Utah State at No. 17 Utah
Utah pitched a shutout in this one as their defense held the Aggies to eight punts, seven three-and-out’s, one turn-over on downs, recovery of a muffed punt, and 1 interception leading to a Ute TD at the end of the third quarter. Utah scored on back-to-back TD’s and a field goal in the 1st Qtr to take a 16-0 after missing a PAT. They picked up another three points with a field goal on their first possession of the 2nd Qtr making it a 19-0 game. Utah State held them to a three-and-out but Utah got the ball back when the Aggies muffed the punt reception. Starting from the Utah State 39 yard line, three plays later the Utes were back in the end zone on a 37 yard TD pass Senior QB Devon Dampier to Senior WR Braden Pagen to give them a 26-0 lead going into the half.
After being held to a couple of three-and-outs at the beginning of the 3rd Qtr, the Aggies had an opportunity after a Ute fumble to make some headway but they would throw an interception six plays into their drive leading to another Utah score—this one on a 63 yard TD run to the house by Sophomore RB Daniel Bray to give the Utes a 33-0 lead at the end of the 3rd quarter. With all Utah’s starters on the bench the Aggies would hold them to a three-and-out and a turnover on downs, but still couldn’t get anything going themselves. They turned the ball back over on downs after being unable to convert a 4th and 1 just seven yards away from the end zone. They punted on their next possession after being sacked and then were held to a three-and-out on their last.
For Utah, Senior QB Devon Dampier was 22-of-32 for 253 yards, 2 TD’s—both to Senior WR Braden Pegan who picked up 122 of those yards on 8 receptions—and no interceptions while also picking up 34 yards rushing 10 times. On the ground Utah collectively ran 37 times for 194 yards and two TD’s, one by Sophomore RB Daniel Bray and the other by Sophomore backup QB Byrd Ficklin. The Utah defense picked up four sacks, five tackles for loss and four pass disruptions. For Utah State, Senior QB Grady Brosterhous connected on 15-of-29 for 130 yards and 1 interception. On the ground the team collectively rushed 28 times for just 58 yards. Utah led in first downs, 23-10; total yards of offense, 480-188; they converted their 3rd downs twice as efficiently; had fewer penalties and won the time-of-possession battle by ten minutes. Next up for Utah—Iowa State on the road in Ames.
Arizona State at Kansas
Thank goodness for Arizona State Junior QB Cutter Boley, Senior WR’s Reed Harris and Jaren Hamilton, and Senior Place Kicker Carson Smith. Boley threw a TD to Harris, ran one in himself, Smith kicked a field goal, and Hamilton took a kickoff back 100 yards to the house. That 24 points was all the Sun Devils needed to dispense with Kansas on the road in the first ever Union Jack Classic in 90,000 seat Wembley Stadium in London. The Union Jack Classic will be an annual game featuring NCAA FBS Division programs competing on a neutral-site in London.
After holding Kansas to a three-and-out to start the game, the Sun Devils would get on the board first with Carson Smith’s 39 yard field goal at the end of their 10 play 34 yard drive—the only score by either team in the first quarter. The Jayhawks would fumble the ball on their first possession of the second quarter but would get on the board after holding Arizona State to a three-and-out and running their punt back for a TD to go up 7-3. That one included, there were six punts in a row which might have had the folks in Wembley stadium wondering why they bought a ticket to this thing. But then again they love soccer, right? With just 25 seconds left in the half and after a muffed punt by the Jayhawks, Boley would connect down the middle to Senior WR Reed Harris with a 25 yard TD pass to put the Sun Devils up 10-7 at the half.
Having deferred to the second half, Kansas kicked the ball off to start the third quarter—all the way down to the Sun Devil’s goal line where Senior WR Jaren Hamilton would decide to run it out. He not only just ran it out, he ran it all the back to the other end zone to give Arizona State a 17-7 lead. Three three-and-outs, two turnovers on downs, and a missed field goal would eat up the rest of the third quarter. Thank goodness they’re playing to a crowd that doesn’t really care if there’s a lot of scoring. In a seemingly seamless transition, Kansas would start the fourth quarter with a fumble on the seventh play of their opening drive at the Arizona State 22 yard line and have it run back 77 yards by Sun Devil Junior LB Owen Long to the Jayhawk 1 yard line. About 30 seconds later Cutter Boley was in the end zone giving Arizona State a 24-7 lead. After starting the quarter with a fumble the Jayhawks, striving for a diversity of mistakes, would throw an interception at the end of their next possession—an 11 play 52 yard drive to just outside the Sun Devil red zone. But Arizona State couldn’t capitalize and were held to a three-and-out. With half the quarter left Kansas would finally get their act together with a TD and a field goal to make it a 24-17 game. But with less than four minutes left and Arizona State with the ball it was too little, too late.
