The Arizona Wildcats lost at Stanford 41-31 on Saturday afternoon. Here are some pertinent notes, quotes and statistics:
NOTES
* Arizona lost its third straight game. The skid comes on the heels of a four-game win streak. It’s the Wildcats’ first in-season three-game losing streak since ending 2017 with three consecutive defeats.
* Arizona surrendered 41-plus points for the third straight game. That hadn’t happened within a season since Games 9-11 of 2016.
* Stanford’s 41 points were a season high. The Cardinal’s previous high was 31 vs. Oregon State on Sept. 28 – a total they matched in the first half. They entered Saturday averaging 20 points per game.
* Stanford’s 472 yards were 10 shy of its season high, set Oct. 5 vs. Washington. The Cardinal had 327 yards in the first half – just 3.9 yards less than their per-game average entering Saturday.
* Stanford has won the past six meetings, eight of the past nine and 11 of the past 13. Only once in the past six matchups has the margin been single digits (54-48 in overtime in 2012).
* Stanford coach David Shaw improved to 5-0 vs. Arizona. Kevin Sumlin fell to 9-11 as the coach at Arizona. The Wildcats are 2-7 on the road under Sumlin.
* Arizona had a minus-2 turnover margin. The Wildcats have lost the turnover battle in four straight games. They have two takeaways during that span.
* Lucas Havrisik’s first-quarter field goal marked just the second time this season that Arizona has scored on its opening possession. The only other time came against NAU on Sept. 7.
* UA tailback J.J. Taylor finished with 107 rushing yards on 16 attempts, giving him 3,030 yards for his career. He became just the eighth player in school history to tally 3,000-plus career yards on the ground.
* Taylor’s 107-yard performance was the 10th 100-yard game of his career and his second of the season (NAU). Taylor also set personal bests with five catches for 53 yards.
* QB Khalil Tate rushed for 103 yards, giving the Wildcats two 100-yard rushers for the second time this season (Tate and Gary Brightwell vs. NAU). Tate notched his third 100-yard game of the season and the ninth of his career.
* Tate completed 10 of 14 passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns in the first three quarters. He went 7 of 19 for 68 yards with two interceptions in the fourth.
* Freshman receiver Jalen Johnson recorded his first career TD catch, an 8-yard reception from Grant Gunnell in the first quarter. Johnson finished with two catches for 30 yards and became the 10th Wildcat with a touchdown catch this season.
* Gunnell platooned with Tate and completed 7 of 7 passes for 68 yards and one touchdown. He improved his season touchdown-to-interception ratio to 7-1.
QUOTES
Sumlin on the QB plan: “We went in the game, and they knew that. So the third series, Grant was going to go in. Obviously, he operated pretty well. We want to get him in. As I said two weeks ago, if he's not redshirting, he needs to play, and he needs to learn from some experiences like he had today. You're not in mop-up time.
“I think he showed that he's capable. He's won games. He's played at different stages. We want to make sure that his growth continues.
“Khalil understood what was going on. He came in and moved the team, and then Khalil responded and ran and took off and did some things.
“They understood what the plan was, and I thought they both gave us a chance in the first half to be successful.”
Sumlin on the offense’s performance: “In a game like this, when you know the possessions you have are … not going to be as many, you have to be efficient. You can't turn the ball over, and we did that. We made yards. We scored points. But if you turn it over, because of the style of play of the other team, you're losing possessions and point probabilities.”
Sumlin on the state of the team: “That locker room, it's tough in there. The message is, we've got to stay together, and we've got to keep fighting. We've only got two choices: You either fight, or you run. And we're not running.
“We've got plenty of season to go, and our guys … one thing I can say about them is they're not quitting. They're playing hard. We've got to give them chances as coaches You've just got to press forward."
Tate on the QB rotation: “I knew it was a probability. I wasn't sure how exactly (it) was going to work out as far as the situations, but all you can do as a quarterback is be ready. It doesn't matter how many reps you get, as long as you stay ready."
