The Arizona Wildcats defeated No. 12 UCLA 34-28 Saturday night at the Rose Bowl. Here are some pertinent notes, quotes and statistics from the UAβs shocking upset:
NOTES
* Arizona ended several losing streaks. They had lost four games in a row this season, 14 consecutive Pac-12 road games and five straight vs. UCLA at the Rose Bowl.
*Β Arizonaβs last win against a ranked team came on Oct. 27, 2018, against No. 19 Oregon. UCLA was ranked ninth in this past weekβs AP poll. The Wildcats hadnβt beaten a top-10 team since Nov. 14, 2015, vs. No. 10 Utah.
*Β Arizona won as a 20-point underdog. It was the Wildcatsβ biggest outright win as an underdog since Oct. 2, 2014, at No. 2 Oregon. The Ducks were 21.5-point favorites.
*Β In each of its five Pac-12 losses, Arizona allowed between 45 and 49 points. The Wildcats yielded 28 points against UCLA, tied for the second-fewest points theyβve surrendered in a game this season.
*Β Arizona was plus-1 in turnover margin. The Wildcats are 3-0 when winning that stat this season. Theyβre 0-4 when they lose it. Theyβre 1-2 when they break even.
*Β Arizona won time of possession, 34:20 to 25:40. It was only the third time the Wildcats have won TOP this season. All three were victories (San Diego State, Colorado, UCLA).
*Β Arizona allowed 465 yards, the second straight week they yielded 465 or less. The Wildcats surrendered at least 580 yards in each of the previous three games.
*Β Arizonaβs three sacks tied its season high (Colorado). The Wildcatsβ seven total TFLs were a season high (previous: six).
*Β RB Michael Wiley became the first Wildcat to score a rushing and receiving touchdown in the same game since Gary Brightwell achieved the feat against Oregon State in 2019. Wiley had a career-best 143 scrimmage yards.
*Β TE Tanner McLachlanβs third-quarter catch, his second of the night, was his 29th of the season. He surpassed Rob Gronkowski in 2007 for the third-most receptions by a UA tight end in a single season.
*Β QB Jayden de Laura finished 22 of 28 for 315 yards and two touchdowns. His 3,128 yards and 24 touchdowns on the year rank seventh and sixth, respectively, on the programβs single-season leaderboards.
*Β DT Tiaoalii Saveaβs blocked field goal in the third quarter was Arizonaβs first blocked FG attempt since Sept. 3, 2015, against UTSA.
*Β WR Jacob Cowingβs nine-catch, 118-yard performance was his fourth 100-yard game of the season and the 17th of his career.
*Β Cowingβs team-leading 74 catches are tied for seventh most in a single season in program history, while his 964 yards rank 10th.
*Β Tyler Loop converted both of his field goals, from 35 yards and 23 yards. He remains perfect on field goals under 40 yards (22 of 22).
*Β Freshman LB Jacob Manu led the Arizona defense with 10 tackles, matching his career high set at Washington. Manu also had a pass breakup.
*Β Freshman WR Tetairoa McMillanβs 17-yard, game-winning touchdown was his eighth TD grab of the season, giving him the team lead.
QUOTES
UA coach Jedd Fisch on the performance of Johnny Nansenβs defense: βIt was pretty good to hold that team at 28 points. It's probably one of the top five explosive offenses in college football. They've been scoring at a ridiculously high number each week. They've been doing this now with Dorian (Thompson-Robinson) for five years. Chip (Kelly) is a fantastic offensive coach. To hold that team at 28 points, Johnny, the whole defensive staff and the players, they did a great job.β
Fisch on UCLA RB Zach Charbonnet (181 yards, three TDs): βI don't think you can have a game plan to eliminate that guy. He's a fantastic running back. So he's going to have a big game. They're going to have guys that have big games. Dorian is going to usually have big games with his feet. They're gonna have a great run scheme. That's not surprising. But in the end, we limited them to 28 points.β
Fisch on whether he considered going for it on Arizonaβs final drive, which ended with a short field goal: βI did. I made them talk me out of it. I said to the assistant coaches, βYou guys have 10 seconds to talk me out of going for it right now, go.β No one said a word. But our quarterback said to me, βLetβs just /kick it and go up six.β I think that was the right decision at that time. ... In the end, I'm like, βThey have no timeouts, they have a minute left and our defense is playing great football.β β
Fisch on Saveaβs blocked field goal: βIt was a really big play in the game. I thought the momentum there was huge, just to get the stop. We put our big block team up to get that block. It was nice to have Tia back. It's a big-time play for him as a former UCLA player to be here and to get that block.β
Fisch on whether the win is a turning point for the program: βI just think that we're in the middle of a build that we've been talking about all year. ... We've won four games. We would like to win two more. But we're going to just continue to build and grow and look at getting better every week ... and just know that if our team continues to get better, more recruits will want to come here. And if more recruits want to come here, our team will keep getting better.β
De Laura on having Wiley as a backfield mate: βIt makes my job about 10-15 times easier. I know that he has a good sense of space. He runs the ball, [heβs] one of the best athletes that Iβve been around. Just having the trust in him, knowing that heβll get open ... everything came together for us.β
Wiley on his mindset during Arizonaβs final, clock-eating drive: βThatβs what I wanted, I wanted to close the game out. I wanted that pressure on me, because I knew I could take it. I wanted that on my shoulders.β
DE Jalen Harris on the win: βIt felt good. We wanted to come out here and compete, and we felt like we could win. Defensively, we know our offense is going to score. So we just wanted to come out and focus on one stop at a time and get that stop, and I think we did that tonight.β
Kelly on de Laura: βHe played his tail off. Youβve got to tip your cap to him. We had him a few times but couldnβt get him to the ground. He kept so many plays alive, scrambling and staying on his feet and extending plays. A couple of them were five, six, seven, eight seconds, and that is a credit to him. When heβs scrambling, heβs looking to make throws. He played a good football game, a really good football game.β
Kelly on whether his team experienced a letdown against unranked Arizona: βI donβt look at it that way. I look at it that we didnβt make enough plays to win a football game. We donβt get into the narrative of inspired or not inspired, of who is ranked or isnβt ranked. Everybody is really good. We knew this football team is really good, and we talked about it all week long. Everybody weβve played down the stretch here been a good football team, and we are going to face two more.β
UCLA safety Mo Osling III on de Laura: βHats off to the quarterback. He did a great job tonight just getting out of the pocket and trying to extend drives and extend plays. As a DB, youβve got to just plaster and cover and wait for the guys up front to go get him. Sometimes it broke down. Sometimes they got him.β
STATS
*Β UCLA had 26 first downs; Arizona had 22
*Β UCLA had 220 rushing yards; Arizona had 124
*Β Arizona averaged 6.7 yards per play; UCLA averaged 6.1
*Β Arizona had 3 penalties for 31 yards; UCLA had 4 for 15
*Β Arizona converted 5 of 12 third downs; UCLA converted 4 of 12
*Β Arizona converted 2 of 2 fourth downs; UCLA converted 2 of 5
*Β Arizona scored touchdowns of 4 of 6 trips into the red zone; UCLA scored on 3 of 3
*Β Arizonaβs average starting field position was its 31-yard line; UCLAβs was its 22
*Β Arizona WR Dorian Singer had 5 catches for 83 yards
* Thompson-Robinson was 26 of 39 for 245 yards and 1 TD
*Β Harris had 5 tackles, including 1.5 TFLs (1 sack)
*Β Arizona DE Hunter Echols had 3 tackles, .5 TFLs, 1 fumble recovery and 1 pass breakup
*Β Osling had 12 tackles and 1 PBU