Arizona lost to USC 48-14 Saturday afternoon at Arizona Stadium. Here are some pertinent notes, quotes and statistics:
NOTES
* The 34-point losing margin was Arizona’s largest since a 49-3 loss at Washington on Oct. 31 of last year. It was the most lopsided home loss since UCLA beat Arizona 56-30 on Sept. 26 of last year.
* Khalil Tate became the first true freshman to start at quarterback for Arizona since Willie Tuitama in 2005.
* Senior WR Nate Phillips had three receptions for 39 yards and extended his streak with at least one catch to 40 straight games.
* Samajie Grant has caught a touchdown pass in three straight games for the first time in his career. Each has come from a different QB: Brandon Dawkins, Tate and Matt Morin.
* Tate and Morin combined for 11 completions, a UA season low. Arizona’s 142 passing yards also were a season low.
* Saturday’s game marked the first time since 2006 that a USC-Arizona game was decided by more than eight points.
* Trey Griffey had only one catch for minus-1 yard but drew penalties for pass interference and defensive holding.
QUOTES
Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez on fans being upset with the team’s 2-5 record: “I can’t control other people’s opinions. Other people’s opinions are other people’s opinions, and they’re entitled to it. … I love our fans. We’ve got great fans. They have been very supportive since I’ve been here. I appreciate that. If they’re not happy with not winning, hey, nobody over here is either.”
Arizona safety Tellas Jones on the team’s mindset moving forward: “The overall attitude is, we’re still chasing a win. We’ve still got work to do. We aren’t going to stop wanting to win. It’s always going to be the same.”
Arizona RB Zach Green on Tate’s demeanor during the game: “He handled it well. I love Khalil. He’s a competitor. He’s gonna bounce back from that.”
Arizona DT Sani Fuimaono on Rodriguez’s message to the team: “That he’s confident in our abilities, and he knows that he has guys that can compete and he can win with. I think so too. We just have to get back to it and get better and improve on all the things that we need to work on. If we just put four quarters together we can win ballgames. Hopefully we’ll see that in the future.”
USC QB Sam Darnold on scrambling for 54 yards vs. Arizona’s defense: “We talked about it in film this week. They like to play ‘33 Double Cloud,’ which means they’re only bringing three rushers. So when you drop eight, it’s really hard to find windows sometimes. I knew the linebackers were going to drop deep, so if I had a third-and-long, maybe like a third-and-8 or third-and-10, I knew I could scramble, look for a guy downfield and if no one was there, just tuck it and run.”
STATS
* USC had 574 total yards to Arizona’s 343 and averaged 7.4 yards per play to the UA’s 4.9.
* USC possessed the ball for 35:24 to Arizona’s 24:36, the sixth time in seven games the opposition has won the time-of-possession battle.
* Five of Arizona’s 20 first downs came via penalty.
* The Wildcats had zero takeaways for the third straight game.
* Tate rushed for a team-high 72 yards on 14 carries.
* Morin, playing QB for the first time, completed 4 of 8 passes for 84 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
* Arizona WR Cam Denson had one catch for 51 yards.
* Sophomore safety Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles had 11 tackles, a career high.
* Josh Pollack averaged 44.6 yards per punt and landed two of five attempts inside the 20-yard line.
* Despite limiting USC to 10 total return yards, Arizona had a 10-yard disadvantage in average starting field position.
