3 Arizona Wildcats make Pro Football Focus’ weekly All-Pac-12 teams

Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona’s 20-17 win over UCLA was the epitome of a team victory, with the Wildcats turning to a true freshman quarterback when their senior couldn’t play and using a running back-by-committee approach to overcome an injury there as well.

As a result, three Arizona players earned spots on Pro Football Focus’ Pac-12 teams of the week:

Here is the Pac-12 offensive Team of the Week for Week 5!https://t.co/gJoQeJAf9D pic.twitter.com/wUEPV5DWrO

— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 30, 2019

After their strong performance in Week 5, Utah lands four players on the Pac-12 defensive Team of the Week!https://t.co/gJoQeJAf9D pic.twitter.com/SeQvKjdJ77

— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 30, 2019

Robert Congel and Donovan Laie protected Grant Gunnell’s blind side, enabling him to throw for 352 yards and complete 66 percent of his passes in his first career start. Gunnell was sacked twice, but neither came from Congel and Laie’s side.

Colin Schooler had 13 tackles, including 10 solo takedowns, as well as two tackles for loss, as Arizona’s defense held UCLA to 5.2 yards per play after averaging nearly nine per snap the week before in a 67-63 win at Washington State.

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Kevin Sumlin discusses Grant Gunnell, Colorado and defensive line rotation during weekly presser

Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

The Arizona Wildcats spent the entire month of September at home, getting three victories while also taking a week off. But three of the next four games are on the road, starting with Saturday’s visit to Boulder to play the Colorado Buffaloes in a battle of 1-0 Pac-12 teams.

The Wildcats have won three straight at Folsom Field in Boulder, including the 2017 contest in which Khalil Tate exploded onto the national college football scene by rushing for 327 yards off the bench. There have been only two non-home victories for Arizona since then, however, and just one in six tries under coach Kevin Sumlin.

Junior linebacker Colin Schooler said, after the 20-17 win over UCLA, that Arizona hadn’t played to its full potential on the road during his career. But Sumlin isn’t concerned about past seasons.

“I think this team’s different,” he said Monday during his weekly press conference. “Last year how we played on the road, I’m not concerned about. This team’s got some juice right now, it’s got some confidence. We’ve got more depth. And we’re an older team. Youth and experience from a year ago maybe had a little bit to do with that, but we’re a year older.”

Here’s what else Sumlin discussed in the lead up to the Colorado game:

On Grant Gunnell’s performance:

“I thought he got better as the game went on. We didn’t give (UCLA) the ball, didn’t turn it over, I think that’s a big deal. If you go into a game like that and you have those type of statistics with a true freshman in a conference opener, and with no turnovers, you’re going to take that every time.”

On Gunnell’s mobility:

“I’m around him a bunch. You guys are the ones that have cast him as a pocket passer. He made some first downs, he got some yards.”

On the status of Khalil Tate and J.J. Taylor:

“I won’t know until we see what happens this week. We don’t practice on Sunday. The first time that we’ll see the players, as coaches … (is) at a 3:30 team meeting, and then we’ll be on the field tonight. Right now there’s no change in the status for either one.”

On if there’s an advantage to having an opponent uncertain about which QB will start:

“The guys that are playing are so different on paper, as far as the style of quarterbacks. You’re preparing for a couple different guys. One of them is going to run out there on Saturday. Now there’s video on both of them, so I don’t know if there’s much of an advantage either way.”

On how much the offensive game plan has to change depending on which QB plays:

“I would rather not tell (Colorado coach) Mel Tucker what that is. He’s a pretty good coach, he can recognize that there’s a difference between both guys. We saw some different things Saturday night, particularly early, against Grant. Everybody who plays Madden … you run a true freshman out there you start blitzing, all sorts of exotic blitzes that we hadn’t seen.”

On how to evaluate Tate’s injury and health:

“We talk all the time. We talked last week. Our medical staff, our training staff are with him daily. In some ways, because he’s been through this before, he kind of has a good feel for where he is. He wanted to play in the worst way, that’s two years in a row he’s missed UCLA, which is right down the street from where he grew up. He tried like crazy and he wasn’t right, and like I said before we’re not going to put him or J.J. or any player in harm’s way. Particularly when you have lower leg issues … things like that. Let’s be honest, those two guys, that’s how they thrive. Luckily we had a bye week to get other guys ready.”

On why Jalen Harris wasn’t on the field during UCLA’s final possessions:

“UCLA went into a situation where they were not substituting. If you watched the whole game we’d been able to roll the D-line quite consistently. If they substitute we have the right to match. We were rolling three D-linemen at a time, sometimes four. They went into a two-minute mode at the end of the game and did not substitute coming down the field. We need him out there in that situation.”

On how the defensive line is performing:

“I think it’s a lot different than last year when we had guys playing 75, 80 plays and getting worn down. We’ve got to get these guys in the game and keep these guys fresh; 295-pound guys can’t be playing 80, 90 plays a game. That rotation, for the last couple of weeks, has really helped us down the stretch and in the fourth quarter.”

On why the fourth quarter has gone so well the last two games, outscoring opponents 22-0:

“Our guys believe in each other. (Strength) coach (Brian) Johnson’s done a nice job in conditioning. The last couple weeks we’ve seen other guys kinda flopping around on the field in the fourth quarter. Our guys have not been, for whatever reason, and you’ve got to attribute that to a couple things. We’re in pretty good physical condition, that showed the last couple of weeks, and it showed early (in the second half) against Hawaii but it wasn’t enough. I also think the coaching staff has made some nice adjustments. You don’t get those numbers in the fourth quarter without conditioning, and mental toughness out of our team, and then some adjustments have been made on the sideline or from upstairs with what we’re doing. We know our team a little bit better now, there’s different personnel out there. And then the communication on the sideline has really, really improved. It’s a combination of all those things. That’s how you win close games.”

On Colorado:

“They’re playing with a lot of energy. Mel Tucker is an excellent football coach, whether it’s been in the NFL or his time at a lot of places. Alabama, Georgia, you can see the toughness in his team, it’s a reflection of its head coach. They’ve been in close games and they’ve battled. They’ve got playmakers all over the place. You start talking about (wide receiver Laviska) Shenault, whether he plays or not, he didn’t play against us last year, he’s one of—if not the best players—in this league. (Steven) Montez is an experienced quarterback, who’s mobile, he’s got a bunch of weapons. The last couple of weeks (receiver) Tony Brown has been exceptional. They’re doing a nice job offensively. Defensively, their Mike linebacker (junior Nate Landman)… you watch him, it’s a lot like watching (Colin) Schooler. It will be a real test for us. This is another great return team, kickoff return team. They’ve got explosive players back there. They haven’t missed a field goal, their punter is averaging 45 (yards) and they have explosive return yards. Again, we’re going to have be on top of our game, special teams-wise, like we were last Saturday night.”

On why he doesn’t let true freshmen speak to the media:

“Every place I’ve been, we do some professional media training for these young guys so that when they present themselves publicly it presents the right message for themselves and the university. How they articulate what’s on their mind and how they do things becomes important because it’s there forever. Once it’s out there it’s out there, I’ve been doing this 30-something years and I still screw this up.”

