Here we go folks, kick off in Tucson!
FIRST QUARTER
-Arizona starts with the ball at their own 25. Not what you want to see on the first play of the game which goes for negative yards, but that doesn't matter, Khalil Tate throws an absolute bomb downfield to Shawn Poindexter for 43 yards to the Washington State 35.
-Tate connects with Wolma on the right side of the field for a 16 yard gain. Wildcat ball on the 20 yard line. The drive stops there as the Wildcats have to settle for a field goal. Khalil Tate did what Khalil Tate does and almost made enough guys miss to get the first down on third and long but it wasn't enough. SCORE UPDATE: Arizona 3 Washington State 0.
-Here's out first look at tonight's Wildcat defense, it's been a mixed bag as far as their consistency this season but i've noticed they play with a TON of effort week in and week out. Washington St. starts on their own 25 yard line.
*Injury Update - All of Arizona's injured players on the defensive side of the ball listed as questionable this week are starting tonight.
-Good coverage by Dane Cruikshank 3rd and 10. Luke Falk had a man across the center of the field on a post, just missed his hands. Arizona takes over at their own 35 yard line.
-Khalil Tate with a nice keeper on 1st and 10 that goes for 11 yards. Don't blink this Wildcat offense is moving! TOUCHDOWN! Khalil Tate keeps on an RPO and delivers an easy throw to TE Jamie Nunley up the middle all by himself for a 48 yard touchdown. Doesn't get much easier than that... coverage bust for the Cougars and that'll cost them. Khalil Tate hits the open receivers. SCORE UPDATE: Arizona 10 Washington State 0
-That Hurts! Washington St. return man bobbles the ball on the kick off and will start at their own 13 yard line. No big deal Falk hits his check down the very next play for 13 yards, ball at the Cougars 26. Tavares Martin Jr. drops the ball on 3rd and 6, Cougars on to punt.
-Man that ball must be bouncy, Shun Brown bobbles to punt and Washington St. takes over at the Arizona 25 yard line. That fumble looks to be costly, Falk and his check downs are cutting right through the Wildcat defense.
-On 3rd and 1 Falk throws a fade to the back left pylong but Sammy Morrison with great body positioning pushed the Cougar WR out of bounds before getting his feet down. Washington St. gambles on 4th down and 1 but it pays off for them. Falk hits Isiah Johnson-Mack for a 1-yard pass in between Schooler and a couple of other defenders in the paint. Touchdown Washington St. SCORE UPDATE: Arizona 10 Washington State 7.
-JJ Taylor with a great cut block on the outside on third down for the Wildcats and Khalil Tate connects with Tyrell Johnson for 13 yards to give the cats a fresh set of downs. Tate takes a shot on the ensuing 4th and 12 but a Cougar defender made a great play on the ball.
-Washington St. takes over at their own 19 yard line. Cougars don't start the drive with much and Falk can't connect on 3rd and 8. Punter Kyle Sweet on to punt. Shun Brown field the punt and runs about 40 yard for an 8 yard return, but it did look pretty good as he made about five guys miss. Arizona takes over on their own 45 yard line with 1:13 left to play in the quarter. On 3rd and 5 Tate throws a missle up the right side line to Cedric Peterson that would've not only got the Wildcats the first down but would've juiced the crowd back up and won some momentum going into the 2nd quarter. Instead Pollack punts the ball for 40 yards that is fair caught at the Washington St. 10 yard line. Cougars will start the second quarter backed up into their own territory.
SECOND QUARTER
-Falk hits his check down James Williams for maybe a 2 yard gain but that isn't the case he makes three Wildcat defenders that should've had him wrapped up and takes it for 32 yards and a Cougar first down. That was the definition of poor tackling, something Matt has touched on consistently.
-Washington St. WR Dezmon Patmon gets behind a Wildcat DB (whose number I missed) does him a favor by dropping a great ball from Falk. That would've put the Cougars on top of the scoreboard. 4th and 7 at the Wildcat 39 yard line. Erik Powell on to attempt a field goal from 56 yards out. NO GOOD. Powell misses just outside the left bar.
-Wildcats take over on their own 39 yard line, not terrible field position to work with. Cats get a yard on first down but can't add anything to that, quick three and out. Pollack punts a 42 yarder and the Cougars take over on their own 19 yard line. Schooler comes up big on third down and wraps up Falk on a keeper. Sweet with a 37 yard punt on 4th and 8.
