Arizona loses its fourth straight as Wildcats fall to Oregon State 56-38

They rallied. They kept fighting. They made it close.

It wasn’t enough.

The Arizona Wildcats lost their fourth straight game Saturday afternoon, falling to Oregon State 56-38 in front of an announced crowd of 36,939 at Arizona Stadium.

The Wildcats fell to 4-5, 2-4 in the Pac-12 entering a bye next week. The Beavers improved to 4-4, 3-2.

Playing under new coordinator Chuck Cecil for the first time, Arizona’s defense had a miserable first half. The Wildcats allowed 385 yards and trailed 35-19 at the break.

Oregon State expanded its lead to 42-19 early in the third quarter. Arizona cut the deficit to 42-31 on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Grant Gunnell to Cedric Peterson and a 10-yard TD run by Gary Brightwell.

The Wildcats had a chance to make it a one-score game, but Lucas Havrisik missed a 39-yard field-goal attempt. He earlier missed an extra-point try. Arizona also went 0 for 2 on two-point attempts.

Jake Luton’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Hodgins expanded OSU’s lead to 49-31. The drive was extended by a roughing-the-passer penalty on Colin Schooler.

Gunnell played almost the entire second half, replacing starter Khalil Tate after the offense went three-and-out on the first series after intermission.

Gunnell led all five UA touchdown drives. He finished 19 of 29 for 269 yards and two touchdowns.

J.J. Taylor had 78 rushing yards and two touchdowns, plus a career-high 89 receiving yards.

Luton was 20 of 26 for 328 yards and three touchdowns. Tailbacks Artavis Pierce and Jermar Jefferson each went over 100 yards. Hodgins had seven catches for 150 yards and two TDs.

Oregon State had 572 total yards. Arizona allowed 40-plus points for the fourth straight game.

HALFTIME UPDATE:

They wore throwback uniforms. They changed defensive coordinators.

None of it has helped, at least so far.

Arizona trails Oregon State 35-19 at halftime of their game Saturday afternoon at Arizona Stadium.

The Beavers had the ball six times and scored five touchdowns, including a seven-play, 92-yard march in the final minute of the half.

Jake Luton has completed 13 of 19 passes for 244 yards and two touchdowns. Oregon State has 385 total yards.

Clearly, this was not the result Kevin Sumlin was seeking when he fired DC Marcel Yates and promoted Chuck Cecil.

Arizona moved the ball but bogged down a handful of times in a game where it might need to score on every possession in the second half to have a chance.

Khalil Tate is 7 of 11 for 109 yards. Grant Gunnell, who entered on the third offensive series, is 3 of 4 for 56 yards and a touchdown.

OSU victimized the Cecil-led defense on the opening series. The Beavers drove 75 yards in nine plays. Luton’s 21-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Hodgins gave Oregon State a 7-0 lead. Luton’s 23-yard pass to Champ Flemings converted a third-and-6.

Arizona responded with a scoring drive of its own but had to settle for a field goal after a holding penalty wiped out a J.J. Taylor TD run. Two plays earlier, the Wildcats lost two offensive linemen – center Josh McCauley (knee) and guard Bryson Cain (ankle). Cain was starting for the injured Cody Creason, who isn’t dressed.

After the UA defense forced a three-and-out, another promising UA drive ended in a field goal. Tate’s 41-yard pass to Tavian Cunningham advanced the ball to the OSU 13. The drive stalled at the 10. Lucas Havrisik’s 27-yard field goal made it 7-6.

OSU scored again on Jermar Jefferson’s 1-yard TD run to make it 14-6. Gunnell entered at this point, following the same pattern as the Stanford game last week. He promptly led a touchdown drive. The score came on a swing pass to Gary Brightwell, who made a defender miss and raced 38 yards down the right sideline.

Sumlin elected to go for two, and the attempt failed, leaving the score at 14-12.

Another TD run by Jefferson, this one from 5 yards, boosted the Beavers’ lead to 21-12. Arizona answered with a penalty-aided scoring drive that ended with Taylor’s 3-yard TD run.

Two more OSU touchdowns gave the Beavers a 16-point lead at the break.