Kansas at No. 12 Utah
Shutting Kansas out in the first quarter Utah got off to an early 14-0 lead with back-to-back touchdowns on either side of a Jayhawk three-and-out. Kansas would get intercepted on their second possession but the Utes couldn’t capitalize being held to a three-and-out themselves. After forcing the Jayhawks to punt again Utah would fumble the ball three plays into their drive at their own 26 yard line giving Kansas the ball back to start the 2nd Qtr just outside the red zone. Three plays later the Jayhawks would cut the lead in half, 14-7, on a 3 yard TD pass from Sophomore QB Isaiah Marshall to Junior RB Dylan Edwards. But Utah wouldn’t linger over their mistake and would find the end zone again on their next possession, a 7 play 75 yard drive that was aided by three Kansas penalties, two for pass interference as well as an unsportsmanlike flag that put them 1st and 10 at the Jayhawk 13 yard line. Senior QB Devon Dampier would hit his Senior TE Noah Bennee with a 6 yard TD pass on the play to stretch that lead back out to fourteen, 21-7. Utah held Kansas to three-and-outs their next two possessions but couldn’t take advantage having to punt on the first and turn the ball back over on downs on the second. With just over a minute left in the half, Kansas would find the end zone in about 20 seconds on the back of a couple chunk passes for 17 and 32 yards before Marshall ran it home himself from six yards out to make it 21-14. With just 34 seconds left Utah’s Devon Dampier would throw a pick on their first play. But that was enough for the Jayhawks to make it down to the Utah 17 yard line and kick a 34 yard field goal with four seconds left to cut the Utah lead to just four, 21-17.
Both teams would find the end zone in the 3rd Qtr making it 27-24 going into the fourth after a failed two-point conversion by Kansas with time running out. But that’s the last time the Jayhawks would put points on the board as Utah would score on back-to-back touchdowns in the fourth quarter to make it 41-24 while Kansas failed to make a 4th and goal from the 1 yard line their first possession and a 4th and goal from the 7 yard line on their second. Kyle Whittingham may not be there anymore but his Defensive Coordinator for ten years took that his job so nothing’s changed regarding their defense—the Utes can bring it on that side of the ball. For Utah, Senior QB Devon Dampier connected on 23-of-30 for 238 yards, 3 TD’s—1 to Sophomore WR Ricky Johnson who also collected 104 of those total yards, 1 to Senior TE Noah Bennee, and 1 to Sophomore TE Semi Taulanga—and 1 interception while also rushing 17 times for 71 yards and another TD. On the ground, Junior RB Wayshawn Parker did the most damage picking up 171 yards and 2 TD’s on just 16 carries. Collectively the Utes rushed 27 times for 287 yards and those three scores. Utah heads to Colorado this coming Saturday—7:15 on ESPN.
Arizona at West Virginia
With 10,939 passing yards and 89 TD’s, Noah Fafita is Arizona’s leading QB of all time passing Super Bowl winning QB Nick Foles earlier in the year. And from the looks of it plans to put that record long out of reach by the time he takes his last snap as a Wildcat. In their 52-31 win against West Virginia, Fafita connected on 70% of his passes for 341 yards, 3 TD’s, and 1 interception. He got his first one after the Mountaineers kicked a field goal to take a 3-0 lead to start the game. Starting off with a 9 yard run, Fafita hit on a couple of chuck passes for 24 and 17 yards before connecting with his Sophomore WR Isaiah Mizell on a 14 yard TD pass to take a 7-3 lead. West Virginia took the ball, but just two plays later their leading RB Cam Cook mishandled a pitch-out which was picked up and returned for touchdown by Arizona Senior Safety Lee Mollette III to give Arizona a 14-3 lead going into the 2nd Qtr.
West Virginia took their next 15 play 72 yard drive all the way down to the Wildcat 4 yard line but failed to convert a 4th and 3, turning the ball back over. But just three plays in, Fafita would get picked off inside his own red zone. The Mountaineer Sophomore QB Michael Hawkins Jr. would run it in himself from the three yard line to cut that lead by seven, 14-10. The Wildcats would connect on a field goal three minutes later to take that lead back out to a TD—17-10. And a little over two minutes later the Mountaineers would tie the game up at seventeen each on a 30 yard TD. After back-to-back three-and-outs Fafita would connect again with Mizell on a 23 yard pass before handing the rock off to Senior RB Quincy Craig who took it 40 yards to the house to put the Wildcats back on top 24-17. With three minutes left the Mountaineers would take possession and move the ball 72 yards all the way down to the Arizona 2, but would lose it on a forced fumble recovered by Arizona who would run the clock out to end the half.
Arizona would get the ball first to start the second half and took advantage of it on the back of a 48 yard Fafita pass to Mizell and an 8 yard TD run by Senior RB Kedrick Reescano to go out in front 31-17. The Mountaineers wouldn’t make any headway on their first possession of the quarter, but on the second they’d find the end zone at the end of a 16 play, 92 yard, going on 7 minute drive and 2 yard TD run by Freshman RB Amari Latimer to get that deficit back to just a TD, 31-24, with under two minutes left in the quarter. Plenty of time for the red hot Fafita to find Mizell once more—this one a 72 yard strike that he carried all the way in to push that lead back to a couple of possessions at 38-24.
