff’s desperation throw after he recovered a bad snap. The Cats do force a punt, though, and start the drive at Cal’s 42.
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The teams exchange punt. At least the Cats have the field-position edge, with Cal started its third drive at its 9.
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Holding penalty takes away a 42-yard run by Ka’Deem Carey. I’ll guess he’ll get a 40-yard-plus run later.
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Arizona, with a bit more pressure on Jared Goff, forces a three-and-out. The Cats can’t let him get comfortable enough to throw deep balls, or else the Bears will hit a couple big plays today.
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Arizona answers quickly to tie the game at 7 with a 73-yard drive. B.J. Denker makes the right read (again) and keeps the ball on a 9-yard sprint into the end zone. Ka’Deem Carey carried four times for 23 yards on the drive.
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Arizona linebacker Jake Fischer, who was listed as probable with a knee injury, did not play on the opening possession.
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Cal is sharp on its first possession, taking advantage of an Arizona penalty on third down, a recovered fumble, a fourth-down conversion … and then scoring on an 11-yard pass from Jared Goff to Khalfani Muhammad. The Bears absolutely needed a quick start, and they got it, taking their first lead in a game since Sept. 7 against Portland State.
In all, it was 244 minutes, 22 seconds since Cal’s last lead.
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Sonny Dykes is gambler on fourth-and-2 from UA 15. The Bears pick it up on a short pass.
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Cal picks up an automatic first down on third-and-20 as Anthony Lopez is flagged for pass interference while breaking up a pass over the middle. The Bears move to the UA 30.
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Safeties Tra’Mayne Bondurant and Jared Tevis have started, as expected, coming back from injuries.
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Arizona special teams ace Trevor Ermisch is injured on the opening kickoff, with trainers looking at his left knee. Ermisch was a hero last week with a tackle on a fake punt. The Cats’ special teams units feature young players and/or walk-ons, so Ermisch, a junior receiver, is a key part of all that.
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Arizona wins the toss and defers until the second half. Cal, which has not led in a game since Sept. 7, will get the ball first.
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The whole crew on the Pac-12 Networks studio set picks Arizona to win the game (OK, that’s not a huge surprise). Ex-Arizona State quarterback Jake Plummer calls the Wildcats the “wild card’ in the Pac-12 South race.
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Rich Rodriguez on Cal’s passing attack in a pregame interview: “They will throw it deep. We have to make some plays on the ball.”
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The Arizona Wildcats go for bowl eligibility today in a rare day game, taking on Cal at 12:30 p.m. from Berkeley.
Arizona is first in the Pac-12 in pass yards allowed (201.3 per game) and second to Oregon in passing efficiency defense (106.39 rating), but both marks will be tested by a Cal team that averages 358.9 yards and 43 passes per game.
While the Wildcats’ overall defense is improved in the second season under coordinator Jeff Casteel and his 3-3-5 odd-stack scheme, it’s doubtful that they can keep up leading the league in pass defense.
Arizona still lacks a reliable pass rush as it heads into a stretch of teams that average more than 300 passing yards per game — Cal, Washington State, Oregon and Arizona State. The only opponent left that doesn’t average more than 300 yards per game is UCLA, which has dual-threat quarterback Brett Hundley and presents plenty other problems.
The spotlight will be on cornerbacks Shaquille Richardson and Jonathan McKnight, not only in coverage but with the ability to tackle, preventing the short, quick passes of Cal’s “Bear Raid” from becoming big plays.
The Cats (5-2 overall, 2-2 in the Pac-12) are trying to keep pace in the South Division and stay one game behind leader ASU.
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Arizona will be wearing white helmets, white jerseys and red pants. This will be the first time in that combination since a 66-10 loss at UCLA last season.
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Arizona running back Ka’Deem Carey, the nation’s leading rusher, is taking on a Cal run defense that gave up 241 yards last week to Washington’s Bishop Sankey, including 188 in the first half (so those weren’t cheap, game-already-decided yards).
The Cats will have to deal with nose tackle Deandre Coleman, who has 7.5 tackles for loss and the ability to disrupt Arizona’s read-option attack.
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Cal has failed to score more than 22 points in any conference game but has playmakers.
Speedy Brendan Bigelow, whose lack of playing time last season was attributed, in part, to an inability to pass protect, is playing slot receiver now. Khalfani Muhammad is one of the top true freshmen in the Pac-12, averaging 5.6 yards on 46 carries and 23.8 yards on kick returns. He had a 73-yard TD run late against Washington.
Sophomore wideouts Chris Harper and Bryce Treggs have a combined 112 catches.
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PREDICTION
Cal is struggling under first-year coach Sonny Dykes, 1-7 overall with the only victory being a seven-point victory over lower-division Portland State.
None of the Bears’ five conference losses have been closer than 22 points. Every conference foe has scored at least 37 points.
Should today be any different?
Arizona gets to play against a true freshman quarterback for the second consecutive week, this time Jared Goff, who was leading the nation in passing earlier this season but whose 10-to-7 touchdown-to-interception ratio is far from inspiring. At some point (or two), the Wildcats should be able to pounce on a big mistake.
And while Arizona is tied for last in the conference in sacks (nine), Cal is the worst at giving them up (27).
Seems like a good time for Casteel to bring some heat, while the Cats’ offense continues its momentum and Ka’Deem Carey goes over 200 yards …
Arizona 45, Cal 24.
PREGAME LINKS
Arizona gets healthy in the secondary before playing pass-happy Cal
Javier Morales: Ka’Deem Carey closing in on two school rushing marks
Jeff Faraudo, Bay Area News Group: Cal tries to jump start running game
Greg Hansen’s Mr. Football column at the Arizona Daily Star