On having 10 or more penalties in three of four games:

“We are working on that. There are some things that we can do. We’re not a good enough football team to just give away yardage like that. You saw some guys that were in those situations that had left the game, not because officials have taken them out but we’ve taken them out. Obviously I haven’t done a good enough job with that.”

On WR/PR Brian Casteel, who had a TD catch called back against UCLA:

“He’s shown us that since I’ve been here. He’s a thick guy, got a running back kind of body, but he’s got some explosive power and he can run. He’s doing a nice job. We like to get it to him as many times as we can.”

On California’s Fair Pay to Play law, which was signed on Monday:

“I don’t really have any thoughts on that right now. There’s so much going on with that, so many blatant statements right now, I really don’t have a comment. When’s that go into effect, (2023)? I think there’s going to be a lot of different changes before 2023 with this whole thing, they’ve been talking about it for a while. I’ll answer that in 2023.”

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Khalil Tate and J.J. Taylor’s status uncertain for Colorado game

Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona Wildcats coach Kevin Sumlin had no update on the status of quarterback Khalil Tate and running back J.J. Taylor for the Colorado game when asked about it Monday at his weekly presser.

Tate (ankle, hamstring) and Taylor (ankle) were held out of Saturday’s win vs. UCLA.

“I won’t know until we see what happens this week,” Sumlin said. “We don’t practice on Sunday and we’ll have treatment. So the first time we’ll see the players really...in a formal setting will be this afternoon at a 3:30 team meeting, and then we’ll be on the field at night. So right now there’s really no update for either of them.”

Sumlin said he is in constant communication with Tate about his well being.

“Our medical staff, our training staff are with him daily,” Sumlin said. “In some ways because he’s been through this before, he kinda has a good feel for where he is. The whole deal last week was he wanted to play in the worst way. That’s two years in a row he’s missed UCLA, which is right down the street from where he grew up. So he tried like crazy and then it just wasn’t right. And as I said before, we’re not going to put him or J.J. or any player in this program in harm’s way—particularly guys who have lower leg issues, ankle, knees, things like that. And let’s be honest those two guys, that’s how they thrive. By changing direction, by running .... so for those guys it’s important for them to be healthy.”

Grant Gunnell made his first career start in Tate’s place, and was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week after completing 29 of 44 passes for 352 yards and a touchdown. (Sumlin’s evaluation of his performance can be read here.)

Sumlin said he is not sure if it is a competitive advantage to have Colorado guessing which quarterback the Wildcats will starter, and declined to go into detail when asked how his game planning changes when Gunnell is the starter as opposed to Tate.

“The guys that are playing are so different on paper as styles of quarterbacks, so the fact that you’re preparing for a couple different guys, that’s part of it,” he said. “One of them’s going to run out there Saturday and now there’s video on both of them, so I don’t know if there’s much of an advantage either way right now.

“[Colorado coach Mel Tucker] can recognize there’s a difference between both guys and obviously we saw some different things Saturday night, particularly early against Grant. ... All kinds of exotic blitzes, things we haven’t seen. Dropping linemen, bringing corner blitzes, things like that to get him rattled. To your point, he had to get rid of the ball quickly a bunch of times, but I don’t know that that changes things.”

While it was reported close to game time that Tate and Taylor would be out against UCLA, the Wildcats knew all week that there was a strong possibility that both would be inactive.

Sumlin credited Gunnell and running back Bam Smith, who logged 134 yards (99 receiving, 35 rushing) in Taylor’s stead, for being prepared when their number was called.

“What you saw is Grant and Bam (Smith) understand their preparation was a little bit extra,” Sumlin said.

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Arizona QB Grant Gunnell named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week

Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

As far as first starts go, it doesn’t get much better than this.

Arizona Wildcats quarterback Grant Gunnell was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week on Monday after leading UA to a 20-17 win over the UCLA Bruins on Saturday.

Filling in for the injured Khalil Tate, Gunnell competed 29 of 44 passes for 352 yards and a touchdown, including a fourth quarter in which he went 8 for 8.

“There were plays that he missed, but I thought he got better as the game went on. The fact that we didn’t give the other team the ball, didn’t turn the ball over. As a true freshman that’s a big deal,” Arizona coach Kevin Sumlin said Monday at his weekly presser.

“He was a little high with some things, overcompensated, and rushed some things. That’s first-game (nerves). He’s got talent, he’s a winner, he’s gonna be just fine. Just a young guy and...how he operated and the mechanics and communication during the game, I thought he did a very good job. ... A lot of times you get guys in there and they’re missing signals or delay of game or the clock’s running down and they’re panicking. Game-operation-wise he did a nice job as a freshman.”

While the news of Tate’s absence was surprising to fans and media, Gunnell knew well in advance that he would be starting Saturday.

“I think what you saw is Grant and Bam (Smith) understand their preparation was a little bit extra,” Sumlin said, “just because we had time.”

Gunnell could make another start Saturday at Colorado. Sumlin had no update on Tate’s status.

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Arizona set for super late kickoff for next home game vs. Washington

Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

With a three-game win streak and a one-loss opponent, there was at least a small chance Arizona’s next home game could be started before the sun went down.

No such luck. In fact, it will begin later than any other game this season.

Arizona’s Oct. 12 home game—for Family Weekend—against Washington has been tabbed for an 8 p.m. PT start, with Fox Sports 1 taking the broadcast.

Here is the upcoming TV schedule for #Pac12FB!#BackThePac pic.twitter.com/SS1I65NL3c

— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) September 30, 2019

The late kickoff time is due to FS1 and other Fox networks having Major League Baseball playoff coverage, which means it’s possible the game could start even later (or begin airing on a different channel) if the baseball game on FS1 before it runs long.

Arizona (3-1, 1-0 Pac-12) hasn’t played Washington (4-1, 1-1) since 2016, when it lost 35-28 in overtime at home. The Huskies have won five of the last eight meetings, with the Wildcats’ last victory coming in 2014 when they came out on top 27-26 after Washington missed a field goal as time expired.

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Pac-12 Week 5 roundup: ASU knocks off unbeaten Cal, Utah rebounds

Jaime Valdez-USA TODAY Sports

It’s only Week 5 of the college football season, and the Pac-12 is without an undefeated team. The Pac-12 has earned its reputation as the “conference of cannibals” for quite a few years now, but this season appears to have set the mark for most self-destructive year. That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been a hell of a lot of fun in the west this year, including this weekend. Here’s our roundup of the Pac-12 for Week 5.

Arizona State 24, No. 15 California 17

Amazingly, the California Golden Bears entered this weekend as the Pac-12’s last undefeated team. In true Pac-12 fashion, that vanished on a late Friday night, as ASU battled out Cal and took a win back to Tempe.

This game was all one could hope for in a Pac-12 Friday night matchup: it was close, there was plenty of narrative interest, and both teams looked pretty solid. ASU quarterback Jayden Daniels has been one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the country despite being a true freshman. He wasn’t as surgical as usual, but he did lead the Devils to victory, going 14-for-24 for 174 yards. Eno Benjamin didn’t look spectacular either, but he did hit 100 yards and scored the go-ahead touchdown.

The big news for Cal was the loss of starting quarterback Chase Garbers late in the first half. He went down hard on his shoulder on a scramble, and Cal looked different without him. Garbers had just hit his stride as a passer, and backup Devon Modster couldn’t get the same rhythm going. Despite going back and forth the whole game, Cal just didn’t have the firepower to reach 5-0. Neither team’s offense looked great, but both defenses looked solid and both teams have a great 4-1 record at this point in the season.