Both teams would score a TD at the start of the 4th Qtr to make it 45-31. For Fafita and the Wildcats it was their fourth of the game in under two minutes. This one in two plays, a 33 yard chunk pass followed by a 42 yard TD pass to Junior WR Brandon Phelps. After holding West Virginia to a three-and-out the Wildcats would score again, this time on just two plays in less than a minute on back-to-back runs by Senior RB Antwan Roberts Jr—the first for 22 yards and the second a 30 yard TD run to extend the Wildcats’ lead to 52-31 where, in spite of there being over nine minutes left in the game, it would stay. For Arizona, Senior QB Noah Fafita connected on 16-of-23 for 341 yards, 3 TD’s and 1 interception. On the ground, they collectively rushed 27 times for 141 yards and 3 more TD’s. If you just looked at the team’s final game stats you would have come to the conclusion that the Mountaineers won this game. With many of Arizona’s drives being under two minutes, it was the Mountaineers who significantly led in first downs, 30-20 and by 11 minutes in time-of-possession. They also led in total yards of offense, 522-482; third down conversions percentage 47%-to-37%; but were just 2-of-7 on their 4th down attempts while Arizona seemed to find the end zone in just a few plays and had no need to try and convert any fourth downs. And they did all that while missing their top three receivers to injury—exploiting a West Virginia secondary that—according to the AP recap—“has struggled all season, committed several interference penalties on Saturday and got burned in one-on-one coverage.” Arizona goes back home to a bye week before hosting Iowa State on October 24th.
Hawaii at Arizona State
Between the 9 kick-offs, 10 punts and 5 field goal attempts—3 made and 2 missed, the punters and place kickers stayed really busy in this grind of a game. Hawaii got the ball first and took an early 3-0 lead on a 44 yard field goal by their Senior PK Sean Olvera-Harle after getting stuck six yards outside the Sun Devils’ red zone. Ten plays and 79 yards later Arizona State would take a 7-3 lead on an 18 yard TD pass from their Junior QB Cutter Boley to his Senior WR Reed Harris. Both teams would end up punting on their next possessions, Hawaii after nine plays at mid-field and the Sun Devils after being held to a three-and-out to end the first quarter.
After making a field goal at the start of the 1st Qtr, the Rainbow Warriors would miss one to start the second. Six plays later after completed passes for 49 and 17 yards, Freshman RB Cardae Mack would run it into the end zone to take a 14-3 lead. The Sun Devils would hold Hawaii to a three-and-out on their next possession but would hardly do much better on theirs, also punting after just five plays. Hawaii would follow up with a an 11 play 80 yard drive and after three incompletions at the ASU 12 yard line another field goal by Olvera-Harle, this one for 30 yards to make it 14-6. The Sun Devils would follow up with a 47 yard field goal of their own by their Senior PK Carson Smith to make it 17-6 at the break.
Arizona State got the ball to start the 3rd Qtr but would be held to a three-and-out on their first and second possessions of the quarter. Hawaii did no better, punting on their first possession and then throwing an interception on their second. Starting from the Rainbow Warrior 31 yard line after the interception, Arizona only made it 11 yards before they attempted and missed a 37 yard field goal. Holding Hawaii once again to a punt after just five plays and with less than three minutes left in the quarter, the Sun Devils took the ball 96 yards on five plays in just under two minutes with RB Cardae Mack finding the end zone at the end of a 67 yard TD run to put Arizona State up 24-6 going into the fourth quarter.
Hawaii would cut into the lead with a TD to start the final period at the end of a 9 play 75 yard drive and 32 yard TD pass from Sophomore QB Micah Alejandro to Junior WR Audric Harris. After failing to make an attempted 2-point conversion the score would be 24-12. Holding the Sun Devils to a punt after just four plays on their next possession, the Rainbow Warriors made it all the way down to just 1 yard outside the Arizona State red zone. But after throwing four incompletions in a row had to give the ball back with half the quarter gone. The Sun Devils took their time, right at six minutes, and drove the ball 79 yards in 9 plays and back into the end zone on a Cutter Boley 8 yard TD pass to Senior WR Reed Harris to give Arizona State a 30-12 lead—after missing a two-point conversion try of their own—with just two minutes left in the game. Hawaii would be held to a three-and-out on their next possession and the Sun Devils would take a knee to end the game.
For Arizona State, Junior QB Cutter Boley connected on 21-of-31 for 189 yards, 2 TD’s—both to Senior WR Reed Harris—and no interceptions. Of the receiving corp, it was Harris and Senior WR Omarion Miller who combined for 169 of the team’s total 189 yards in the air on 14 receptions. On the ground, Freshman RB Cardae Mack picked up 67% of the team’s 231 rushing yards on 13 carries as well as their only two TD’s. For Hawaii, Sophomore QB Micah Alejandro was 25-of-49 for 252 yards, 1 TD to Junior WR Audric Harris, and 1 interception. The Rainbow Warriors running game struggled, collectively rushing for 64 yards on 22 carries without finding the end zone. The Sun Devils are going to have a lot tougher opponent next week as they hit the road to take on No. 10 Texas Tech at Galaxy Stadium in Lubbock where 60,000 fans and their unique red raider mascot create one of the most exciting and home friendly college football experiences in the FBS.