-Shun Brown fair catches the punt, Wildcats take over on their own 42 yard line. Khalil Tate his Ellison in stride behind the Cougar defensive backs. Great finger tip grab by Ellison that goes for 41 yards. Tate hits Shun Brown for a WR screen on the left side of the field, Ellison cracked a Cougar DB and Poindexter hangs on to his block long enough to spring Brown free. Touchdown Wildcats. SCORE UPDATE: Arizona 17 Washington State 7.
-Cruikshank and Whittaker take down Dezmon Patmon a yard shy of the first down marker to force a 4th and 1. Cougars have a decision to make! Falk initially starts behind center on 4th down but WSU rethinks their decision and calls a timeout. What looked like a terrible punt from the press box goes for 50 yards on the rugby style hit.
-Khalil Tate being Khalil Tate takes designed run up the left side of the field, JJ Taylor with another huge cut block and Tate just blazes past any Cougar with an opportunity to touch him, he gets caught at the end of the play and after review Tate's foot hits out at the 2 yard line which looked like a score. 1st and goal on the Washington State 2 yard line. Arizona goes backwards, Zach Green gets stuffed for a loss of 1 on first down, Tate has nothing on an option to the right and is stopped in the backfield for -6 yards. 3rd and goal from the 9 yard line. This is looking like a chess match, WSU takes a timeout right before the play is snapped, Wildcats dip into their bag of tricks but come up with nothing, a fake end around option play gets stopped for a gain of 1 yard. 4th and 8 at the Cougar 8 yard line. Pollack on to attempt the field goal and it's good from 25 yards out. SCORE UPDATE: Arizona 20 Washington State 7.
*Injury Update - Washington State's starting QB Luke Falk is not starting the drive for the Cougars. Tyler Hilinski is behind center.
-So far so good for Hilinski as he completes three straight passes and then some. One of his check downs got blown up for a loss of 4, tackle made by Lorenzo Burns. Hilinski and the Cougars answer going for it later in the drive on fourth down and have a fresh set of downs at the Wildcat 27 yard line. He completes a couple big time passes into the Arizona zone defense and gets helped by a nice catch and run to get a first down at the Arizona 6 yard line. Hilinski has all day and then some in the pocket on first down, runs to the left, back to the right, then back to the left up the center for a 6 yard keeper. SCORE UPDATE: Arizona 20 Washington State 14. Tough points to give up for the Wildcats with only seconds remaining till halftime.
-Tyrell Johnson with a big return to the WSU 40 yard line and gets out of bounds with 1 second remaining in the half. Josh Pollack on to attempt a 57 yard field goal. WOW! It's good. Pollack hits from 57 yards out. SCORE UPDATE: Arizona 23 Washington 14. That concludes the half, the Cougars will start the second half on offense.
HALFTIME STATS:
Arizona
Khalil Tate 7-11 182 yards. 2 TD. 8 rushes 92 yards.
Jamie Nunley 1 catch 48 yards. 1 TD.
Shawn Poindexter 1 catch 43 yards.
Tony Ellison 1 catch 41 yards.
Washington State
Luke Falk 13-23 93 yards. 1 TD.
Tyler Hilinski 7-8 69 yards. 1 rush 6 yards. 1 TD.
Jamal Morrows 6 catches 51 yards.
Tavares Martin Jr. 4 catches 48 yards.
THIRD QUARTER
-Poor tackling again in a soft Wildcat zone gives Dezmon Patmon a 22 yard gain, he escaped a Schooler arm tackles, bounced off a couple of other Wildcat defenders and fights for what he earned. Hilinski is moving the ball well behind center for the Cougars. Scratch that, Fields drops back into zone picking off Hilinski whom delivers a pass into quadruple coverage, i'm guessing he never even saw the linebackers. Arizona takes over at their own 32 yard line for their first possession of the half.
-Uh Oh! Khalil Tate stumbles and fumbles, the ball is out at the Arizona 37 yard line and the Cougars take over. Hilinski hits Jamire Calvin in soft zone coverage for a big gain. He then hits Tay Martin on the sideline for a 10 yard gain, Martin keeps it coming, Hilinski with a beautiful back shoulder pass to Martin on the left size of the end zone for an 8 yard touchdown. Erik Powell's PAT is no good. SCORE UPDATE: Arizona 23 Washington State 20. Hilinski with a great response on the drive after a terrible interception.
-Momentum shift! Marcellus Pippens draped all over a Wildcat receiver and the ball is tipped on a Khalil Tate pass over the middle resulting in an interception, what should have been a pass interference call against the Cougars will likely result in points against the Wildcats.