Cal will likely need Garbers next week against Oregon in Autzen, but it’s unclear what his status will be. ASU has a bye before hosting WSU in Tempe.

No. 17 Washington 28, No. 21 USC 14

The only ranked matchup of the week in the conference of champions ended with a fairly dominant win for the Huskies, as Washington cruised over USC.

Perhaps no other team in the country was under a bigger microscope than the Trojans entering that season. That pressure certainly hasn’t been helped by the fact that USC has had probably the mot interesting season in the country thus far. Two promising young quarterbacks in JT Daniels and Kedon Slovis have gone down with injuries, and USC has had strong wins and weak losses against a fascinating schedule. The Trojans actually looked good against Washington, but three interceptions by third-string Matt Fink doomed them.

Not to be forgotten is Washington’s performance. Jacob Eason wasn’t incredible by any stretch, but he led the Huskies up and down the field consistently, going for 180 yards on 16-for-26 passing. Salvon Ahmed was the real star of the game, going for 154 yards on just 17 carries. Of course, that stat line was helped by the play of a game: an 89-yard explosion that put Washington up three scores.

USC has a bye before finishing up their brutal opening schedule on the road in South Bend. Washington heads to Palo Alto next week to try and beat a reeling Stanford team.

Stanford 31, Oregon State 28

In a battle of the cellar dwellers in the Pac-12 North, OSU and Stanford played a surprisingly fun game that ended with the Cardinal barely surviving Reser Stadium.

Despite the score, and recent history, Oregon State honestly outplayed Stanford at home. Despite OSU’s record, quarterback Jake Luton has looked spectacular this season, and that continued in Corvallis. Luton went 27-for-39 on the night for 337 yards and a score. Luton also led the Beavers to a late comeback. After going down 21-0, the Beavers finished the game with a 28-10 final 16 minutes. Luton and running back Artavis Pierce, who went for 141 yards on merely 16 carries, led the team back, tying the game at 28 with a minute left.

Unfortunately for them, Stanford went on a final drive that won them the game. Backup quarterback Davis Mills was just as strong as Luton, going 18-for-25 for 245 yards and three scores. Stanford’s fourth touchdown of the game also involved Mills, as he received a pass from Colby Parkinson on a Philly Special play. Mills was fine in the passing game, but the Cardinal’s running game was weak, with Cameron Scarlett going for just under 4 yards/play. Nevertheless, Stanford got its second win of the year, and while this season will probably be its worst in a decade, the Cardinal can celebrate for now.

Stanford will have a big game on the Farm next week when they host Washington. OSU goes to the Rose Bowl for what should be an intriguing game against UCLA next Saturday.

No. 19 Utah 38, Washington State 13

Last week may have been one of the most brutal losses in college football history for the Cougars, as they blew a 32-point lead and lost an all-time thriller 67-63 to UCLA. They never had the chance to lose their lead this week, as Utah cruised.

Washington State quarterback had probably the best performance for any quarterback in the country last week, throwing for nine touchdowns in the loss. Against the Utes, Gordon didn’t have his magic back. He still put up a tolerable 30-for-49 mark for 252 yards, but only one touchdown and two interceptions. Wazzu didn’t look great in the first half, but they kept pace, before the Utes slowly but surely squeezed them out of the game in the second half.

On the other hand, the Utes were coming off their own painful loss at USC. Despite missing star running back Zack Moss, quarterback Tyler Huntley did plenty for the Utes to win. He finished with a typically accurate 21-for-30 mark for 334 yards and two scores. Hutnley also added two scores on the ground. The Utes need Moss in order for them to be their best selves who could win the conference, but they showed they’re still a dangerous team without him.

Utah gets a bye before heading to Corvallis, and Washington State also gets a bye before it heads to Tempe.

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Arizona’s players of the game against UCLA

Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Plenty of good to go around

The Arizona Wildcats notched their third win of the season Saturday against the UCLA Bruins.

UA was without their star quarterback Khalil Tate as well as star running back J.J. Taylor, but that didn’t stop the ‘Cats from getting a full team win.

There were some bumps and whatnot, especially with a true freshman QB making is first start, but there was way more good than bad from Saturday’s game.

And with that, let’s look at who the players of the game were from the 20-17 victory over the Bruins.

Offense: QB Grant Gunnell

Game Stats: 29-for-44, 352 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT; 6 car, 0 yds, 0 TD

Gunnell did a great job on Saturday night. He completed 66 percent of his passes, threw for over 350 yards, threw for a touchdown and had no turnovers. He managed the game extremely well and did everything that was asked and required of him.

That is not bad for a true freshman QB starting his first game against conference opponent. You really can’t ask for anything better.

Defense: LBs Colin Schooler/Tony Fields/Anthony Pandy

Game Stats: 30 tackles, 3.0 TFL, 1.0 sack, 2 PBU

The trio of Schooler, Fields and Pandy was borderline unstoppable Saturday night. All three fed off each other and each had their strongest game of the season. I don’t believe there were very many instances in which any combination of the linebackers weren’t around the ball. They were fast, strong tacklers, and disruptive.

Again, you can’t ask for a better performance from the group.

Speical Teams: P Matt Aragon

Game Stats: 5 punts, 237 yards, Long of 70, 47.4 avg

Aragon had the best game of his career. He had shades of Dylan Klumph the way he was able to flip the field. He even had a 70-yard punt....that’s crazy!

This, however, is a fantastic development for Arizona’s punting. Aragon showed he can be the guy when needed and showed that he has grown throughout the season.

I’m not sure what he changed, but keep doing it.

Honorable Mentions

Bam Smith, RB: 6 car, 35 yards, 0 TD; 5 rec, 99 yards, 1 TD

Lucas Havrisik, K: 2-for-3 on field goals, long of 41 yards (way to bounce back)

Cedric Peterson, WR: 3 rec, 44 yards

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Grading the Arizona Wildcats’ performance against UCLA

Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Pretty good way to round out the first quarter of the season

The Arizona Wildcats are on a three-game win streak, advancing to 1-0 in Pac-12 play and winning two games that inspire some hope in Tucson after the shaky start to the season.

This was a very good game by both sides of the ball given the injury situation, and now we’ll take a deeper look at all three phases of the game.

Quarterback: A-

Grant Gunnell’s first career start at Arizona was pretty solid, and it gives the program some hope for the future.

He threw for an impressive 352 yards, completing 29 of his 44 attempts, although the numbers are a bit inflated as the quick pitch jets counted as passing yards. Nonetheless, there were no turnovers, no risky throws, just smart football.

Sure, there were some overthrows, particularly two in the end zone, and a couple of intermediate throws that were off, but all-in-all this was a very sound game for Gunnell in his Pac-12 debut.

With more reps as first-team quarterback, this is a situation you’d feel good about to get to bowl eligibility, and even better about the future of the program. When Khalil Tate is a full-go, things will get interesting for this coaching staff.

Running backs: C+

The offense could not establish the run game, partially due to the pass-heavy start, as well as UCLA’s decision to load the box and force Gunnell to throw.

