Arizona football: Beaut of an upset

It didn’t take long for the ZonaZoo to make its way from the top to the bottom of its bleachers, at the edge of the student section, separated from the field only by a tall wall in front of them.

It was fourth down for 10th-ranked Utah, in double overtime, and the Wildcats just needed a stop to win the game, to upset the Utes, to break a losing skid, to celebrate Senior Night with happy tears instead of sad ones.

There hasn’t been much room for optimism in 2015 for the Arizona Wildcats.

So Utes quarterback Travis Wilson ran for 12 yards and a first down, and the entire Arizona Stadium crowd was at a standstill, quiet, silent.

Not again.

Well, yeah, not again.

Four plays later, Wilson threw an incomplete pass to the left side of Arizona’s end zone, and the Wildcats won 37-30.

“Really proud of the guys,” UA coach Rich Rodriguez said. “A very good win for the program. Guys battled for more than 60 minutes against a very good football team.”

Fans slowly poured onto the field, climbing down that steep wall, as the Wildcats celebration moved to the 30-yard line, jumping for joy as the downtrodden Utes, eliminated from contention for the College Football Playoff with the loss, walked into the visitor’s locker room with their heads down.

Arizona knows that feeling, certainly.

Saturday night’s feeling?

Paul Magloire ran across the field swinging a white flag baring the Arizona logo.

The Wildcats broke a three-game losing streak and, by improving to 6-5 (3-5 Pac-12) on the season, clinched bowl eligibility for the fourth straight season.

It was also the fourth straight season in which the Wildcats won against a top-10 team.

Jubilation.

The winning touchdown for Arizona came one drive earlier.

At that point, Jerrard Randall — who entered the game in the fourth quarter after Anu Solomon suffered an apparent head injury — hadn’t even completed a pass. He was 0-for-4 with an interception.

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Then he was 1-for-5 with a touchdown, completed on a pretty 25-yard pass and a diving catch by receiver Nate Phillips.

“Jerrard is ready all the time,” Rodriguez said. “He’s really unflappable…Nate made a tremendous play that gave us momentum.”

In the first overtime, Arizona responded to a Utah field goal with one of its own, a 35-yarder from senior kicker Casey Skowron. It was Skowron’s third made field goal of the night.

In a season where nothing has gone right for Arizona, luck wasn’t needed on this night.

No, this win came in large part thanks to Arizona’s much-maligned defense and their shutdown performance late in the game.

After Solomon went down with an apparent injury with 9:25 left in the fourth quarter and the score tied at 27, Arizona’s defense didn’t allow another point until Andy Phillips’ field goal in overtime.

Randall threw an interception on his first drive, but Arizona’s defense responded by forcing Utah’s star running back Devontae Booker to fumble at the 50-yard line.

Randall went 0 for 4 to close out regulation time as Arizona’s offense stalled, but the defense kept Utah from scoring on a drive starting at the 4-minute mark and ending with a minute to go.

Just before Wilson’s final incompletion, the Wildcats sacked the Utes quarterback for the fourth time.

The Wildcats came into Saturday’s game second-to-last in the conference in turnover margin, but forced two turnovers on this night.

The first came on an interception by safety Jamar Allah in the second quarter, Arizona’s first pick since an Oct. 10 win against Oregon State. The next came on a fumble with 7:54 left, forced and recovered by defensive linemen Jeff Worthy and Parker Zellers, respectively.

Arizona began the game similarly to last week’s game against USC, jumping out to an early lead and winning 20-17 at halftime, but Utah came out quickly in the second half and scored on a 59-yard touchdown pass from Wilson to tight end Harris Handley.

Arizona tied the game 27-27 in the third quarter on a 6-yard Solomon touchdown run, coming immediately after he completed passes of 50 yards and 16 yards to Cayleb Jones and Johnny Jackson respectively. Solomon finished with 277 passing yards, 86 rushing, three total touchdowns and one interception before he left the game in the fourth quarter.

Jones had a game-high five catches for 126 yards.

Samajie Grant had Arizona’s other touchdown catch on a 7-yard pass from Solomon in the first quarter.

“This is one of the best (wins) since I’ve been here,” Rodriguez said, “simply because a lot of folks never thought it would happen.”