EUGENE, Ore. – The Arizona Wildcats lost to No. 3 Oregon 41-19 on Saturday at Autzen Stadium. Here are some pertinent notes, quotes and statistics from the UA’s latest setback:
NOTES
* The loss was Arizona’s 16th in a row, extending the Wildcats’ school-record losing streak. It’s also the longest active skid in the nation. When Arizona faces UCLA on Oct. 9 after a bye, more than two years will have passed since the Wildcats’ last win (Oct. 6, 2019, at Colorado).
* Arizona lost for the fourth time in its past five meetings with Oregon. It was the Wildcats’ third consecutive loss in Eugene. The average margin of those defeats: 23.3 points
* Oregon won its 15th straight game at Autzen Stadium and its 11th consecutive Pac-12 home game. The Ducks are 18-1 at home under Mario Cristobal.
* Arizona failed to score 20 points for the seventh consecutive game. The Wildcats’ point totals over that span: 10, 13, 7, 16, 14, 19, 19.
* Arizona outgained Oregon 435-393, marking the third time this season that the Wildcats have accumulated more yards than the opposition. Arizona’s 435 total yards and 202 rushing yards were season highs. The Wildcats’ previous best rushing total was 106 yards.
* Arizona has held three of its first four opponents to few than 400 total yards. Across the 2019 and ’20 seasons, spanning 17 games, Arizona held the opposition to under 400 yards only one time (Arizona State on Nov. 30, 2019).
* QB Jordan McCloud made his first start for Arizona and accounted for 297 yards of offense. He also threw a career-high five interceptions. McCloud threw 10 interceptions in 20 games at South Florida and never had more than two in a game.
* Oregon intercepted five-plus passes in a game for the first time since Nov. 13, 1999, against Cal. The Ducks have intercepted three-plus passes in back-to-back games for the first time since 2001.
* RB Drake Anderson’s third-quarter rushing score was the Wildcats’ first touchdown on the ground this season. It also marked the first touchdown of Anderson’s Arizona career.
* LB Treshaun Hayward led Arizona with eight tackles, matching his UA high set last week against NAU.
* Safety Jaydin Young was credited with two pass breakups, the first two of the second-year freshman’s career.
* The Wildcats logged six pass breakups in all, their most since notching seven against UCLA in 2019.
* Arizona’s safety in the third quarter was the second secured by the Wildcats defense this season. It marked the first time that Arizona has recorded multiple sacks in a season since 2018.
* Transfer Mo Diallo sacked Anthony Brown to register the safety. It was the first sack of Diallo’s UA career.
* Another transfer, Kenny Hebert, also recorded his first UA sack. Hebert had a team-high 1.5 tackles for losses.
* Senior TE Bryce Wolma’s 11-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter marked his first TD since the 2019 season opener at Hawaii.
QUOTES
UA coach Jedd Fisch on the outcome and the mistakes that caused it: “We had a great battle going. We had some opportunities. If you look at some of the plays that were not made, we had a throwback on a kick return that was a 65-yard return that we wind up not being on the details. When you do that – throw it forward instead of backward after practicing it for three weeks – you can’t do that. You can’t turn it over five times. But there’s a lot of positives from the way our guys competed. We’re not a moral-victory team. What we are is a team that strives to get better every game. I do believe we got better today.”
Fisch on the decision to start McCloud: “He’s our best player at that position, and that’s why we played him. ... We let Gunner (Cruz) and Jordan compete all week, and Jordan showed that he has the grasp of the offense that we were looking for. We made the decision after Thursday's practice that we were going to do that, and we feel comfortable with that decision.”
Fisch on Arizona’s season-high rushing output: “Our guys are becoming more and more comfortable with the scheme. They're becoming more and more comfortable with what we're trying to get accomplished. The runners ran with a real sense of purpose today. You could see there was a discipline in the running. Sometimes in the run game, especially a zone running game, which we run, you have to have the discipline. You have to have the discipline to press a block and cut back. You have to have the discipline to know when to bounce it. I feel like with reps and opportunities they're showing that they can get better at it.”
Fisch on why he attempted a field goal down 41-19 with less than 2:30 to play: “Because we haven't been kicking the ball very well. We missed two field goals against BYU that were pretty costly. We need to get that part of the game going. There was 2:12 left; we weren't going to come back at that point. We were down 22 points. We need to find a way to find wins. And in my mind, one of those ways is, when the game is going to be on the line here in whatever amount of weeks, we're gonna need a field goal to win it. I wanted to get that repetition in there and see how we can do. We didn't do well. (Lucas Havrisik missed the attempt, from 40 yards.)”
Anderson on why the running game was so potent: “The O-line did great. They were pushing all week. I didn’t feel like there were too many defenders in the backfield. I just felt like there was a lot of space back there.”
Anderson on whether the feeling in the locker room was different than after the NAU game: “Definitely. I don't think anybody expected to lose that game. Not that we were taking them lightly or anything, but that just didn't feel like a game that was even possible to lose. To be able to come to the No. 3 team in the nation and fight them that close, we know that we're just one step away.”
Arizona DE Jalen Harris on the team keeping its composure after falling behind 10-0: “It’s a grind. You gotta take it one play at a time. We can’t try to get it all back in one play. We made some mistakes. We fixed them. And then we were just trying to battle back.”
Anderson on Fisch’s postgame message: “His message was the little things. That’s what we have to focus on. We can’t win until we stop from losing. We were doing plays where we’re killing ourselves. We just have to learn from that.”
STATS
* Arizona had 31 first downs; Oregon had 17
* Arizona ran 88 plays; Oregon ran 55
* Oregon averaged 7.1 yards per play; Arizona averaged 4.9
* Arizona had 9 penalties for 58 yards; Oregon had 9 for 95
* Arizona possessed the ball for 37 minutes, 58 seconds; Oregon had it for 22:02
* Arizona converted 7 of 15 third downs; Oregon converted 6 of 12
* Arizona converted 4 of 4 fourth downs; Oregon went 0 for 1
* Arizona scored 3 times in 5 trips into the red zone (2 TDs, 1 FG); Oregon went 4 for 4 (3 TDs, 1 FG)
* Oregon’s average starting field position was its 31-yard line; Arizona’s was its 23
* Anderson and Michael Wiley combined for 130 rushing yards on 34 attempts
* Oregon’s Travis Dye and CJ Verdell combined for 137 rushing yards on 16 attempts
* McCloud completed 21 of 35 passes for 233 yards and rushed 9 times for 64 yards
* Brown completed 10 of 21 passes for 206 yards with 3 TDs and rushed 12 times for 41 yards
* Arizona WR Stanley Berryhill III had 5 receptions for 75 yards
* Oregon DB Bennett Williams had 2 INTs (1 returned for a TD)
* Arizona’s Christian Young had 6 tackles and 2 pass breakups
* Oregon’s Noah Sewell had 14 tackles