Darrius Smith led all backs with 35 yards on six carries, which isn’t a bad average, but considering the long runs baked into that and Arizona just wasn’t able to get anything consistent, particularly up the middle.

Taking over the starting role for an injured J.J. Taylor was Gary Brightwell, who ended the day with seven carries for 33 yards, including the go-ahead touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

The former four-star recruit Nathan Tilford opened up with a strong 28-yarder, and finished with three carries and 33 yards.

The running backs value didn’t come from the ground, but from Smith’s ability as a wide receiver, who hauled in five catches for 99 yards a touchdown.

Smith is a really nice back for this offense, and should continue to be a focal point. He has proved to be extremely efficient on his minimal carries, averaging just under eight yards a carry on 23 touches and just over 19 yards per reception, hauling in eight catches.

Wide receivers: B

The receivers did a good job of making it easy for Gunnell to make plays. Arizona ended with seven receivers catching a pass, with five tallying 30 yards or more, which is good for Gunnell to have a variety of options.

Cedric Peterson, Jamarye Joiner and Drew Dixon did their jobs, finding openings in the short-intermediate passing game for Gunnell to throw to. Tayvian Cunningham continues to have his plays designed in the flats for him to giddy up the field.

Brian Casteel was very impressive. A bulk of his touches were jet sweeps, which counted as receiving yards due to the forward toss, but he had flashed some good speed and running ability. If Arizona continues to incorporate the jet I like Casteel owning that role.

My main gripe with the group was with Stanley Berryhill III, who left a good amount of yardage and a first down on the field as he decided to bounce outside rather than cutting up-field.

Overall, it was a balanced showing for receivers, notching 23 catches for 219 yards.

Offensive line: C+

I wasn’t a huge fan of the offense line. They didn’t get much push up the middle and failed to get the run game going. Gunnell had himself a fair amount of time for the most part, but there were definitely some stretches where the pocket was dirty and if Gunnell didn’t get some balls out quickly he would have taken a few more sacks.

Defensive line: B-

It was a rough start for this group but over the course of he game I was very pleased with the pressure and penetration. I thought their pass rush was far better than their run stopping abilities, which was a pleasant surprise.

Dorian Thompson-Robinson was torching Arizona on the group early, and Joshua Kelley had himself a nice day. The edge was a problem for Arizona to contain, and I’m not sure why UCLA didn’t attack the outsides more, but nonetheless I’ll take this performance.

I love having true freshman Kyon Barrs line up at nose guard, and he’s going to be a very good player at Arizona. Trevon Mason continues to thrive as well, which is terrific considering his late arrival to Tucson.

Linebackers: A+

Arizona’s linebackers had themselves a day. All three ended at the top of the tackle ranks, with Colin Schooler, Tony Fields and Anthony Pandy combining for 30 tackles.

Schooler and Fields were fitting gaps perfectly and causing havoc on the inside, Anthony Pandy was coming in off the edge to generate pressure all night.

These three guys were everywhere.

Corners: B+

Lorenzo Burns gave Arizona some good momentum after snagging his third pick of the year. He’s holding his ground far better than I expected him to, especially with all of the raw talent behind him.

Christian Roland-Wallace did not have any freshman-like he had in the first few games, and the hope is that he continues to maintain a prominent role in the rotation.

Jace Whittaker surrendered a few plays, including UCLA’s lone passing touchdown, but when the longest passing play is only 25 yards, that’s a good night for the corners.

Safeties: A

I thought the safeties played a phenomenal game. Nothing got behind them, there was no blown coverage and the group was coming to make hits and knock the ball out of the receivers hands to force incompletions during some big drives.

Scottie Young Jr. was hitting, Christian Young was hitting, Tristan Cooper was hitting. That was a good night for the group.

Special Teams: B+

Matt Aragon averaged 47 yards a punt, largely due to a 70-yarder inflating the average, but there was good improvement in that department.

No kick returns for either team seems to be the nature of the new touchback rule, and Lucas Havrisik’s two field goals were critical for Arizona.

Coaching: A

We all might have our frustrations with the coordinators at times, but this was a great game for both of them.

On offense, I love Noel Mazzone opening the game with two jet sweeps and getting that motion in early and often, switching it up mid game and coming back to use the motion man. He made it simple for Gunnell, played to his strengths and let him get rolling with some quick game.

Mazzone schemed it up nicely. The run game wasn’t working and didn’t really try to force anything, ending with just 23 rushes for the backs. It would have been nice to get more of a balanced play call to start the game but it’s something I can live with.

A questionable run play on 3rd and goal backed up on the 20 yard line after a Josh McCauley hold that would have likely ended the drive with touchdown, and a few situations where he was second and 10 in plus territory and opted for a long ball, putting the offense in a third and 10 situation.

Marcel Yates, credit to you. We thought Texas Tech was kind of a fluke, but he’s come out with two great game plans in back-to-back games that limited two Power Five teams 14 and 17 points.

Now, it’s going to be a different situation when playing on the road and against some better quality quarterbacks, but this was a game that could have easily gotten out of hand after UCLA marched down on their first drive and could have kept gashing Arizona.

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The ups and downs from Arizona’s victory over UCLA

Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Going into the season, it was obvious that the Arizona Wildcats would need a fast start for any hope of reaching a bowl game. After a crippling close loss to Hawaii, those dreams seemed in deep trouble, if not doomed.

Thanks to a scrappy three victories since then, those dreams are back on track.

Beating a volatile UCLA team at home was absolutely necessary for any measure of success this season. Thanks to a vast cast of Wildcats, that’s now happened. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, as it was a very close game. Nevertheless, a win is a win, and Arizona is now 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the Pac-12.

Here are three ups and three downs from the game.

Up: GRANT GUNNELL, QUARTERBACK OF THE FUTURE

There will be no overreactions here. As amazing as it was to watch Gunnell win his first game as a true freshman and look like a player with a bright future, we have to be honest.

Gunnell played like a freshman, pairing laser-like throws with damning mistakes, and this game might not have been close if a few inaccurate throws are thrown better.

Do I care? No. Gunnell is a true freshman who almost nobody saw starting until right before the game, and only did due to injury. On top of that, he was without his best weapon, with J.J. Taylor out with injury as well. Despite those mistakes, he still went 29-for-44 for 352 yards and a touchdown. Nobody would confuse him with Khalil Tate, but Gunnell at least looked a little slippery the few teams he had to run.

Again, Gunnell has a long way to go, and any Saturday where Tate is healthy will probably result in Gunnell on the bench. Nevertheless, he’s 1-0 as a true freshman, and looks like someone Kevin Sumlin can mold into one of the better quarterback in the Pac-12.

Down: General missed opportunities

This category is just for the general stuff that led to this being a close game. I just went over Gunnell’s freshman mistakes, but those were only part of the equation.

The biggest part of that equation, to me, was the failure to grab momentum. Lucas Havrisik missed a field goal on Arizona’s first real drive, and as a result UCLA led for the entire first half as it only needed one touchdown to keep UA at arm’s length. Despite that great performance by the defense, Gunnell clearly was still learning early, and it nearly cost UA.

The second half went better for the offense, but it still was a near disaster. After each of Arizona’s TD drives, one of which was one play and the other of which was 10 plays, Arizona had long drives where the ‘Cats could have stepped on UCLA’s neck. Instead both drives ended with punts. UCLA’s drives after those punts were a touchdown and the game-ending drive that could have sent the game to overtime.