Tate on his mentality after returning to the game: “Just to move the ball down the field. Whoever can move the ball down the field, that's who we want in. If I'm not moving the ball down the field, we have to look for somebody else. That's Grant's chance.”
UA safety Tristan Cooper on the defense’s struggles: “Discipline, man. When somebody's not doing their job … it results in touchdowns. First half, I don't know what happened. It's not the coaches. It's us. We were in a great scheme. You see, we come out second half, and we locked down, 10 points.
“The first half, how did we give up 31? Sometimes people need to start looking at themselves and be like, man, is it me? Because, obviously, somebody's not doing their job. That's where it takes ownership.
“I bust plays. Nobody's perfect. But if you're consistently busting plays, you've got to look yourself in the eye and be like, man, I've got to get my stuff together.”
Cooper on the defense’s preparation: “I guess we underestimated their line. We didn't think their line was going to be that good. They came out balling. They're better on the field than they are on film.
“The receivers, they're catching deep balls on us. We're going to have to get better at that. … They were catching balls on us, and we weren't deflecting enough.”
Shaw on overcoming injuries to pick up a win: “With all the stuff that's going on, we've won three out of four. People outside our building can panic. Fans can panic. Alumni can panic. That's fine. We don't. We trust what we do. It's been very, very successful here. Not going to worry about the injuries. Whoever's injured, hey, we'll coach up the next guys and go out there and play.”
Shaw on the return of QB K.J. Costello (30-42-312-3-0): “Can't say enough about K.J. Costello, him coming back, and it wasn't just throwing the football. Two-time captain, senior, leader, felt his energy, felt his passion, pushing guys, talking to them, giving us great feedback coming from the field. Right from this morning's walk-through, we just felt it from him, and he was going to make it a go.”
Shaw on Stanford’s defensive adjustments: “Khalil Tate is going to make a couple of plays. He's a difference maker. A couple of long runs, one long touchdown. You chalk that one up. He's going to do it against anybody and everybody. After that, we made him run lateral. We did a better job containing, better job staying on coverage down the field, so he had nobody to throw it to.”
Shaw on Arizona’s QB platoon: “I've been in that spot before. It's difficult when you have an older guy that's had some injuries and kind of been back and forth a little bit and kind of had some uneven play – has been awesome at times and not great at times. You've got a young quarterback that's highly touted that's extremely talented. That touchdown throw he made in the (first) half, that's an amazing throw. There was no hole there, and he put it in there. That kid's got a huge upside.
“I think they're doing their best with it. It keeps us off balance, honestly.”
STATS
* Arizona had 29 first downs; Stanford had 26.
* Arizona had 222 net rushing yards; Stanford had 160.
* Arizona had 495 total yards; Stanford had 472
* Each team averaged 6.4 yards per play.
* Arizona had five penalties for 56 yards; Stanford had two for 20.
* Stanford possessed the ball for 34 minutes, 31 seconds; Arizona had it for 25:29.
* Stanford converted 6 of 13 third downs; Arizona converted 5 of 13.
* Stanford had three sacks; Arizona had none.
* Stanford had seven TFLs totaling 27 yards in losses; Arizona had three for 6.
* Stanford’s average starting field position was its 29-yard line; Arizona’s was its 26.
* Stanford RB Cameron Scarlett carried 19 times for 102 yards and two touchdowns.
* Arizona WR Tayvian Cunningham caught four passes for 61 yards.
* UA freshman punter Kyle Ostendorp averaged 46.2 yards on four punts, with one inside the 20.
* Havrisik booted 3 of 6 kickoffs for touchdowns, with one going out of bounds.
* UA linebacker Colin Schooler had nine tackles, one pass breakup and half a TFL. DB Jace Whittaker also had nine tackles.
* Stanford’s Thomas Booker had five tackles, two TFLs (one sack) and one forced fumble.
