Arizona vs BYU: Late field goal spoils Wildcats’ comeback attempt

Arizona loses their first non-conference game in the Rich Rodriguez era

The Arizona Wildcats couldn’t get much production going through three and a half quarters, relying heavily on the defense to get the necessary stops. Down 15-3, U of A finally got things going, playing with an elevated sense of urgency.

Anu Solomon started connecting on some deeper passes, utilizing some new personnel with newcomer Shawn Poindexter and speedster Tyrell Johnson. From there, Nick Wilson took care of the rest to cut BYU’s lead to five.

Two more stops for the Wildcat defense gave Arizona one final drive to cap off the comeback. An efficient four-play drive ending with a 49-yard Nick Wilson touchdown gave Arizona a one point lead after failing a two point conversion.

This left BYU with 1:20 left on the clock.

"Field goal, for sure." BYU QB Taysom Hill said about his thoughts on the final drive. "Going into it, we were calm the whole time. Coach and I were talking through the entire process. We had two time outs and ninety seconds. We needed a field goal, this is what we do all the time."

The Cougars engineered a drive starting from their own 31, all the way to the Arizona 11. A false start by BYU pushed them back five yards, which would have caused a ten-second runoff if BYU didn’t have a timeout saved.

From the 16 yard line, the Cougars sent out their field goal unit, with true freshman Jake Oldroyd going out to attempt his first collegiate field goal.

"Our special teams coordinator, Assistant Coach Ed, Ed Lamb, felt really comfortable with him, especially after the PAT and field goal earlier." head coach Kalani Sitake said about sending out Jake Oldroyd to kick. BYU had missed a PAT and field goal already in the game.

"Probably not a good time to do it, but Ed felt comfortable with Jake being in that position."

Rich Rodriguez called his final timeout of the night, in a last second desperation attempt to ice the true freshman. The kick was up and it went right down the middle, giving the Cougars an 18-16 lead with just four seconds on the clock, ultimately ending the game.

BYU wins the #CactusKickoff 18-16 with a last second FG! https://t.co/slA7fKMJqE

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) September 4, 2016

Oldroyd apparently made a lot of new fans after the game as well.

I just made a lot of new friends. Thank you all. #GOCOUGARS

— Jake Oldroyd (@JakeOldroyd39) September 4, 2016

This was a payback a decade in the making for BYU:

10 years and 1 day ago, BYU lost to Arizona 16-13 on a last second 48 yard FG. PAYBACK.

— CougarStats (@CougarStats) September 4, 2016

from Arizona Desert Swarm - All Posts http://ift.tt/2bLG91v
via IFTTT