I really feel that Arizona needs to learn how to grab the game when it has the chance if the Wildcats are to be successful this season. They survived this game, but they won’t survive against most of the Pac-12 by skirting by.

Up: Another solid defensive performance

After Arizona’s defense stepped up in a major way for coordinator Marcel Yates against Texas Tech, the question was whether they could stop an offense who had just scored 67 points. The answer: a firm yes.

Arizona’s defense hasn’t been dominant by any stretch, but it has gone from a crippling weakness to a bit of an asset. UCLA still managed 5.2 yards/play against the ‘Cats, but thanks to a similar bout of mistakes that Arizona helped create, Arizona was able to hold the Bruins to 17 points.

If there’s an MVP award for this game, I feel like it would go to cornerback Lorenzo Burns. Burns scored the only takeaway of the game, intercepting Dorian Thompson-Robinson early in the game. That play might have kept UCLA from running out ahead and as a direct result let Arizona survive the game. The pass defense got a bit lucky with a few Bruins dropped passes, but they also looked great in general.

Two great defensive performances in a row against solid offenses is exactly what the doctor ordered for Arizona. Do they have more in them? The answer seems to be another firm yes.

Down: Penalties...again

The Wildcats have been one of the most penalized teams in the nation this season, and it didn’t get any better on Saturday, despite the coaching staff’s emphasis on better discipline.

Against the Bruins, Arizona was penalized 10 times for a total of 74 yards. If there’s a silver lining in that ugly stat, it’s that Arizona’s penalties were often five-yarders, and on offense, meaning they didn’t gift UCLA too many yards. Nevertheless, 10 penalties in any game is borderline inexcusable. It has been a major problem for a long time now though, and that continues to be a glaring flaw.

It takes a lot of penalties to truly change a game from a win to loss. Unfortunately, Arizona has played a lot of close games thus far, and those massive penalty bills will come due someday unless they’re seriously mitigated.

Up: Running back depth

This one is not a surprise at all either, but seeing it on display against UCLA was very encouraging. Despite a bad night on the ground, Arizona still showed that they have athletes besides J.J. Taylor in the backfield.

Gary Brightwell, a longtime backup, was nicked up, going for 4.7 yards/carry on an admittedly small sample size of seven carries, though he did score the winning touchdown.

Youngster Bam Smith has firmly established himself as one of the best skill players, combining rushing 35 yards with 99 receiving yards, including a 75-yard receiving touchdown in which almost no Bruin defenders got within 20 yards of him.

Along with Brightwell and Smith, Nathan Tilford, Michael Wiley and receiver Brian Casteel got a few jet sweeps, with only Tilford contributing meaningful yards (33 of them). Grant Gunnell also had six carries including sacks, and he finished with exactly zero yards. Without their best running back though, Arizona got four running backs involved on a night where they focused on the passing game, and three looked good-to-great. That’s a win.

Down: Uninspiring running game

It was reassuring to see all those running backs get involved, and it was great to see Smith rip off that 75-yard touchdown on a pass. Other than that and Brightwell’s game-winning TD, though...there was almost no electricity on the ground.

The team finished with 99 rushing yards. With 30 carries, that averages to 3.3 yards/carry which usually does not result in a win, especially with a true freshman starting his first game at quarterback. Now, that’s not totally fair, as Sumlin and offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone were clearly very excited to finally have a quarterback who matches their pass-happy system more, and Gunnell delivered. 3.3 yard/carry though, for THIS running back corps, is brutal.

I wouldn’t count on this storyline to continue long, especially if either Tate or Taylor return soon. This running attack is simply too talented. Nevertheless, they could’ve really helped the team against UCLA, and they’ll need that fiery A game to reappear in the eight remaining games.

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Arizona opens as small underdog for Pac-12 road opener at Colorado

Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

The Arizona Wildcats opened Pac-12 play on Saturday night with a 20-17 home win over UCLA, a game in which true freshman quarterback Grant Gunnell made his first career start.

If Gunnell ends up starting for the Wildcats in their next game, it will be at the helm of an underdog.

Arizona (3-1, 1-0) is listed as a 2-point dog for Saturday’s game at Colorado, per Vegas Insider, its first on the road in Pac-12 play and first outside of Tucson since the Week 0 loss at Hawaii on Aug. 24.

The Wildcats are 7-14 all-time against Colorado but have beaten the Buffaloes in six of their last seven meetings, including three straight at Folsom Field in Boulder. That includes the 2017 meeting when Khalil Tate, forced into action for an injured Brandon Dawkins late in the first quarter, ran for an FBS quarterback-record 327 yards.

Tate missed the UCLA game with hamstring and ankle injuries, and his status for the Colorado game is uncertain.

Colorado (3-1, 1-0) is 1-1 at home this season, beating Nebraska by three and losing in overtime to Air Force.

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What we learned from Arizona’s win over UCLA

Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Even with Khalil Tate and J.J. Taylor sidelined with injuries, the Arizona Wildcats downed the UCLA Bruins 20-17 on Saturday at Arizona Stadium.

Arizona improves to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the Pac-12.

Our recap can be found here, Kevin Sumlin’s full postgame comments can be read here, and here are some things we learned:

What the future looks like

For the first time in the Kevin Sumlin era, it was his players—the ones who joined the program when he was the head coach—who led the charge offensively.

It was a promising sight.

True freshman quarterback Grant Gunnell made his first career start and was expectedly inconsistent. He overshot a few fade routes that would have been touchdowns, missed some fairly easy throws across the middle, and got happy feet in the pocket at times, but did an admirable job managing the game by avoiding turnovers and converting key third downs.

Gunnell’s most impressive play was completing a 21-yard, back-shoulder throw to running back Bam Smith on 3rd-and-10 at the UA 5 with under seven minutes to play and a three-point lead.

It did not lead to a score, but it flipped the field and forced UCLA to drive nearly the entire field to get into field-goal range in the final seconds.

It was curious that Arizona had Gunnell throw 44 times (compared to 25 handoffs), but Sumlin attributed that to the Bruins daring them to throw by stacking the box and Gunnell taking what the defense gave him.

“I think this is a great experience,” Sumlin said. “Primetime TV, true freshman starts his first game against a conference opponent, to come out and win in a close game, we got some things to clean up, but obviously he’s got a bright future.”

Smith, a redshirt freshman, was Arizona’s best skilled player, combining for 134 yards (99 receiving, 35 rushing), picking up the slack on a night when J.J. Taylor was out with an injury and Gary Brightwell was “nicked up,” according to Sumlin.

Sumlin is unsure if Tate and Taylor will be able to play next week, so we might get another glimpse at the Gunnell-Smith tandem.

“I have full confidence in Grant. Full,” said linebacker Tony Fields II. “He deals with us in practice everyday and he still somehow, someway makes great plays the way he did tonight.”

The defense overcame a rough start to prove Texas Tech game was no fluke

This game was the defense’s opportunity to prove the mettle it showed against Texas Tech was no fluke.

Early on, it looked like it was. UCLA marched down the field on its first drive, scoring a touchdown after gashing the Wildcats for 85 yards, including 68 on the ground.

