Washington State vs. Arizona final score: The Wildcats' comeback bid falls short as the Cougars hang on for their second straight win in Tucson

The Wildcats made things interesting at the end, but were unable to complete the comeback.

There was no story book ending on homecoming for the Arizona Wildcats. The 'Cats, who were down by as much as 17 in the third quarter, rallied to make it 38-35 in the fourth quarter, but the comeback fell short as the Washington State Cougars came away with a 45-35 win in Tucson.

Shredded secondary: While the lack of pass rush didn't make life any easier for the secondary, too often there were receivers that were wide open in the middle of field. In many instances, the receiver was 5-10 yards away from the nearest member of the secondary. Getting carved up by Washington State's Air Raid was to be expected because of the Cougars' loaded receiving corps and Arizona's inexperienced secondary, but it looked even worse than I anticipated. I mean, Luke Falk had 335 yards and four touchdowns in the first half alone. The Wildcats couldn't get off the field on third downs, including some that were third-and-long situations.

One instance of this was when WSU, up 31-21, was facing a 3rd-and-19 in Arizona territory. Instead of Arizona's defense holding the Cougars to a FG or off the scoreboard altogether, Falk completed a 28-yard pass to a wide open receiver down the seam. It got them the first down, and then they scored a few plays later to make it 38-21.

Later in the game, after the Wildcats made it 38-35, the defense couldn't get that one final stop that they needed to give their offense a chance to win the game. As a whole, Washington State was 9-15 on third down, had 628 total yards, and Luke Falk was 47-62 for 514 yards and five touchdowns. It was complete domination.

Running in mud: Arizona's run game -- aside from Jerrard Randall -- struggled to churn out yards. Jared Baker had just 22 yards on 11 carries, and Nick Wilson, who is playing through injury, had six carries for eight yards. A healthy Wilson would certainly help things, but the offensive line hasn't been able to consistently create running lanes. It's one reason why playing Randall over Anu Solomon seems feasible right now - which brings me to my next point.

Quarterback controversy: Anu Solomon had another subpar performance. He was 12-20 with 145 yards, and was later replaced by Jerrard Randall. Randall, like last week, came in and instantly sparked the offense. His first play after Anu was pulled was a quarterback keeper for 59 yards. Of course, Randall had his struggles of his own throwing the ball, but at least he was able to move the ball with his legs and occasionally connect with a receiver. He finished 11-16 for 137 yards and two touchdowns, while also rushing for 105 yards. It marks the second week in a row that Randall outplayed Solomon, and it's seriously time to consider making him the starter over Anu, which a few weeks ago would've been crazy talk.

Strange special teams: It was a little bit of a Jekyll and Hyde game for the Wildcats' special teams. Nate Phillips had a 69-yard punt return for a touchdown early in the second quarter to tie the game at 14, but then Shun Brown essentially gave it right back when he fumbled on a kickoff to set up Washington State with incredible field position. The Cougars had just taken a 21-14 lead, and Brown's fumble allowed them to make it 28-14 soon after. All of the momentum and excitement that was created by Phillips' punt return was quickly diminished.

Bumbling Bundage: Cayman Bundage continued to have issues snapping the ball, and for an offense that isn't exactly moving the ball that easily, the bad snaps make things even tougher and can be drive-killers. In fact, one third quarter drive was halted, in part, because of an error by Bundage. The Wildcats were deep into WSU territory, and on first down, Bundage sailed the snap over Randall's head. Luckily, Randall was able to throw the ball away to prevent any lost yardage, but it was still a loss of a down. Rich Rodriguez seems to have had enough with the snap issues as Bundage was benched for Zach Hemmila on the next drive.

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