The Arizona Wildcats lost to USC 24-20 on Saturday night at Arizona Stadium. Here are some pertinent notes, quotes and statistics:
NOTES
- Arizona lost to USC for the sixth straight time. It was the 10th time in the past 12 meetings that the margin was eight points or fewer.
- The Trojans rushed for a season-high 253 yards. They have topped 200 in each of the past six victories over the Wildcats.
- Arizona had 98 net rushing yards. It was the first time the Wildcats have been held under 100 since Nov. 7, 2015, against USC.
- USC outgained Arizona 281-116 in the first half. The Wildcats outgained the Trojans 214-169 in the second.
- Arizona’s three fumble recoveries were its first of the season, and its three takeaways were a season high.
- Arizona has seven sacks in its past three games after failing to record one in the first two games.
- USC converted only 31.3 percent of its first downs, the lowest percentage allowed by Arizona’s defense this season.
- USC’s 18 penalties for 169 yards were the most ever by an Arizona opponent.
- Arizona fell to 0-3 this season and 0-6 all time in games in which Khalil Tate has attempted more than 20 passes. His completion rate in those games is 52 percent.
- Redshirt freshman Stanley Berryhill III scored his first career touchdown on a 33-yard pass from Tate in the third quarter.
- Starting left tackle Layth Friekh had trouble moving laterally during pregame, UA coach Kevin Sumlin said. Friekh had to come out of the game in the second half.
QUOTES
Sumlin on whether he’s frustrated that Tate isn’t running more: “I’m not frustrated, no. It’s easy to second-guess. It’s easy to do a lot of things when you’re sitting there watching. I get it. But he ran more tonight than he’s run all year.”
Tate on why Arizona lost: “We didn’t play hard all four quarters. We started playing hard, but it didn’t come until the second half, the fourth quarter to be exact. In order to beat a good team, or a team that’s halfway decent, we just have to play all four quarters.”
LB Colin Schooler on Arizona not playing with energy for four quarters: “I’ll put that on me as leader on this team. It’s our job and my job to make sure everybody’s engaged. That’s my fault. Blame me.”
Sumlin on the energy level: "I thought our energy level to start the game was excellent. The middle of the game, it’s hard to have that energy level when you’re not moving the football offensively. We had our opportunities. It’s a different type of ballgame because of all the stoppages. Television, penalties – you name it, it happened.
“All that being said, we didn’t play very well. But really, after that first drive of the second half, our defense did a pretty nice job the rest of the game. We forced some three-and-outs and had some fourth-down stops. We forced three turnovers. You don’t do that with poor energy level, particularly in the situation we were in, being down 24-7.”
WR Tony Ellison on USC’s penalties: “We knew coming into it that they were going to be scrappy and undisciplined. We still had some mistakes on our side. We’ve got to clean that up this week.”
Sumlin on Arizona’s special teams: “We’ve got to find some consistency. Sometimes when you get a kick blocked … it’s not always the line. I have to see how low that kick was. We’ve struggled. Just like anything else, we’ve got to assess that whole unit and that position, whether that’s a personnel change, whatever that is.”
USC coach Clay Helton on his team’s plethora of penalties: “It was frustrating the whole way through. I thought was a hard being backed up, and then all of a sudden you look up (and) it’s first-and-15 or first-and-20. There were a lot of yellow flags on both sides for both teams. It was one of those nights.”
STATS
- Arizona had 20 first downs, six via penalty. USC had 18 first downs, two via penalty.
- Arizona had 330 total yards and averaged 4.7 yards per play. USC had 450 total yards and averaged 6.3 yards per play.
- Arizona possessed the ball for 27 minutes, 9 seconds. USC had it for 32:51.
- Arizona’s average starting field position was its 28-yard line. USC’s was its 30.
- USC’s Aca’Cedric Ware rushed for 173 yards and two touchdowns.
- Arizona’s Shun Brown caught five passes for 81 yards.
- Schooler had 13 tackles, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
- Kylan Wilborn and PJ Johnson each had one sack. Wilborn had a forced fumble, Johnson a fumble recovery.