Nothing came easy for the Bruins thereon. Arizona was sticky in coverage (seven pass breakups), had a decent pass rush (two sacks) and was fairly stout against the run, holding Joshua Kelly, a very good running back, to 4.7 yards per carry.

It helped that Bruins quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson was inaccurate and UCLA’s receivers made some critical drops, but the Wildcats proved they can make adjustments.

DTR had some big runs early, but was tamed as the game went on after Arizona deployed a spy and some zone coverage.

The Wildcats missed a lot of open-field tackles but were still able to limit chunk plays, with UCLA only having four plays go for 20 or more yards.

Neither Texas Tech nor UCLA are juggernauts, but considering where Arizona was against Hawaii and NAU, its defense has taken obvious steps in the right direction.

Saturday marked the first time Arizona has held a Power-5 under 20 points in consecutive games since 2010.

“Obviously we tackled Tech pretty well, I don’t think we were like that tonight, but I did think...the effort even after the missed tackle from the other guys running to the ball eliminated a lot of big plays,” Sumlin said. “And that’s what the defense is about. You’re gonna miss some. We got to be better tacklers, but all in all I thought the effort from the 10 other guys to get the guy on the ground and not let it be a humongous played was important, and that’s what we have to improve on our defense, and I think we’re doing that.”

Tony Fields II had his best game as a Wildcat

Fields did a little bit of everything in this one, from stopping the run, to pressuring the quarterback, to breaking up passes.

He finished with 10 tackles after recording 14 in the first three games, agreeing it was his best game at Arizona. Sumlin likes the way he and fellow linebackers Colin Schooler and Anthony Pandy are gelling—and competing.

“Against certain sets, we can’t put all three of those guys out there in the field in a covered situation,” Sumlin said. “... And I think they give our team some juice, but they also give each other juice because they know that whoever’s playing good, playing the best, we’re gonna leave those two out there.”

Arizona’s special teams can be a positive difference-maker

Special teams have been a downright disaster at times this season for Arizona, but Saturday was not one of those instances.

Placekicker Lucas Havrisik bounced back from an early 34-yard field goal miss to make 40- and 41-yard field goals. He also boomed all of his kickoffs for touchbacks, preventing UCLA’s potent return game from getting anything going.

The story, though, was punter Matt Aragon, who had five punts for 237 yards, an average of 47.4. Three of his punts were downed inside the 20 and none of them were shanks.

He even booted one for 70 yards. Yeah, it bounced into the end zone for a touchback, but it still resulted in a sizable net gain.

Arizona covered well, allowing just seven punt return yards. So it seemed fitting that the game ended with UCLA missing a 39-yard field goal after Sumlin iced their kicker.

“I wrote down two or three things here, the things that we talked about, how you win close games,” Sumlin said. “We had zero turnovers, right? [Aragon] had five (punts) for 47.4, which we out-punted them. ... And then the big deal was they didn’t get a kickoff return because Lucas (Havrisik) kicked it out every time. And they had two punt returns for 11 yards. They were leading the country. So with the exception of the missed field goal at the beginning of the game, I thought our special teams outperformed theirs and that was a goal coming in this game.”

Penalties are a problem

Even when the Wildcats are playing well they still have very little room for error. Extending their opponents’ drives with penalties or putting themselves in long-yardage situations will be a recipe for disaster most nights.

The Wildcats committed 10 penalties for 74 yards against UCLA, and were lucky it did not cost them a very winnable game since the Bruins are, well, not very good.

Arizona is a player in the Pac-12 South

Utah is still by and large the favorite in the division, but Arizona can claim sole possession of the lead with a win at Colorado next weekend, a team the Wildcats have handled the last three years.

No one expects Arizona to actually win the South, but it at least remains in play after beating UCLA, and that is all you can ask for at this point in the season.

“It feels good to get a win, especially to start conference play, but we have a game on the road next week and based on our past, we don’t really play to our potential on the road, so we’re focused on getting a road win,” Schooler said. “But I loved the way we played tonight.”

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What Kevin Sumlin said after Arizona’s win vs. UCLA

Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Despite being without starting quarterback Khalil Tate and starting running back J.J. Taylor, the Arizona Wildcats topped the UCLA Bruins 20-17 on Saturday at Arizona Stadium.

The Wildcats improve to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the Pac-12, one of three Pac-12 teams unbeaten in conference play.

Our recap can be found here, and here is what head coach Kevin Sumlin had to say after Saturday’s victory:

On why Grant Gunnell started at quarterback instead of Khalil Tate: (Grant has) gotten plenty of reps in the last couple weeks. We had a bye week, right? So Khalil was not able to go the week before. He and J.J. (Taylor) really sat out the bye week and then J.J. just didn’t look good up until Thursday. The way we practice, Thursday is more of a walkthrough then Friday. And then Friday...we’re going full speed. ... Khalil did practice Tuesday, did some 7-on-7, did a little bit more Wednesday, did the walk through Thursday, but yesterday was not a good day. He had a hamstring that was healing up. We ran him in the pool. He’s got an ankle too.

“And to be effective the way he needed to be, we just didn’t think he was going to be able to do that. And fortunately in this situation, Grant and Rhett got all the reps a week ago during the bye week. And then, man, Grant got a lot of reps this week, so we went with those guys.”

On the performance of Grant Gunnell, who went 29 for 44 for 352 yards and a touchdown: “The first thing you look at with a true freshman quarterback is number one, poise. How he handled situations. I thought he was very, very mature how he handled things, how he went about his business. Second thing that’s probably the biggest plus is zero turnovers. ... We talked about at the hotel before we came over, ‘hey, look, it’s not on Grant. It’s on the 10 other guys that are on the field to make him make this thing work tonight. We gotta block, we gotta protect, we gotta hang on to the ball, we gotta fight for every yard, and that’s what they did.

“We struggled early running the ball because they just the loaded box and dared him to throw. So we ran the perimeter, got around early, that was our plan. They stretched it out a little bit, but they were running the linebackers through and basically said, ‘hey, look, young guy, without your two best offensive players we’re not going to just let you guys run the ball and stay back here. We’re going to make him throw it.’ And he missed a couple things, but he managed the game well, not a lot of miscues with delay of games, things like that happen in those pressures situations from a freshman quarterback. So I think this is a great experience. Primetime TV, true freshman starts his first game against a conference opponent, to come out and win in a close game, we got some things to clean up but obviously he’s got a bright future.”

On running back Bam Smith, who had five catches for 99 yards and a 75-yard TD: “He’s a dynamic player. You look at what happened, we had some guys pretty beat up from from two weeks ago. Gary (Brightwell) really didn’t do much the week before, kinda practiced this week, he was a little nicked up. You saw (Michael) Wiley early in the game. We’ve got confidence in our running backs. They’ve all played. (Nathan) Tilford came in early in the game and really is a change of pace back. ... So it was running back by committee, which it’s been this year. But a lot of guys when they say, ‘well, you got four running backs,’ a lot of people say that and don’t have one. We got we got four or five guys that we feel comfortable with playing at any time, in any game and a lot of positions. Whether it’s spread out because they can catch the ball and they can run it. So as we talked about two weeks ago, what we want to do is try to get our best personnel on the field. And obviously our running backs are part of that.”

