Almost everything was in place for the Arizona Wildcats to turn their season around.
Veteran quarterbacks Brandon Dawkins and Anu Solomon were back from injury. Samajie Grant was willing and able to fill the void at running back. A bye week gave the UA a chance to heal up, regroup and refresh.
But when the Wildcats were staring at a 17-point deficit late in the third quarter against Stanford on Saturday night, it was basically the same old story.
With Dawkins and Solomon unable to ignite the offense – and the defense unable to contain Christian McCaffrey — the Wildcats fell to the Cardinal 34-10 in front of an announced crowd of 46,740 at Arizona Stadium.
The loss was Arizona’s fifth in a row and dropped the Wildcats to 2-6, 0-5 in Pac-12 play. Arizona would need to win its remaining four games to qualify for a postseason bowl. The Wildcats have shown no signs of being capable of such a run.
Coach Rich Rodriguez didn’t talk to the team afterward about bowl games or any other long-term goals. He just wants to make sure they all care as much as he and some others do.
“I’ve got a lot of guys in that locker room that really give a crap about what we’re doing,” Rodriguez said. “There’s guys like Parker Zellers and Samajie Grant, every play is like their final play – they play so hard. We have a lot of guys like that. I just need everybody, whether they’re playing or watching on the sideline, to have that same attitude. I have a lot more than I don’t. I just need 100 percent of that.
“The guys will work hard. They care about each other. They care about this program. Everybody on the staff and everybody in this building cares about the program.
“It’s a little tough right now. But we’ll bounce back. We’ve just got to regroup.”
Stanford ended a three-game skid in conference play, improving to 5-3 overall, 3-3 in the Pac-12. The Cardinal’s 34 points represented a season high. Stanford hadn’t scored more than 17 in any of its previous four games.
Dawkins returned to the starting lineup after missing Arizona’s previous game against USC on Oct. 15 because of a concussion. He wasn’t particularly effective, completing only 5 of 15 passes for 116 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Dawkins also rushed for a team-high 65 yards.
The Wildcats’ first three drives netted only 24 yards. They advanced 40 yards on their fourth possession but turned the ball over on downs.
By the time Dawkins hit Trey Griffey for a 38-yard touchdown with 3:40 left in the first half, Arizona was trying to overcome a double-figure deficit. The TD made it 14-7.
Stanford bumped the lead to 17-7 just before halftime. The Cardinal was well within striking distance if the Wildcats could get anything going offensively.
They couldn’t. With Dawkins still at quarterback, Arizona went three-and-out on its first possession of the second half. After a Stanford punt, the UA got the ball back – and Rodriguez inserted Solomon.
Rodriguez said he planned to play Solomon, who had been out since the Sept. 3 opener because of a knee injury, at some point. When he entered the game, the Wildcats were desperate for a spark.
The ploy didn’t work. Solomon played five snaps. Three resulted in incomplete passes thrown out of bounds. Another ended in a sack. The final one was a fumbled exchange with Grant, who was making his first career start at running back.
The fumble, recovered by Cardinal linebacker Mike Tyler, set up Stanford at the UA 23-yard line. Three plays later, McCaffrey plowed in from the 6 to make it 27-7 with 4:36 left in the third quarter.
The Arizona defense played respectably in a game in which the offense provided little support. But if the game plan was to contain McCaffrey, the Wildcats didn’t execute it.
After being held in check in the first quarter, McCaffrey ripped off a 45-yard run to give the Cardinal a 7-0 lead 39 seconds into the second. He then took advantage of a coverage bust to score on an 18-yard pass from first-time starter Keller Chryst. The Wildcats inexplicably left McCaffrey uncovered in the right flat after a play-action fake.
McCaffrey got back on track after injuries and Stanford’s offensive woes derailed his Heisman Trophy campaign. McCaffrey rushed for 169 yards, caught four passes for 27 yards and scored three touchdowns.
Even when Arizona did something right, it ended up wrong.
After the Dawkins-to-Griffey touchdown, Dane Cruikshank intercepted an under-pressure Chryst on the next possession. It was Arizona’s first takeaway since the Washington game Sept. 24.
But after returning the ball 3 yards to the Stanford 36, Cruikshank got hit by Cardinal lineman Nate Herbig and fumbled. Stanford’s Chris Harrell scooped up the ball and rumbled 15 yards to the Arizona 49. First-and-10, Cardinal.
Stanford advanced 21 yards to set up Conrad Ukropina’s 45-yard field goal with 20 seconds left in the half.
The Cardinal’s lead only grew from there. So did the Wildcats’ frustration.
“Losing sucks obviously,” UA guard Jacob Alsadek said. “I don’t think any of us are happy with losing. We still have a chance to win, make a bowl game, stuff like that. We just have to take it one game at a time right now. I think that’s super-important for us. We’ve just got to care. I think we do care.
“We hate losing. You come into the locker room, you’ve got people crying. This is what we live for. We live to play football. We’re all here to get a degree and play football. I don’t know how else to put it.”
