It’s not hard to manipulate statistics, to make them say something good, something bad.
Consider: Brandon Dawkins completed just three passes for 77 yards against Arizona State on Friday night.
This was the fifth time this season Dawkins completed less than half of his passes, and the second time he finished with fewer than 100 passing yards.
Dawkins went viral on Fridaynight, and not for anything that happened between the lines, rather for knocking over the 2017 Miss Arizona on the sideline.
But — and how’s this for a fun fact? — Dawkins also was named the Territorial Cup’s best player, the winner of the Bob Moran MVP award. He was a driving force behind Arizona’s redemptive 56-35 win against the Sun Devils to close out the season. The blowout win ended an eight-game losing streak, and a six-game stretch where Dawkins didn’t play his best football.
While Friday’s performance did little to alleviate concerns about Dawkins’ development as a passer, there was reason to be hopeful. Dawkins found a wide-open Nate Phillips for a 64-yard touchdown.
Oh, and Dawkins also rushed for three more touchdowns and a career-high 183 yards.
“Brandon is sneaky-fast,” UA coach Rich Rodriguez said.
Dawkins wasn’t the only one to run wild — receiver-turned-running back Samajie Grant, a senior, rushed for 176 yards and three touchdowns; backup Zach Green added 126 yards and two touchdowns.
“Zach Green has never run that far in his life without passing out,” Rodriguez said with a smirk.
The Wildcats finished with a school-record 511 rushing yards.
OK, fine, Arizona State’s defense had more holes on Friday night than a large block of Swiss cheese — “that was embarrassing,” ASU coach Todd Graham said — but it was an impressive performance nonetheless.
The adage goes “a win’s a win,” and that holds true for Arizona (3-9) more than most in this everything-that-can-go-wrong-will-go-wrong Wildcats season.
There have been some bright moments, though, and Dawkins has been a big part of most of them.
He guided Arizona to wins against Hawaii and Grambling State, and nearly helped pull an upset against Washington, a possible College Football Playoff team. In that game, he rushed for 176 yards against a Huskies defense filled with NFL prospects.
Friday, Dawkins spearheaded Arizona’s effort to bring the Territorial Cup back to Tucson.
“We needed this win, bad,” he said.
Dawkins had his introduction to Arizona fans against Arizona State last year, playing in place of an injured Anu Solomon and an ineffective Jerrard Randall. He passed for more than 300 yards, something he hasn’t done since. But Arizona lost that game and Dawkins threw two pick-sixes.
He was embroiled in a quarterback battle with Solomon this offseason, which he initially lost, before eventually taking it back after Solomon battled with injuries.
Dawkins is admittedly a work in progress.
“A lot of things I gotta get better on,” Dawkins said.
Dawkins isn’t a lock to start next year. Solomon’s future with the program is unclear, freshman Khalil Tate will return with a year under his belt and the Wildcats will add two more quarterbacks in the highly touted Braxton Burmeister and Catalina Foothills quarterback Rhett Rodriguez.
There will be another offseason quarterback competition, for sure.
For at least one more night, though, Dawkins was the man, and ASU had a tough time tackling him.
The biggest hit came from Tommy Lynn Calhoun.
That’d be Miss Arizona.
“She made a nice tackle,” Rodriguez said.
“I was just trying not to hit anybody, I happened to run into her,” Dawkins added. “I’m gonna leave it there. I’m not gonna say anything too much, I don’t want to become a meme,” Dawkins said with a laugh. “It was an accident.”
Miss Arizona wore a tiara.
Dawkins held the Territorial Cup. A win’s a win.
Extra points
• Defensive lineman Calvin Allen played his last game for Arizona on Friday. The redshirt junior was celebrated with the rest of Arizona’s seniors, as he has chosen to stop playing football. Other players who also celebrated an early senior night: safety Carter Hehr, linebacker R.J. Morgan and receiver Abraham Mendivil. All four are on scholarship.
• UA safety Jarvis McCall was ejected in the fourth quarter after he was called for targeting.
• Safety Isaiah Hayes left the game with an apparent injury in the first half and didn’t return.