Sumlin on successfully icing UCLA’s kicker in the final moments: “You don’t get extra timeouts in overtime, right? So you got them in your pocket, I can’t take them home and bring them to the next game. But probably the biggest decision was not to use the last timeout on the next kick. That’s all luck of the draw.”

On Tony Fields and fellow linebackers Colin Schooler and Anthony Pandy: “He’s been playing great. ...Those guys are feeding off each other. And they love playing football. And I think there’s there’s a little competition in that room between those three guys. They play well together, but it gives us some flexibility because I think they know that .... against certain sets, we can’t put all three of those guys out there in the field in a covered situation, like at the end of the game. They got a corner route on us from their hybrid tight end. And I think they know that and so they’re ready to go, and they like playing football and I think they give our team some juice, but they also give each other juice because they know that whoever’s playing good, playing the best, we’re gonna leave those two out there.”

On punter Matt Aragon’s performance: “Yeah, I wrote down two or three things here, the things that we talked about, how you win close games. We had zero turnovers, right. He had five (punts) for 47.4, which we outpunted them. ... And then the big deal was they didn’t get a kickoff return because Lucas (Havrisik) kicked it out every time. And they had two punt returns for 11 yards. They were leading the country.

“So with the exception of the missed field goal at the beginning of the game, I thought our special teams outperformed theirs and that was a goal coming in this game. ... I thought Aragon did what he needed to do. I would have liked to knock one down in there inside the 10, but he flipped the field, gave them some long fields.”

On if he was happy with the open-field tackling: “I don’t know if anyone’s ever satisfied with that. We didn’t wrap up a couple times, hit a couple guys. I was satisfied with the effort to get there. I thought our secondary was extremely aggressive in pass breakups and some really close calls. I mean, guys were on top of people. We only had a couple times where we had (left) guys wide open. So from that standpoint, I thought our coverage was good because they were aggressive at the moment of truth, I call it. The ball’s there and they played it. We’ve gotten better at that than last year, but this game now is a spread game.

“We gotta be able to tackle better. Obviously we tackled Tech pretty well. I don’t think we were like that tonight, but I did think...the effort even after the missed tackle from the other guys running to the ball eliminated a lot of big plays. And that’s what the defense is about. You’re gonna miss some. We got to be better tacklers, but all in all I thought the effort from the 10 other guys to get the guy on the ground and not let it be a humongous played was important, and that’s what we have to improve on our defense, and I think we’re doing that.”

On Tate and Taylor’s health heading into next week: “We don’t know. Don’t know yet. We’ll see what happens on Monday. We don’t practice tomorrow. So we’ll have guys that come in for treatment, get a look at them, we’ll watch this tape and then we’ll assess them as we go next week. So I think the thing that you have now as a team is confidence when you can win a game like that. And going on the road is different with some younger guys, but I think those guys walk away as a team with confidence that you can win conference games. And we’re not going to put those guys in harm’s way with the type of injuries that they have because those guys are explosive players. When you have ankle or leg injuries like that, what you don’t want is for something that just nags on for the whole year.”

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Grant Gunnell, defense propel Arizona past UCLA in Pac-12 opener

Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

On a night when Arizona Wildcats were without two of their biggest offensive weapons, they were going to need others to step up in order to begin Pac-12 play on a high note.

Turns out those heroes weren’t just of the offensive variety, as the Wildcat defense did more than its part in aiding a 20-17 win over the UCLA Bruins on Saturday night in front of 38,283 fans at Arizona Stadium.

True freshman quarterback Grant Gunnell looked solid in his first career start, and Gary Brightwell’s 10-yard touchdown run with 10:51 left in the fourth quarter served as the game-winning score. But it was also the play of veteran defenders like Tony Fields II, Colin Schooler and Lorenzo Burns who had the greatest impact in slowing down a UCLA offense that scored 63 points last week in a shocking comeback win at Washington State.

UCLA, which gained 657 yards overall and 8.76 per play at WSU, managed only 445 yards and 5.2 per play against the Wildcats. The Bruins had 70 on their final drive but had to settle for a potential game-tying 39-yard field goal, which JJ Molson missed wide right with 34 seconds left.

Combined with the 14 points allowed last time out against Texas Tech, Arizona (3-1, 1-0) has given up just 31 points in its last two games. That’s the fewest the Wildcats have yielded in consecutive games since September 2013 when they gave up 26 to UTSA and UNLV.

Gunnell, called on to start after Khalil Tate was ruled out with an apparent hamstring injury, threw for 352 yards on 29-of-44 passing with a 75-yard TD pass to Bam Smith. That score gave Arizona a 13-10 lead with 8:17 left in the third quarter, after UCLA (1-4, 1-1) had extended its 7-6 halftime lead with a 37-yard field goal from Molson.

Gunnell threw 29 times in the first half, with Arizona running just 13 times in the opening 30 minutes as the Wildcats opted to lean on their young passer rather than several rushing options with junior J.J. Taylor out due to an ankle injury.

Gunnell got Arizona into the red zone three times in the first half but only managed two Lucas Havrisik field goals, of 40 and 41 yards, after he missed his first try from 34 yards out.

UCLA led 7-0 after its first possession, going 85 yards in 12 plays after Arizona threw five times before punting. But the Bruins managed only 100 yards the rest of the first half as the Wildcat defense buckled down. That unit forced two turnovers on downs and also got an interception from Burns, his third of the season and ninth for Arizona.

Arizona finished with 451 yards, gaining only 99 on the ground. It was its lowest rushing output since managing 72 in a 42-10 loss at Utah last October, and the 30 carries were their fewest since rushing 26 times against BYU in the 2016 season opener.

The Wildcats hit the road for their first conference game next Saturday at Colorado, where they have won three straight including the 2017 contest in which Tate ran for an FBS quarterback-record 327 yards.

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Arizona volleyballs fall to USC in close 4-setter

Photo by Jacob Snow/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The Wildcats have a beter effort against the Women of Troy than they did against the Sun Devils, but it ends with the same result.

On Thursday night, the Arizona Wildcats couldn’t reach 20 points in any set against ASU. Afterwards, head coach Dave Rubio said that they needed to do some soul-searching. Apparently, that happened, because the Wildcats were able to break that streak of futility against USC.

It wasn’t enough to keep them from falling to 0-2 in Pac-12 play, though. The Women of Troy took the Saturdy night match against the Wildcats by a score of 3-1 (25-21, 14-25, 25-22, 25-22).

The stats told the story of a hard-fought contest. Both teams had 22 kills for the night with USC outhitting Arizona .231 to .213. The Wildcats led in assists 48-44. Both teams had 4 aces, while Arizona had 11 service errors to 12 by USC. Digs went 56-53 in the Wildcats’ favor, while USC won the battle on the block 22-15 and both teams had 4 blocking errors. The Wildcats put up 66 points to USC’s 65.

In the end, the Women of Troy won the big points in the three close sets, though. The Wildcats racked up a lot of stats in an uncompetitive set two, and had an uninspiring fourth set that kept them from getting to the crucial 15-point fifth.

Devyn Cross led the Wildcats’ offense with 15 kills on .522 hitting. The middle blocker also had 3 blocks—two of them solo—and led the team with 17.5 points.

Paige Whipple also cracked double digits in kills with 12, but only hit .171. She added a block, an ace and 7 digs, notching 13.5 points on the night.

