Arizona 77, Northern Arizona 13
When: 11:00 PM ET, Saturday, September 19, 2015
Where: Arizona Stadium, Tucson, Arizona
Temperature:
80°
Head Official:
Land Clark
Attendance:
51494
By The Sports Xchange
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Arizona will head into a Pac-12 South showdown against UCLA coming off the most prolific offensive performance in school history.
The 20th-ranked Wildcats set school marks for points, total offense and rushing yards after they scored the final 63 points in a 77-13 victory over Northern Arizona on Saturday night.
"It will be nice to talk about for a day," said Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez, whose team plays host to the 10th-ranked Bruins on Saturday night. "After tomorrow's film, other than corrections, we'll be moving on for sure."
Quarterback Anu Solomon completed 25 of 35 passes for 285 yards and four touchdowns, leaving after Arizona's second series of the second half. His backup, Jarrard Randall, piled on with a 72-yard run on his first snap and then a 73-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter.
"They were more talented and they had a lot of depth in many areas," Northern Arizona coach Jerome Souers said. "And that showed in the second half when we started to wear out."
Arizona (3-0) broke three school records on the same play with 5:45 left in the game -- an 11-yard touchdown run by fourth-string quarterback Zach Werlinger. That set the school record for points (77), total yards (792) and rushing yards (499). Those would be UA's final totals for the night.
The school scoring record had stood since a 1921 game when Arizona scored 74 against the school now known as UTEP. The previous mark for yardage was 787 (UNLV, 2014) and the former rushing record was 492, established in 1988 against Eastern Michigan.
"I wasn't really happy with our focus at the beginning of the game," Rodriguez said. "Our execution wasn't there, but our guys corrected some things and played pretty well the last three quarters."
Northern Arizona (2-1) entered the game ranked 24th in the FCS coaches' poll.
"It's one game out of the season in our nonconference schedule, so we have to keep that in mind," Souers said. "We have to focus ourselves again."
Four Arizona quarterbacks combined to rush for 267 yards and five touchdowns on just 11 carries. Third-stringer Brandon Dawkins had a 43-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter.
"It's a whole different level of game now since it's the Pac-12 now," said Arizona safety Brandon Lopez, looking toward next week's game. "Going against such a big team, it's going to be a big challenge."
Arizona hasn't played a Power 5 conference team, beating Texas-San Antonio, Nevada and NAU.
"Over the last three weeks, particularly offensively," Rodriguez said, "we've been able to find some things that fit in our offense that we can execute well and carry into the conference games."
Three of Solomon's touchdown passes came in the big second quarter. Running back Nick Wilson, who finished with 143 yards on 19 carries, scored the other two on short runs.
The Arizona defense picked off three passes, two coming against backup quarterback Kyren Poe, who played the second half after Case Cookus went 8 of 13 for 190 yards in the first half. Wide receiver Emmanui Butler had five receptions for 119 yards.
Northern Arizona kicked a 39-yard field goal by Ryan Hawkins on the opening drive of the game, but the Wildcats quickly grabbed the lead with a six-play, 51-yard drive, capped by a 1-yard run by Solomon.
The Lumberjacks had 161 yards in the opening quarter but had to settle for a second field goal -- from 21 yards -- after a 69-yard catch-and-run from Dejzon Walker set up the Lumberjacks in the red zone.
Arizona led 7-6 after one quarter -- and then the Wildcats got hot.
Arizona scored touchdowns on all five drives in the second quarter to take a 42-13 lead at halftime.
The Wildcats repeatedly exploited mismatches in the passing game as Solomon connected for three touchdowns in the quarter -- 8 yards to Samajie Grant, 27 yards to David Richards and 14 yards to Richards.
Arizona mixed in two short touchdown runs by Wilson, who rushed 17 times for 139 yards in the half.
The Wildcats' 35 points in a quarter were one short of the school record, set last year when the Wildcats scored 36 in the fourth quarter against Cal.
NOTES: Northern Arizona redshirt freshman LB Jake Casteel, who played in a reserve role, was on the opposite sideline from his father, Jeff Casteel, Arizona's defensive coordinator. ... There has been no official announcement about the return of Arizona All-American LB Scooby Wright, who has missed two games after undergoing surgery to clean up meniscus. The optimistic end of the original timetable pegged a potential return against UCLA on Saturday. ... Arizona WRs Trey Griffey and Tyrell Johnson have not played this season because of foot injuries. ... Scouts from the New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons were in attendance, as was one from the Canadian Football League's BC Lions.
Top Game Performances
Rushing
Northern Arizona |
|
Arizona |
N/A |
Player |
Jerrard Randall |
- |
Attempts |
3 |
- |
Yards |
149 |
- |
Avg Yards |
49.7 |
- |
Touchdowns |
2 |
- |
Long |
0 |
Receiving
Northern Arizona |
|
Arizona |
N/A |
Player |
David Richards |
- |
Receptions |
8 |
- |
Yards |
120 |
- |
Avg Yards |
15.0 |
- |
Touchdowns |
2 |
- |
Long |
0 |
Team Stats Summary
|
Yards |
Scoring |
Defense |
Team |
Tot |
Rus |
Pas |
TD |
FG |
INT |
Sck |
FF |
Northern Arizona |
346 |
75 |
271 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Arizona
|
792 |
499 |
293 |
11 |
0 |
3 |
4.0 |
0 |