Wildcat QB Jayden de Laura who has thrown for over 900 yards on the season and is completing over 70% of his passes had a good day at the office against UTEP at home this past Saturday while going 23-of-29 for 285 yards, 3 TD’s and no interceptions. RB Michael Wiley led the way on the ground with 83 yards and a TD on 17 carries with Arizona rushing for 244 yards total on just 32 attempts, an average of 7.6 yards per carry while helping to lead the the Wildcats to an easy win over the Miners 31-10. Sophomore WR Tetairoa McMillan, Junior WR Montana Lemonious-Craig, Senior WR Jacob Cowing and TE Tanner McLachlan collected 22 passes and 265 of the 300 yard total in the air as well as all three TD’s for Arizona.
The starting QB for UTEP, Senior Gavin Harrison, connected on slightly less than 50% of his passes for 228 yards without a score or a pick while backup Junior QB Kevin Hurley was 3-of-4 for 55 yards and 1 TD. The only other scoring for the Miners would come on a field goal by Place Kicker Buzz Fabiano with a little more than five minutes left in the 2nd Qtr to bring UTEP to within four points at 7-3, the closest they would get the rest of the day as they were never able to get anything going on the ground—rushing 26 times for just 49 yards, less than 2 yards per carry and nothing on the scoreboard to show for it.
It was a slow starter with three punts and an Arizona fumble in the 1st Qtr. But after that the Wildcats would pick up 2 TD’s in the 2nd to go up 14-3 at the break and 17 more points the rest of the way against UTEP’s only 2nd half TD with under two minutes to play. One of the priorities of Arizona Head Coach Jed Fisch since he took over the program from a fired Kevin Sumlin was to build back the defense and as the AP points out in their recap for ESPN; “The Wildcats bounced back from an overtime road loss to Mississippi State last week with a dominating defensive performance. Arizona forced the Miners into a fumble, a turnover on downs and seven punts in 10 drives before scoring a late touchdown.” Fisch certainly noticed commenting afterwards; “I’m really, really proud of the way our defense is playing [they are] really stepping up.” Just in time as the Wildcats open up conference play this next Saturday on the road against Stanford.