Arizona defeated Hawaii 47-28 Saturday night at Arizona Stadium. Here are some pertinent notes, quotes and statistics:
NOTES
* Arizona suffered several injuries throughout the game. Coach Rich Rodriguez did not get into specifics, but players worth monitoring this week include RB Nick Wilson, OG Jacob Alsadek, OT Gerhard de Beer, NT Parker Zellers, LB DeAndre’ Miller and CB Dane Cruikshank.
* Safety Tellas Jones (ankle) missed his second straight game but did dress and participate in warmups, increasing the chances he could return next week.
* Brandon Dawkins is the first Arizona quarterback to rush for three touchdowns in a game since B.J. Denker accomplished the feat against Cal in November 2013.
* Freshman J.J. Taylor’s 168 rushing yards were the most by an Arizona player since Wilson rushed for 183 against Nevada in Arizona’s second game of 2015.
* Freshman receiver DeVaughn Cooper recorded the first catch of his career in the first quarter, gaining 15 yards.
* In two starts, Dawkins has attempted 50 passes without an interception; Anu Solomon threw two in 30 attempts against BYU in Week 1.
* Miller recorded Arizona’s lone sack of the night, extending the UA’s streak to 14 games in a row with at least one sack.
* Sophomore receiver Shun Brown posted career highs with five catches and 92 yards. He also scored a 56-yard touchdown.
QUOTES
Rodriguez on injuries starting to pile up entering Pac-12 play vs. Washington: “Every time I turned around, there’s four or five guys injured, four or five guys in there that had to play different roles. It was like a MASH unit. But we’ll take the win and know that we have a huge challenge in front of us.”
Rodriguez on the defense’s struggles, including penalties, in the second half: “Defensively, in the first half we played OK. The second half was awful. The penalties were really embarrassing. We have to fix that. … There’s no excuse. None. Zero. I thought we played undisciplined.”
Rodriguez on the 5-foot-6, 170-pound Taylor: “He’s short but not small. Look at him. He’s put together. He’s strong. He was a tremendous high school player. Sometimes we get caught up in measurable. But if you want to find a guy that’ll be a really good player in college, find a guy that’s a really good player in high school. And that’s what he was.”
Dawkins on his improvement: "Just like I always preach, the more reps I get, the better I get. Just gotta take every rep and learn from it. I definitely did that this week, going off last week’s game, and I got to finally showcase that a little bit.”
Taylor on whether his preparation changed for an increased workload: “It didn’t affect me at all, because as a football player you have to be prepared for anything. That’s my job, so that’s what I did.”
Freshman safety Tristan Cooper on his second-half late-hit penalty: "That was all on me. My head wasn’t there. I got a little mad. I shouldn’t have done it.”
STATS
* Arizona notched season highs in rushing yards (347) and total yards (582).
* Dawkins completed 76.2 percent of his passes (16 of 21). His career mark entering Saturday was 52.2.
* Arizona had 11 penalties for 105 yards; Hawaii had 12 for 95.
* Arizona averaged 8.3 yards per play, Hawaii 5.3.
* Arizona won despite converting only 4 of 11 third downs and allowing Hawaii to score touchdowns on all four of its trips into the red zone.
* Josh Pollack made 2 of 2 FG attempts and averaged 46.2 yards on four punts.
* Cooper, in his first career start, had a team-high eight solo tackles.
* Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles recorded an interception for the second straight game.
