Arizona’s uniforms were an homage to the Desert Swarm era, including blue facemasks adorning white helmets.
The Wildcats could not recapture the magic of that era — or even last week.
Arizona struggled in all three phases — before a fourth-quarter comeback that came up just short — in a 24-20 loss to USC in front of an announced crowd of 43,573 Saturday night at Arizona Stadium.
“We didn’t play hard all four quarters,” UA quarterback Khalil Tate said. “We started playing hard, but it didn’t come until the second half – the fourth quarter, to be exact.”
The defeat was the Wildcats’ sixth in a row against the Trojans. Arizona fell to 2-3, 1-1 in the Pac-12. USC is 3-2, 2-1.
The Wildcats seemed to be trending in the right direction entering Saturday. After starting the season 0-2, Arizona blew out Southern Utah and Oregon State. The Wildcats’ performance in Corvallis last Saturday was by far their best of the season.
But that result proved to be a false positive. USC dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides for most of the night.
USC running back Aca’Cedric Ware runs up the middle past diving Arizona linebacker Colin Schooler, who scolded himself after the game for the Wildcats’ inconsistent performance.
The Trojans rushed for a season-high 253 yards, including 173 by Aca’Cedric Ware. They entered Saturday averaging just 110.2.
Arizona entered the weekend averaging 247.2 rushing yards, most in the Pac-12, including 442 against Oregon State. The Trojans limited the Wildcats to 98 yards on the ground, a season low for the UA.
“As I told our guys tonight, we are working on us,” UA coach Kevin Sumlin said. “We’ve got to execute better across the board. All that being said, we get a field goal blocked and miss an extra point. If we just execute those things, it’s a tie game, it’s an overtime game.”
Arizona needed Tate to regain his dual-threat mojo, but he couldn’t quite do it. Tate continued to look gimpy at times, unable to shake defenders on a left ankle that’s been bothering him since Week 2. He finished with 38 rushing yards – a season high, but a far cry from the 161 he had last year against USC.
Tate nearly led a miraculous comeback against the Trojans in Los Angeles. Arizona trailed 28-6 in the third quarter. With 8:23 to play, the game was tied at 35. USC pulled away to win by 14.
A similar rally seemed to be in the works Saturday night. Down 24-0 in the third quarter, Arizona cut the deficit to 24-14. After forcing a turnover for the second straight possession, the Wildcats took over at their 46-yard line with 8:23 remaining.
Arizona gained a first down on a Tate run but couldn’t advance past the USC 46. The drive ended with three consecutive incomplete passes, the last a desperation heave on fourth-and-17 that was knocked down by Cameron Smith.
USC safety Marvell Tell III goes up to bring down an interception on a Khalil Tate pass in the second quarter Saturday night.
The Wildcats got the ball back with 4:03 left and chopped the lead to four points on Gary Brightwell’s 1-yard touchdown run with 1:40 remaining. Lucas Havrisik missed the extra-extra point attempt, leaving the score at 24-20.
The UA defense performed admirably after a rough start. The fumble recoveries by PJ Johnson and Colin Schooler were the Wildcats’ first this season.
Schooler agreed with Tate that Arizona’s energy level wasn’t where it needed to be for all four quarters.
“I’ll put that on me as a leader on this team,” Schooler said. “It’s our job, my job, to make sure everybody’s engaged.”
Arizona trailed 17-0 at halftime, and it would have been worse if not for USC’s mistakes.
The Trojans were flagged nine times for 95 yards in the first half. They also lost a fumble deep in UA territory. USC finished with 18 penalties for 169 yards.
At least USC got into UA territory. Arizona didn’t run a play on USC’s side of the field until the last snap of the half – a 38-yard Havrisik field-goal attempt that was blocked. The play was an untimed down, the result of yet another penalty on the Trojans.
Ware had a pair of touchdown runs – a 26-yarder in the second quarter and a 69-yarder in the third. The latter made it 24-0 less than five minutes into the second half.
Arizona drew within 10 on Tate’s touchdown passes to Stanley Berryhill III and Cedric Peterson. The latter followed Kylan Wilborn’s strip sack of JT Daniels.
The Wildcats did some good things. They didn’t quite do enough.
“I feel like we need to play a complete game in all three phases,” Schooler said. “If you look at our losses, we haven’t done that.”
Extra points
• Linebacker Tony Fields II exited in the second quarter because of an apparent right shoulder injury. Jacob Colacion, making his 2018 debut, replaced Fields. Anthony Pandy, the usual backup “Will” linebacker, did not dress. Sumlin said Pandy was suspended for the game as a result of “internal discipline.”
• Arizona made several changes on defense. PJ Johnson moved from defensive tackle to defensive end; the Wildcats were down an end with Jalen Cochran (arm) not dressed. Scottie Young Jr. started at “Spur” safety, becoming the fourth player to start at that position in five games. Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles returned to the starting lineup, at free safety, after coming off the bench the previous two games.
• For the second straight week, cornerback Jace Whittaker dressed but did not play. Whittaker injured his left arm Sept. 15 against Southern Utah.
• Safety Isaiah Hayes played off the bench after sitting out last week at Oregon State. Hayes suffered a shoulder injury against Southern Utah.
• Running back Darrius “Bam” Smith was spotted before the game in a walking boot. He did not play last week.
