The Arizona Wildcats defeated San Diego State 38-20 in the season opener Saturday afternoon at Snapdragon Stadium. Here are some pertinent notes, quotes and statistics from the UA’s upset victory:
NOTES
* The Wildcats won a season-opening road game for the first time since 2010 (41-2 at Toledo). They also notched their first road victory under Jedd Fisch and their first road win of any sort since Oct. 5, 2019, at Colorado.
* Arizona snapped a four-year streak of season-opening losses. It was the Wildcats’ first season-opening win since a 62-24 victory over NAU in 2017 and their first season-opening win over an FBS opponent since taking down UTSA in 2015.
* The Wildcats’ 38 points were the most scored by the program since a 56-38 loss to Oregon State on Nov. 2, 2019. Arizona’s 24 first-half points were its most in a game’s opening half since scoring 24 vs. Stanford in 2019 (L, 41-31) and more points than the Cats scored in 10 of their 12 games last season.
* The Wildcats’ 18-point margin of victory was their largest since beating NAU 65-41 in 2019.
* QB Jayden de Laura threw for 299 yards and four touchdowns, the latter matching his career high (set at Washington State vs. Arizona last season). That total was the most by a Wildcat in his UA debut since Anu Solomon threw four against UNLV in 2014. It was also the first four-TD performance by a UA quarterback since Khalil Tate vs. WSU on Nov. 17, 2018.
* De Laura has thrown three or more touchdown passes six times in his collegiate career. His teams are undefeated in those games.
* WR Jacob Cowing set a career high and tied the UA record with three touchdown receptions. The last Wildcat to do it was Cayleb Jones vs. Cal on Sept. 20, 2014.
* Tetairoa McMillan became the first true-freshman wide receiver to catch a touchdown pass in his first career game in at least 27 years, per the UA sports-information department.
* Redshirt freshman Dalton Johnson blocked a punt on SDSU’s second drive, the first of his career. Arizona led the Pac-12 and ranked 17th nationally with two blocked punts in 2021.
* Linebacker Jerry Roberts led the team and set a career high with 12 tackles. He twice had 10 tackles in a game, once for Arizona (Nov. 13, 2021, vs. Utah) and once for Bowling Green.
* Arizona’s defense held San Diego State to 62 yards passing, the fifth time in the past two seasons that the Wildcat limited an opponent to fewer than 100 yards through the air.
* Arizona had two takeaways, marking the first time the Wildcats have forced more than one turnover since Oct. 9, 2021, vs. UCLA. The Wildcats had just one total takeaway in their final seven games last season.
* Arizona outgained San Diego State 461-232. In last year’s game, the Aztecs outgained the Wildcats 454-230.
* San Diego State had four tackles for losses and one sack (in the fourth quarter with the game basically decided). The Aztecs had 11 TFLs and four sacks in last year’s meeting.
* Fisch gave game balls to six individuals: defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen (first game as a DC), de Laura, Cowing, defensive tackle Paris Shand (forced fumble), linebacker Kolbe Cage (fumble recovery) and safety Jaxen Turner (interception).
QUOTES
Fisch on the win and the future: “We're just getting started. We're building this. We really believe we could build something special at Arizona, but it's gonna take time. We just tell our players to continue to trust the process and good things will come.”
Fisch on the meaning of the win: “It means that we're 1-0. We go back tomorrow, we go to work and we try to go 1-0 again (next) Saturday. The guys played well, and they competed really hard. What's important for our guys to continue to play like Wildcats ... trusting the process, playing with passion, loving their teammates, embracing the grind. Practice isn't gonna get any easier tomorrow. We've got a really good opponent (1-0 Mississippi State) that we’ve got to prepare for.”
Fisch on getting past the “here we go again” mentality: “We've tried to emphasize every day that we could that this is 2022. Don't look back and don't think that because maybe one thing happened last year and we couldn't overcome it that (that) had anything to do with this year. Just play the next play every play and don't focus in on what could have been or what just happened or how we got caught in one situation or another. Just see if we can continue to be mentally tough.”
De Laura on the win: “It was good to get a win with these guys. All the hard work we put in in the offseason with the guys who've been on the team, what they've been through these past couple of years, to come out the first game and show what we can do ... and we've got a lot of stuff we left out in the field.”
De Laura on the performance of Arizona’s freshmen: “It's kind of expected from them. This isn’t just an ordinary group of freshmen. Came with the right mindset, came in to work. They knew the expectation set for them was really high. They did a really good job.”
Roberts on the team’s mentality: “Throughout camp, the only people who knew what we were capable of doing was us. We had the mindset that we were the dominant ones and we weren't the underdogs.”
SDSU coach Brady Hoke on the loss: “Offensively and defensively, we have to get a lot better for net week. Looking at our tackling, (it) was atrocious. It’s as bad as I have seen our team do in a long time. ... Coaching, starting with me, wasn’t very good.”
STATS
* Arizona had 25 first downs; SDSU had 14
* Arizona rushed for 162 yards; SDSU rushed for 170
* Arizona averaged 6.2 yards per play; SDSU averaged 4.0
* Arizona possessed the ball for 32 minutes, 37 seconds; SDSU had it for 27:23
* Arizona converted 6 of 13 third downs; SDSU converted 2 of 11
* Arizona scored touchdowns on 4 of 5 trips inside the red zone; SDSU was 1 of 4
* Arizona had 4 penalties for 35 yards; SDSU had 6 for 37
* Arizona’s average starting field position was its 28-yard line; SDSU’s was its 34
* UA tailback DJ Williams had a game-high 88 yards on 14 carries
* Arizona DE Jalen Harris had 8 tackles (career high) and 1 sack
* Arizona safeties Turner and Christian Young each had 7 tackles and 1 TFL
