The Arizona Wildcats lost to Washington 51-27 Saturday night at Arizona Stadium. Here are some pertinent notes, quotes and statistics:
NOTES
* The loss was the biggest at home by the Wildcats under Kevin Sumlin. Arizona lost three games at Arizona Stadium last year by a combined 10 points.
* Washington outscored Arizona 24-10 in the fourth quarter. In the previous three games, the Wildcats had outscored their opponents 29-3 in the final period.
* Arizona surrendered a season-high four sacks, and QB Khalil Tate had a career-low minus-28 rushing yards. His previous low was minus-9 against Oregon State last season.
* Arizona’s four turnovers were its most since committing four at Washington State last season.
* Washington converted only 23.1% of its third downs (3 of 13), the lowest percentage by a UA opponent since Oregon (18.8%) last season. The Huskies were 1 of 7 in the first half, 2 of 6 in the second.
* Washington scored 38 of its 51 points, had 316 of its 450 yards and 14 of its 18 first downs in the second half. The Huskies also had a near 2-1 advantage in time of possession in the second half (19:55-10:05).
* Arizona’s 360 total yards were a season low and marked the first time the Wildcats had been held under 450 this year.
* Tailback J.J. Taylor, who had been out or limited the previous three games because of an ankle injury, had 126 scrimmage yards and a touchdown.
* Tailback Nathan Tilford rushed for a season-high 49 yards and scored his third touchdown in the past two games.
* Tight end Bryce Wolma recorded his second catch of the season and his first since the Aug. 24 opener at Hawaii.
* Cedric Peterson had a team-high 64 receiving yards, giving him 270 for the season – a career high.
* Lucas Havrisik made a 50-yard field goal in the second quarter. He is 2 of 3 this season on field goals of 50-plus yards and 4 of 7 in his UA career.
* Linebacker Tony Fields II had a team-high eight tackles and has taken over the team lead with 47 for the season.
QUOTES
Sumlin on the loss: “It was gonna come down to really three things: Turnovers, penalties and special teams. You can't play a team of that caliber and turn it over that many times and have a punt blocked. All the things that happened in the first half and to still be ahead … based on all that, it was a miracle.”
Sumlin on the constant pass-rush pressure on Tate: “They did a nice job with their front four. But they also did a nice job with the linebackers of running through in the run game, and they just kept coming when we dropped back to throw it. Some safety blitzes, which we hadn't seen a bunch of. Played some zero (coverage) a couple times and just dared us. We couldn’t get it off. Give them credit.”
Sumlin on Tate prematurely fleeing the pocket: “We talked about that, him stepping up in there and not avoiding the rush so much to the perimeter, because they were containing him. When he was bailing out, he’s bailing out right into pressure or the blocking surface. There were times he could have stepped up and ran. Instead of bailing out to the side, he's gotta push up in the pocket and makes things happen.”
Sumlin on the blocked punt: “It was just a different formation. They left the D-line in. Over the course of the last two years, they've been a return team. In two years, I think they came after one punt. … For whatever reason they decided to bring it tonight from a different formation and they got to it.”
Sumlin on being 4-2 halfway through the season: “We talk 1-0 mentality. It's been working for us. Tonight, obviously, it did not. But the messages is, hey, listen, win or lose, guess what? Next week's coming. What we can't do is let this bleed into next week.
“We're not even talking about the year. We're talking about (how) this team has responded to one week at a time, one day at a time. That's our approach. We're going to stick with that approach.
“We’ve gotta be critical of ourselves as players, as coaches, and me. There were some things that we did tonight that were self-inflicted. As coaches, we’ve gotta fix some things - as a team, as an organization.”
Tate on how the team can bounce back: “I think it’s fairly easy. This team has been through adversity before. I think it was a message for us, just to wake us up. Like a little reality check just to remind us that we have to play all four quarters every day. We can't take any games off or any quarters off. We’ve just gotta be better as a whole. I think we’ll do a lot better next week.”
UA safety Scottie Young Jr. on the defense’s struggles in the second half: “Just execution. Just finishing the game. They were more disciplined in the second half.”
Washington coach Chris Petersen on the win: “Really slow start on offense, but our defense was spectacular that first quarter and a half. We couldn’t get any rhythm going on offense. We had this unbelievable field position (average start in the first half: UW 42-yard line) but went three-and-out, field goal, whatever. The whole first half was very frustrating on offense, and everyone was frustrated at halftime coming in. I’m proud of how those guys responded.”
STATS
* Washington and Arizona each had 18 first downs.
* Washington had 207 net rushing yards; Arizona had 151.
* Washington averaged 6.7 yards per play; Arizona averaged 5.0.
* Washington had eight penalties for 67 yards; Arizona had five for 33.
* Washington’s net punting average was 41.8 yards; Arizona’s was 30.0.
* Washington possessed the ball for 34 minutes, 24 seconds; Arizona had it for 25:36.
* Washington had 20 points off turnovers; Arizona had three.
* Washington’s average starting field position was its 40-yard line; Arizona’s was its 27.
* Washington’s Sean McGrew and Salvon Ahmed combined for 201 rushing yards on 36 carries.
* Washington QB Jacob Eason completed 15 of 22 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns.
* Arizona DT Trevon Mason had a career-high seven tackles and shared a TFL.
