With only three points scored by either team in the first quarter this was a game that got off to a slow start and pretty much stayed that way certainly through the break. Stanford drew first blood after holding Arizona to a three-and-out on their first possession, leading to a Joshua Karty 35 yard field goal seven plays later to go up 3-0. The next opportunity to score for either team came with time running out at the end of the 1st Qtr on another Joshua Karty field goal attempt, this one from 51 yards out that missed. Three Jaydn de Laura passes later Arizona finally got some points up on the board on a 38 yard TD pass to Senior TE Tanner McLachlan to go up 7-3. With almost six minutes left in the half Stanford would score again—this time on a Bryce Farrell two yard run into the end zone to go up 10-7 at the end of a five minute, 10 play, 50 yard drive where the score would stay for the next fifteen minutes.
After forcing Stanford to punt following a six play drive that only moved the sticks sixteen yards, Arizona took the lead again on an 11 play 66 yard drive and Jaydn de Laura run into the end zone to go up 14-10 with a little over six minutes left in the 3rd Qtr. 11 plays of their own later Stanford went right back up 17-14 on a Sedrick Irvin TD run and had an opportunity to extend their lead after holding Arizona to a three-and-out on their next possession, but missed another field goal at the end of a 10 play 34 yard drive down to the Arizona 33 yard line. It was a miss they would regret as the Wildcats pulled back into the lead on their next possession, a 9 play 67 yard drive half-way through the 4th Qtr resulting in a TD run by the Wildcats Senior RB DJ Williams to go up 21-17. After the kick-off and with plenty of time left the Cardinals brought it back 47 yards in 10 plays but after an incomplete pass, a sack, and an illegal forward pass found themselves stuck at 4th and 17 on the Arizona 28 yard line. With a little more than three minutes left Stanford decided to kick the field goal, bringing it to 21-20, and kick off to the Wildcats—hoping to hold them to a three-and-out and get the ball back. But it wasn’t to be as Arizona picked up two first downs on their possession and ran the clock out to preserve the narrow win.
Arizona QB Jayden de Laura connected on 14-of-26 for 157 yards, 1 TD, and no interceptions in addition to a rushing TD late in the 3rd Qtr. The final TD drive by the Wildcats was handled by de Laura’s backup, Noah Fifita, who came in after de Laura left in the 4th Qtr due to an injury. Fifita was a perfect 4-for-4 for 47 yards including two key first down passes to keep that drive alive. On the ground Arizona rushed 37 times for 145 yards with Sophomore RB Jonah Coleman and Senior DJ Williams picking up the bulk of the 145 total yards on 23 attempts with Williams picking up the other rushing TD to go with de Laura’s. For Stanford, Sophomore QB Ashton Daniels connected on 14-of-26 for 198 yards and was replaced by his Sophomore backup late in the game who was 4-for-6 for 48 more yards. Neither QB threw an interception but also never connected in the end zone either. On the ground, the Cardinals rushed 35 times for 112 yards and 2 TD’s, one by Freshman RB Sedrick Irvin and the other by Senior WR Bryce Farrell.
The game stats were as close as the single point final score with Arizona edging Stanford in 1st Downs by just one, 20-19, and Stanford edging Arizona in total yards by just nine, 358-to-349. Neither team turned the ball over and they were both about equally effective on third down conversions. It really came down to the two missed field goals by Stanford Senior Place Kicker Joshua Karty who had been perfect on the season through the first three games. The Wildcats head back home for their next game but it will be much tougher than this one as the Huskies hit the road for Tucson to take on Arizona this coming Saturday.