Arizona vs. Stanford final score: Cardinal rout the Wildcats, 55-17

Stanford dominated Arizona in all facets of the game

With Anu Solomon forced to miss the game with a concussion, and Scooby Wright III and Derrick Turituri out with their own injuries, the Arizona Wildcats came into this game as double-digit underdogs. The Wildcats were going to need to have their running game going and defense bending, but not breaking, to have a chance to even have a shot at an upset.

Well, none of those things happened and the Cardinal rolled the Wildcats, 55-17.

Ragged Randall: His overall stat-line doesn't look too bad -- 15/28 for 178 yards and a touchdown -- but Jerrard Randall had some serious, but unsurprising, accuracy issues in this game. He failed to connect on easy throws like bubble screens, and checkdowns, and then also had a few overthrows of open receivers deep down the field. On one third down, he escaped a sack, rolled out to his right, and instead of running for an easy first down, he tried to connect with a receiver deep down the sideline. The pass was overthrown, and Arizona was forced to punt.

In another instance in the red zone, Randall rolled right and fired over the head of a wide open Nate Phillips in the corner of the end zone. An accurate throw would have made it 13-7, but the Wildcats had to settle for the field goal to make it 13-3 in the second quarter. With the defense struggling as much as they did, touchdowns were needed, and Randall didn't get the job done.

Brandon Dawkins didn't play as much as many thought he would, and he was limited to just five pass attempts. He completed two of them for 18 yards.

Terrible Tackling: As much as injuries have a hand in Arizona's defensive struggles, the tackling in the past two games has been just as much of a reason. They're failing to wrap up, missing leg tackles, and taking way too many poor angles. Many runs that should be 2-5 yard runs are turning into big chunks of yards. The rushing numbers for Stanford in this game were video game-like. Christian McCaffrey ran for 156 yards on just 17 carries, and Barry Sanders ran for a 65-yard touchdown. The Cardinal, as a team finished, with 314 rushing yards.

Their tackling woes were apparent on special teams too, as McCaffrey took one kickoff 67 yards and deep into Arizona territory.

Spotty Coverage: Kevin Hogan had open receivers all over the field, and it allowed him to put up an incredibly efficient game. His final stat-line was 17/19 for 217 yards and two touchdowns. Cam Denson, especially had a rough night. The only notable play in coverage for Arizona was when R.J. Morgan nearly came away with a diving interception when Kevin Hogan tried to thread the needle in the middle of the field.

No Pressure: The secondary had a hard time covering Stanford's receivers, but to be fair, they didn't have much of a pass rush to help them out. Reggie Gilbert did have a sack on Stanford's opening drive which helped the Wildcats hold them to a field goal, but after that play, the Stanford offensive line completely neutralized the Wildcats' pass rush. Hogan was rarely under pressure, and when he was, he was usually able to scamper away and eventually find an open receiver.

Action Johnny Jackson: Seriously, Johnny Jackson might have been the only bright spot for the Wildcats. The last time Jackson played Stanford in 2012, he had 10 catches for 75 yards. He must really love playing the Cardinal because he had five catches for 84 yards and a touchdown in this one. Two of his catches were acrobatic grabs in traffic. It was impressive and helped the Wildcats' stagnant offense move the chains at times. Of course, he also scored one of Arizona's two touchdowns.

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The Wildcats will host the Oregon State Beavers next weekend. The game will kickoff on Saturday at 1 p.m. MST.

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