Colorado at Northwestern
I was really looking forward to this one but Colorado shot themselves in the foot repeatedly and with four turnovers it turned the new “Go-Go” offense, developed by their Offensive Coordinator Brennan Marion, into a “No-Go” on the road at Northwestern. There were signs of how well it can work as their leading receiver was averaging almost eighteen yards a catch and their leading rusher eleven. Down only 7-0 to start the 2nd Qtr they connected on a 12 yard pass play and then ran the ball five straight times averaging 8 yards per carry and then fumbled. On their next possession they picked up 16 yards on a run and then threw a pick. It was frustrating to watch as I think they are much better than what happened in this blowout 41-7 loss to Northwestern.
For Colorado, Sophomore QB Julian Lewis connected on 19-of-29 for 168 yards, 1 TD to Junior WR Joseph Williams, and 2 interceptions. On the ground the Buffaloes collectively rushed 33 times for 180 yards without finding the end zone. For Northwestern, Senior QB Aidan Chiles was 17-of-22 for 241 yards, 3 TD’s, and no interceptions while also rushing 9 times for 2 more TD’s. Collectively the Wildcats rushed 51 times for 182 yards and those two scores. Colorado stays on the road to open Big-12 conference play against Baylor this next Saturday.
Northern Illinois at Arizona
Northern Illinois got all the way down to just one yard outside of the Wildcat’s red zone in ten plays of their first drive. Had they been sitting 4th and 1 they most certainly would have gone for it. But they were 4th and 8 and made the smart decision to have their Freshman Place Kicker JJ Schlenhardt kick the field goal and get the three. After holding Arizona to a three-and-out on their first possession, the Huskies would catch the Wildcat secondary asleep and connect on a 52 yard TD pass from Junior QB Taron Dickens to Senior WR Cam Thompson. With just six minutes gone in the 1st Qtr Northern Illinois was already up 10-0. But just a couple of beautiful pass plays later by Arizona Senior QB Noah Fafita—one for 43 yards to Senior WR Tre Spivey and a 38 yard TD pass caught by Chris Hunter—the Wildcats would cut that lead to just three points, 10-7.
After Northern Illinois missed a 41 yard field goal from the Arizona 24 yard line to end the 1st Qtr Fafita would hit his third target, Isaiah Mizell, with a 12 yard TD pass to take the lead 14-10 just four minutes into the 2nd Qtr. Forcing Northern Illinois to punt just six plays later, Fafita would hit Senior WR Rodney Gallagher with a 21 yard pass, Junior WR Brandon Phelps with back-to-back 24 and 14 yard passes, and then Spivey again for a 10 yard TD pass to go up 21-10. Holding the Huskies to a three-and-out, their punt would be returned 69 yards for a TD by Arizona Freshman WR Caleb Smith playing on Special Teams to make it a 28-10 game where it would stay for the half after the Huskies were forced to punt again on their next possession with less than a minute left to play.
After deferring to the second half, the Wildcats got the ball to start the 3rd Qtr and taking their nice sweet time found the end zone again at the end of a 13 play 75 yard drive—a three yard TD pass from Fafita to Senior TE Tyler Powell to give Arizona a big 35-10 lead. Taking over eight minutes on their drive,15 plays and 55 yards into their possession, the Northern Illinois QB got sacked on a 4th and goal attempt from the Arizona 10 yard line to end the quarter. The Wildcats would start the fourth quarter off just like they did the third, with a TD. At end of an almost 8 minute 78 yard drive Fafita would run it in himself from 30 yards out to make it 42-10. After another missed field goal by the Huskies and an interception of Fafita on Arizona’s next possession, Northern Illinois would finally get back on the board after a pass interference penalty, a 20 yard pass completion by their backup Sophomore QB Brady Davidson to Sophomore WR La’Don Bryant, and a 1 yard TD run by Sophomore RB Elijah Porter to make it a 42-17 final with just 13 seconds left.
For Arizona, Senior QB Noah Fafita would connect on over 90% of his 34 passes for 325 yards, 4 TD’s to four different receivers and no interceptions while also rushing for a TD himself. Spivey, Hunter, and Mizell led the way in the receiver corp, each with over five receptions and a TD each. On the ground, the Wildcats collectively rushed 27 times for 84 yards with their only TD coming on that 30 yard run by Fafita himself. Arizona had just two more first downs, 22-20; exactly 100 yards more total offense, 441-341; were way more efficient at third down conversion, 82% to 32%; and converted their only fourth down attempt. But the main difference in this game was an Arizona QB who was absolutely surgical in connecting more than three times to seven different receivers without having a single pass disrupted or defensed by an ineffective Husky secondary. There was more to celebrate here than just the win as reported by the AP for ESPN. In the Recap they wrote; “Fifita threw for 325 yards to become Arizona’s all-time leading passer and accounted for five touchdowns, leading the Wildcats to a 42-17 win over Northern Illinois Saturday night.” Leaving him in even after the victory was assured, Arizona head coach Brent Brennan said; “I just felt that, as a program, we owed it to him to give him a chance to do that here [at” home]” The AP continued; “Fifita was efficient . . . completing 31 of 34 passes to reach 10,017 career yards — eclipsing Nick Foles’ record of 10,011 from 2009–11. Fifita threw for four touchdowns, extending his school record to 80.” Arizona hits the road to take on a familiar PAC-12 foe this next Saturday, Washington State.