The Arizona Wildcats lost to No. 20 USC 34-30 in their season opener on Saturday at Arizona Stadium. Here are some pertinent notes, quotes and statistics:
NOTES
* The loss was Arizona’s eighth in a row, dating to last season. It’s the Wildcats’ first eight-game skid since 2016. But none of the previous seven defeats came by fewer than 10 points.
* The loss was Arizona’s eighth in a row against USC. The Wildcats last defeated the Trojans in 2012. Five of the eight were decided by eight or fewer points, including the past two meetings in Tucson (both four-point margins).
* The Wildcats lost their third straight season opener under Kevin Sumlin. It was their first defeat under Sumlin in a Pac-12 opener.
* USC rushed for 173 yards – the first time the Trojans failed to reach 200 in their past eight matchups against Arizona. USC did average 5.4 yards per carry and scored three times on the ground.
* The UA defense failed to record a sack or a takeaway. It was the first time the Wildcats came up empty in both categories since last year’s game at Stanford (Oct. 26).
* Arizona had eight tackles for losses – more than in any game last season. The Wildcats twice had seven TFLs last year, against Oregon and Arizona State.
* Arizona limited USC to a 38.5% success rate on third down – the first time the Wildcats have kept an opponent under 40% since last year’s game against Washington (Oct. 12).
* UA sophomore quarterback Grant Gunnell tied his career high with three touchdown passes (home opener vs. NAU last year) and had a career-best 40 net rushing yards.
* UA receiver Tayvian Cunningham had five catches for 110 yards and a touchdown, tying his career high for catches and setting a career high in yards.
* UA receiver Stanley Berryhill had a career-high eight catches for 70 yards and a touchdown.
* Kicker Lucas Havrisik connected on a career-best three field goals, converting from 25, 32, and 51 yards. He was 3 of 4 overall, missing a 42-yarder. The 51-yarder was the fifth field goal of 50-plus yards of his career.
* In his first career collegiate appearance, safety Rhedi Short led the Wildcats with nine total tackles. Fellow safety Jaxen Turner, making his first career start, had eight stops.
* UA tailback Gary Brightwell rushed for 112 yards, his fourth career 100-yard rushing game and his first since the 2019 home opener vs. NAU. The senior also eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for his career.
QUOTES
Sumlin on the defense’s performance: “The first half I thought we did a good job. We had only three penalties in the first half, but they were three third-down penalties – one questionable call and some others that gave them first downs to keep some drives alive. The rotation up front has improved, particularly in run defense. They started running some more stretch zone, and it took us a while to get that shut down in the second half. Overall, we’re better. One thing I would say is we didn’t force a turnover. That’s a credit to USC as well. We have some things we can build off of.”
Sumlin on the atmosphere at the stadium: “It’s just different when there’s not a lot of fans. I thought because of the lack of travel by players back home, the ability to have their family, parents, wives or kids, whatever, there, I thought that had some real significance to it. I could see (it) guys when came out, even during warmups. You gotta realize, these guys haven’t even been home. Their parents couldn’t come by the hotel last night, anything like that. I feel bad for the Wildcat fans who can’t be there, but I thought there was some energy early, energy during warmups and during the game because of the families being there.”
Gunnell on finally being able to play a game: “I love it. Everyone loves it. That’s what everyone is here to do. It just felt great to be out there, hit people, throw the ball. Those butterflies are something you live for.”
Gunnell on his 75-yard TD pass to Cunningham: “The dude’s a track guy. Speed is something that you can’t teach. When you have it, you have it. When he’s running like that, you just throw the ball as far as you can, and he runs under it.”
Linebacker Rourke Freeburg on the defense’s performance: “A lot of ups and downs. I felt like in the first half we did a good job of minimizing big plays, tackling good, stopping the run, getting off the field on third down. ... Those are pretty much the four keys Coach (Paul) Rhoads said we needed to do to win the game. I felt like we did a pretty good job of that until the second half. Our offense runs a pretty similar scheme – RPO, stretch, high-low. It was almost like we were playing our offense today.”
UA tailback Michael Wiley on the offense’s mentality: “Just score. I think every offense should have that mindset. What Coach (Noel) Mazzone said was ‘plunge recklessly.’ Don’t worry about the win, don’t worry about the loss, just play hard. The effort was clearly there.”
USC coach Clay Helton on his team’s second straight comeback win: "Those kids had a lot of heart today. Looking at our football team, offensively, we showed up late again. We missed some opportunities in the red zone that I thought could separate us in the second half. Being inside the 15-yard line twice, coming away with no points, it left a good team in (the game). Credit to their kids offensively. I thought they did a nice job of spreading the ball around and making some big plays down the field. At the end, our kids did what they did last time. I didn't see any panic. They showed great poise. We had a little over a minute on the clock with three timeouts. We felt extremely comfortable. It's what we do at practice each and every week, and the guys executed to perfection.”
STATS
* Each team had 26 first downs.
* USC had 498 total yards (353 in the second half); Arizona had 444.
* USC averaged 6.6 yards per play; Arizona averaged 5.8.
* USC had 11 penalties for 110 yards; Arizona had seven for 80.
* USC scored touchdowns on 4 of 8 trips to the red zone; Arizona went 1 of 3.
* USC’s average starting field position was its 35-yard line; Arizona’s was its 21.
* USC quarterback Kedon Slovis completed 30 of 43 passes for 325 yards and a touchdown.
* USC receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown had seven catches for a game-high 113 yards.
* USC defensive lineman Marlon Tuipulotu had a team-high eight tackles.
* USC’s Drake Jackson had two of the Trojans’ four sacks.
* Havrisik booted all seven of his kickoffs for touchbacks.
* Arizona linebacker Anthony Pandy had eight tackles.
* Defensive lineman Aaron Blackwell and linebackers Jalen Harris (2.0) and Freeburg each had two TFLs.
