The Arizona Wildcats upset No. 19 Oregon 44-15 on Saturday night at Arizona Stadium. Here are some pertinent notes, quotes and statistics:
NOTES
- Arizona’s victory was its first over a ranked opponent since the UA defeated No. 15 Washington State on Oct. 28, 2017. The 15 points allowed were the fewest against a ranked opponent since Arizona defeated No. 20 Oregon 42-10 on Nov. 22, 2014.
- The Wildcats closed the first half with an 18-play, 88-yard touchdown drive, surpassing their longest drive of the season of 12 plays. It was the longest UA drive resulting in a touchdown since a 19-play, 77-yard drive against UNLV on Aug. 29, 2014.
- Oregon punted nine times, the most by an Arizona opponent since Oregon State in 2015.
- Oregon’s 270 total yards were a season low. The previous low was 328 yards last week at Washington State. The Ducks' average entering Saturday was 460.7.
- Arizona held Oregon to 84 rushing yards, a season low for the UA defense. It was the second time the Wildcats limited an opponent to fewer than 100 yards on the ground (Oregon State, 97).
- Arizona has rushed for 565 yards over the past two weeks, including 366 by J.J. Taylor. Taylor finished with 212 yards, giving him back-to-back 100-yard rushing games for the first time in his career. Taylor, Ka’Deem Carey and Khalil Tate as the only players in program history with two games of 210 or more yards.
- Taylor also went over 1,000 rushing yards for the season. He is the first Arizona running back to top 1,000 yards in a season since Nick Wilson (1,375 yards) in 2014.
- Oregon QB Justin Herbert’s 48 passing attempts were a career high. His 186 passing yards were a season low.
- Senior receiver Shun Brown set a career high with 10 receptions, good for 96 yards and a touchdown. Brown ranks in the top 15 in school history in catches (122) and TD receptions (13).
- Senior safety Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles had a career-high three pass breakups.
- Senior receiver Shawn Poindexter had two touchdown receptions, becoming the first UA wide receiver with back-to-back multiple-touchdown games since Cayleb Jones in 2014.
- Redshirt freshman Jalen Harris made his first career start and finished with four tackles, tied for third most on the team.
- Sophomore linebacker Colin Schooler had 1.5 tackles for losses, giving him 16 for the season. That’s more than the Arizona team leader in TFLs in 18 of the past 20 seasons.
QUOTES
UA coach Kevin Sumlin on the victory offering a glimpse of the program’s potential: “That’s what we want to be. That’s our goal, to be a Top 25 team. In order to do that, we’ve gotta beat other teams in that range.
“For our players … now they understand what that takes. It’s not just Saturday night. We’re in a Monday-to-Friday phase, but … all everybody else sees is 3 hours and 20 minutes on Saturday. That’s what you’re judged on. So your execution during those 3 hours and 20 minutes becomes important. Now they understand what that looks like for four quarters. It’s about remembering the preparation, remembering the execution.”
Sumlin on the defense’s performance: “We tackled well. We really didn’t let the ball get over our heads for big plays. With the exception of the busted overage in the first half (Dillon Mitchell’s touchdown), we didn’t really have many of those.
“We rushed the passer pretty well. We moved him (Herbert) off his spot and made him a little bit uncomfortable. When he sits in there and he’s got time, he’s something else.
“The tackling was probably as good as we’ve been all year, and the coverage was too. I think that translated into what we’ve talked about here every week: third downs. What were they – 3 of 16, right? There you go. That’s the story.”
Sumlin on Taylor: “He’s a great example for this program and for what we want. As a competitor, as a person, just how he approaches everything.”
Tate on the benefits of sitting out last week: “It helped a lot. I was banged up the past few weeks, something I was playing through. You can’t get better if you keep playing on it. I tried to take a break. Me and my coaches decided to do that, and it worked for the best.”
Taylor on whether he felt he had to redeem himself after fumbling at UCLA: “No. It’s football. You’re supposed to have short-term memory. Let that one go last week.”
Schooler on what the defense did well: “I feel like we played really well on third down. They were 3 for 16 on third-down conversions. That’s huge. That’s a lot of momentum that we get. We’re not on the field for that long. Getting the offense back on the field is our main goal.”
Oregon coach Mario Cristobal on the loss: “We weren’t running the ball well enough. We found ourselves in a situation where we had to throw a little more, and that didn’t work out too well either. So third-and-long was a very common situation for us tonight. It’s not the identity that we established earlier in the season, and it’s not the identity that we want.
“We talked about it in the locker room as players and coaches. This is obviously painful, and it should be. As a team, we’ll go back to work and assess how we can do things better and stick by each other. The bottom line is, it’s just not anywhere near the performance that’s good enough for us to become accustomed to.”
STATS
- Arizona had 27 first downs; Oregon had 18.
- Arizona had 465 total yards and averaged 5.5 yards per play; Oregon had 270 yards and averaged 3.8.
- Arizona had 276 rushing yards and averaged 5.4 yards per attempt; Oregon had 84 and averaged 3.7.
- Arizona had 11 penalties for 106 yards; Oregon had six for 53.
- Arizona possessed the ball for 36 minutes, 9 seconds; Oregon had it for 23:51.
- Arizona converted 8 of 18 third downs; Oregon converted 3 of 16.
- Arizona’s average starting field position was its 32-yard line; Oregon’s was its 24.
- Tate finished 19 of 33 for 189 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
- Tony Fields II had six tackles, including 1.5 for losses (one sack).
- Dylan Klumph averaged 42.0 yards per punt and dropped three of five inside the 20-yard line, including two inside the 10.