Elizabeth Shelton had a night that moved USC’s commentary crew to ask why she wasn’t being used more. The redshirt junior had 9 kills on a .368 hitting percentage. She threw in an assisted block for 9.5 points.

Julia Patterson went for yet another double-double with 43 assists and 10 digs. Three blocks (2 solo, 1 assist) and 2 kills gave her 4.5 points for the match.

Freshman libero Kamaile Hiapo had 15 digs on 24 receptions with only 1 reception error, but she also left the match with an apparent injury. In the fourth set, HIapo attempted to dig a ball from Khalia Lanier and ended up grabbing the back of her leg. She did not return.

Information about the nature and seriousness of Hiapo’s injury were not immediately available. With senior libero Makenna Martin still recovering from her own leg injury, the Wildcats may be looking to Emi Pua’a next week.

The first set was tight until 9-9, then the Women of Troy started to pull away. A 4-0 run allowed USC some breathing room which it never relinquished.

USC had its largest lead at 22-16, but Arizona fought to get back in the set. The Wildcats were able to shave off three points of the lead, but couldn’t entirely climb out of the hole they had dug for themselves. After staving off one set point, Arizona couldn’t overcome the second one.

From a statistical point of view, it was a tight set. Both teams hit over .300 with Arizona going for .324 and USC hitting .406. The Women of Troy had a 17-15 advantage in kills. Arizona led in blocks 2-1, and USC had the only ace in the set.

The second set was no contest. It was all Arizona from the first serve.

After hitting over .400 in the first set, USC bottomed out in the second. The Women of Troy’s hitting for the match had dropped to .188 by the time the Wildcats had tied it up at a set apiece. For the set, Arizona hit .333 and USC had a .000 percentage.

The Women of Troy were done in by their errors in set two. They had as many hitting errors (10) as they had kills. Meanwhile, the Wildcats outpaced their own errors by 10, notching 13 kills to just 3 errors in the set. Arizona also outdid USC on the block, putting up 5 blocks to just 1 by the opponent.

USC came back in a tight third set. The Women of Troy were able to gain a one-point lead several times, but couldn’t extend it beyond that until they went up 11-9. The Wildcats came back to take the lead at 16-15, but couldn’t maintain it. There would be two more ties, but Arizona couldn’t get its nose in front, and USC took the set 25-22.

At the beginning of the fourth, it looked like Arizona was going to do what they did in the second set. The Wildcats rushed out to a 6-2 lead before USC coach Brent Crouch was forced to call a timeout.

Arizona extended the lead to 7-2 after the break, but USC was finally able to get things together. A 7-0 run gave the Women of Troy a 9-7 lead.

Errors were a problem for Arizona against ASU on Thursday night, and they cropped up again in sets three and four against USC. After only committing a total of 7 attack errors in the first two sets, the Wildcats had 7 in the third set and 8 in the fourth.

Four Arizona attack errors in a row allowed USC to tie the fourth set at 7-7. Two more kept the Wildcats from tying things up later in the set.

Arizona was able to tie it up at 10 and again at 11, but USC never fell behind. The Women of Troy built their lead to 5 points on two occasions, the final one at 23-18. Arizona was able to score three straight to make it a two-point game, but USC closed it out with a 2-1 advantage down the stretch.

The Wildcats fall to 10-4 on the season and 0-2 in Pac-12 play, while the Women of Troy improve to 7-5 and 1-1 in conference. Arizona will try to break their two-match losing streak when they host Utah and Colorado next week at McKale Center. Matches will be at 6 p.m. MST on Friday, Oct. 4 and 12 p.m. MST on Sunday, Oct. 6.

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Arizona vs. UCLA game thread

Photo by Victor Decolongon/Getty Images

It’s game day!

The Arizona Wildcats are back in action after a second bye week, hosting the UCLA Bruins to open Pac-12 Conference play. This is the start of six consecutive games, the longest stretch without a break this season.

UCLA (1-3, 0-1) is coming off a massive comeback win at Washington State last week, rallying from down 32 points to triumph 67-63. The Bruins are 4-9 under second-year coach Chip Kelly, with one of those victories the 31-30 win over Arizona last year at the Rose Bowl.

Here’s everything you need to know to watch the Wildcats’ first game of the Pac-12 slate:

Arizona-UCLA game time, details:

Date: Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019

Time: 7:30 p.m. MST

Location: Arizona Stadium, Tucson, Arizona

Line: Arizona -6.5

Which TV channel is Arizona-UCLA on?

Arizona-UCLA will be televised on ESPN.

How can I watch Arizona-UCLA online?

The stream of Arizona-UCLA can be viewed on ESPN3.com.

How can I listen to Arizona-UCLA on the radio?

You can listen to Arizona-UCLA on the Arizona IMG Sports Network.

Arizona-UCLA pre-game coverage:

• Arizona-UCLA score predictions
• Arizona has opportunity to earn believers Saturday against UCLA
• What Arizona players are saying about the UCLA game
• Arizona’s third down efficiency among best in college football
• How did Arizona football’s recruits fare in Week 5?
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Arizona QB Khalil Tate, RB J.J. Taylor out for UCLA game, per reports

Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Grant Gunnell is likely to start at QB

The Arizona Wildcats are rumored to be without starting quarterback Khalil Tate and starting running back J.J. Taylor for Saturday’s Pac-12 opener against the UCLA Bruins.

Tate got nicked up late against Texas Tech a couple weeks ago, but finished the game. Taylor exited in the third quarter after being wrapped up and did not return.

The TV dudes in the Arizona Stadium booth are saying that Tate and JJ Taylor are out tonight against UCLA. They probably know more than I do, so I'll go with them on this one.

— Christopher Boan (@cgboan) September 29, 2019

Hearing Khalil Tate is out tonight

— Jason Barr KGUN (@JasonBarrTV) September 29, 2019

The rumor in the press box at Arizona Stadium is that Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate and running back J.J. Taylor are doubtful to play against #UCLA tonight.

— Bruin Report Online (@BruinReport) September 29, 2019

I'm hearing #Arizona QB Khalil Tate is doubtful to play tonight against #UCLA. He pulled his hamstring vs Texas Tech, per source and has been also dealing with an ankle injury. Is expected to test it in pregame. https://t.co/0Ply6lwG8Q

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) September 29, 2019

Khalil Tate is wearing sweats, playing catch in the end zone. Others are wearing game pants and warmup vests.

— Michael Lev (@MichaelJLev) September 29, 2019

True freshman Grant Gunnell will likely start at quarterback for the Wildcats, his second major action at the collegiate level. The 6-foot-5 gunslinger went 9 for 11 for 151 yards and three touchdowns against Northern Arizona in Week 2.

Gunnell was a three-star recruit coming out of St. Pius X High School in Houston, Texas where he broke state records for career passing yards and passing touchdowns.

While Tate is a dual-threat quarterback, Gunnell is pro-style quarterback and a more conventional fit in Noel Mazzone’s offense.

As far as Taylor, the Wildcats have a healthy stable of running backs waiting in the wings to replace him, starting with junior Gary Brightwell who is actually the team’s leading rusher with 226 yards on 8.7 yards per carry.

Arizona coach Kevin Sumlin alluded Monday that Taylor’s status was in doubt, saying that was inactive during the bye week.

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