Arizona Wildcats throttle No. 19 Washington State in Pullman, move to 4-3 entering bye week

The path to bowl eligibility became easier for Arizona after the Wildcats blew out No. 19 Washington State 44-6 Saturday in Pullman.

Arizona snaps its two-game losing streak as the Wildcats enter a bye week. UA also broke a three-game losing streak to the Cougars while taking down WSU in Pullman for the first time since 2014, in the final matchup between the two schools as conference opponents.

Saturday’s result was Arizona’s largest margin of victory over a ranked opponent on the road in program history. It also marked the largest margin of victory against Washington State since the Wildcats beat the Cougars 45-6 in 1983.

“We know we’re good and we got to show it today,” Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch said after the game.

“We spent the whole week preparing to have our best outing of the year today. I believe we did that against a very good team. Washington State is Top-20 in the country and we went on the road and played our best brand of football,” he added. “More importantly, we as a staff are excited about the direction of the program. We know that Arizona football has gotten to a spot where we’re competing with everybody in the country.”

Making his third consecutive start in place of the injured Jayden de Laura, who suited up and participated in pregame warmups, second-year quarterback Noah Fifita completed 34 of 43 passes for 342 yards. Fisch said Fifita earned the start, “when I saw Jayden wouldn’t be able to protect himself in the pocket.”

Fifita, the defending Pac-12 Freshman of the Week, has back-to-back 300-yard performances. Fifita credited “the people around me” for his individual performances in Arizona’s one-possessions losses to Washington and USC and the Wildcats’ rout over Washington State — all three ranked opponents.

“Coach Fisch, all the coaches, my teammates, they’ve helped me in ways I can’t explain the last three weeks,” Fifita said on the Pac-12 Network broadcast. “We played three great teams, today was no different — great quarterback, great team.

“Their love, their support and being able to stay extra after practice, staying extra to watch more film, that’s what you saw tonight,” Fifita added of his UA teammates.

Fisch said Fifita “did a great job of running our offense” on Saturday.

“That’s what makes these quarterbacks special is how hard they work to run what’s an NFL offense,” Fisch said. “The same offense they see on Sundays is the same one they get to do here at Arizona.”

Since Fifita was thrusted into the lineup in Arizona’s come-from-behind win at Stanford, he has completed 90 of 121 passes (74%) for 924 yards, eight touchdowns and two interceptions.

When Fisch was asked if he was ready to officially insert Fifita as the full-time starter, he responded directly, but politely, “I’ll just talk about the game today.”

All of Arizona’s touchdowns were rushing scores, including a career-high three from sophomore Jonah Coleman, who also took a pass 69 yards on the Wildcats’ opening drive. Coleman had 168 all-purpose yards on Saturday. Senior starter Michael Wiley was held out for the third straight game with an ankle injury. Rayshon Luke and DJ Williams each tacked on a touchdown as well Saturday. Kicker Tyler Loop tied a single-game career-high with three field goals, including a 40-yarder in the first half.

“First off, I want to thank the (offensive) line for giving us a push,” Coleman said. “They put me in the right position to make plays. It felt good, I can’t complain. Coach prepared me for this. The other backs, like Mike Wiley and DJ Williams, told me that it was my moment, so make the opportunities count and make plays.”

Washington State received the opening kickoff and started the game with an 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. The Cougars methodically trudged down field with screens and short passes. A failed two-point conversion attempt gave the Cougars an early 6-0 lead.

After that game-opening drive, Washington State’s possessions the rest of the way:

Turnover on downs

Interception

Punt

Punt

Punt

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Interception

Fumble

Turnover on downs

Punt

Turnover on downs

“I like everything about the way the defense played today,” Fisch said.

Washington State, which averaged the second-most passing yards per game (365.6) nationally entering Saturday, had 199 passing yards and 234 yards of total offense despite an efficient 22-for-30 performance by quarterback Cameron Ward. Washington State, the top third-down team in the Pac-12, went 3-for-3 on third-down conversions on the opening drive; the Cougars were 4-for-11 on Saturday.

The Cougars had 22 rushing attempts for 35 yards — good for 1.6 yards per carry.

“The goal is to always make an offense one-dimensional, that’s the goal,” Fisch said. “We felt as if we had a really good plan for their running game. If we can do that and know they were going to have to throw the ball to beat us, that allows you to out together the type of plan you want to have. It gives you some chances to blitz, it gives you some chances to play different coverages, it gives you a chance to intercept the football, and it started with not giving them any space in the running game.”

Arizona defensive tackle Jacob Kongaika and defensive end Taylor Upshaw each had a sack in the first half. Cornerbacks Ephesians Prysock and Tacario Davis each recorded an interception — Arizona’s first picks since the Territorial Cup win to end of last season.

“It felt good,” Prysock said postgame. “The offensive formation put me in position to where I don’t usually play and I saw (Ward) throw it and went to go get it.”

Arizona defensive tackle Bill Norton forced a fumble with linebacker Justin Flowe recovering it.

Arizona’s three takeaways on Saturday marked the Wildcats’ most takeaways in a Pac-12 road game since they had four at Utah in 2014.

“We always say turnovers or takeaways come in bunches,” Fisch said. “We dropped a couple this year, but we caught them today. That was the key.

“It’s a full momentum-changer. It’s how you score 40 or 50 points in games, when you take the ball away,” he said. “When we don’t take the ball away, it’s hard to get that many possessions and score that many points. When you do take the ball away, it’s a lot easier.”

The Wildcats ended the contest scoring 44 unanswered points en route to their fourth victory of the season.

Arizona enters a bye week (4-3) before hosting No. 15 Oregon State in Tucson on Oct. 28.

“Our team believes they’re good and they know they’re good. They can’t just always hear it from me or our staff,” Fisch said. “What you sometimes have to do is put it all together — and we put it all together last week. We missed on a play, we missed on another play — maybe there were four or five plays in the course of the game that we would say, ‘Wow that would change the outcome of the USC game.’

“We didn’t win that one, but we knew we were right there. We knew we were right there against Washington, so that’s two Top-10 teams and then we went on the road and beat a Top-20 team and won by 38 points,” he added. “So I think that tells us that we’re pretty good.”

The Star reported on this game from Tucson.

Photos: Arizona football blows out No. 19 Washington State on road