-Hilinski gets what feels like all week in the pocket and makes a man miss, that carry goes for 11 yards and is down at the Wildcat 1 yard line. Tony Fields smacks Hilinski with helmet to helmet contact but is not flagged, good effort on the touchdown saving tackle. James Williams is stuffed for no gain on first down, Cruikshank with a nice PBU forces third down. Hilinski gets loose to the right because of an over pursue by the Wildcat DL, no one in his way easy touchdown for the Cougars. SCORE UPDATE: Arizona 23 Washington State 27.
FIRST QUARTER
-Arizona starts with the ball at their own 25. Not what you want to see on the first play of the game which goes for negative yards, but that doesn't matter, Khalil Tate throws an absolute bomb downfield to Shawn Poindexter for 43 yards to the Washington State 35.
-Tate connects with Wolma on the right side of the field for a 16 yard gain. Wildcat ball on the 20 yard line. The drive stops there as the Wildcats have to settle for a field goal. Khalil Tate did what Khalil Tate does and almost made enough guys miss to get the first down on third and long but it wasn't enough. SCORE UPDATE: Arizona 3 Washington State 0.
-Here's out first look at tonight's Wildcat defense, it's been a mixed bag as far as their consistency this season but i've noticed they play with a TON of effort week in and week out. Washington St. starts on their own 25 yard line.
*Injury Update - All of Arizona's injured players on the defensive side of the ball listed as questionable this week are starting tonight.
-Good coverage by Dane Cruikshank 3rd and 10. Luke Falk had a man across the center of the field on a post, just missed his hands. Arizona takes over at their own 35 yard line.
-Khalil Tate with a nice keeper on 1st and 10 that goes for 11 yards. Don't blink this Wildcat offense is moving! TOUCHDOWN! Khalil Tate keeps on an RPO and delivers an easy throw to TE Jamie Nunley up the middle all by himself for a 48 yard touchdown. Doesn't get much easier than that... coverage bust for the Cougars and that'll cost them. Khalil Tate hits the open receivers. SCORE UPDATE: Arizona 10 Washington State 0
-That Hurts! Washington St. return man bobbles the ball on the kick off and will start at their own 13 yard line. No big deal Falk hits his check down the very next play for 13 yards, ball at the Cougars 26. Tavares Martin Jr. drops the ball on 3rd and 6, Cougars on to punt.
-Man that ball must be bouncy, Shun Brown bobbles to punt and Washington St. takes over at the Arizona 25 yard line. That fumble looks to be costly, Falk and his check downs are cutting right through the Wildcat defense.
-On 3rd and 1 Falk throws a fade to the back left pylong but Sammy Morrison with great body positioning pushed the Cougar WR out of bounds before getting his feet down. Washington St. gambles on 4th down and 1 but it pays off for them. Falk hits Isiah Johnson-Mack for a 1-yard pass in between Schooler and a couple of other defenders in the paint. Touchdown Washington St. SCORE UPDATE: Arizona 10 Washington State 7.
-JJ Taylor with a great cut block on the outside on third down for the Wildcats and Khalil Tate connects with Tyrell Johnson for 13 yards to give the cats a fresh set of downs. Tate takes a shot on the ensuing 4th and 12 but a Cougar defender made a great play on the ball.
-Washington St. takes over at their own 19 yard line. Cougars don't start the drive with much and Falk can't connect on 3rd and 8. Punter Kyle Sweet on to punt. Shun Brown field the punt and runs about 40 yard for an 8 yard return, but it did look pretty good as he made about five guys miss. Arizona takes over on their own 45 yard line with 1:13 left to play in the quarter. On 3rd and 5 Tate throws a missle up the right side line to Cedric Peterson that would've not only got the Wildcats the first down but would've juiced the crowd back up and won some momentum going into the 2nd quarter. Instead Pollack punts the ball for 40 yards that is fair caught at the Washington St. 10 yard line. Cougars will start the second quarter backed up into their own territory.
SECOND QUARTER
-Falk hits his check down James Williams for maybe a 2 yard gain but that isn't the case he makes three Wildcat defenders that should've had him wrapped up and takes it for 32 yards and a Cougar first down. That was the definition of poor tackling, something Matt has touched on consistently.
-Washington St. WR Dezmon Patmon gets behind a Wildcat DB (whose number I missed) does him a favor by dropping a great ball from Falk. That would've put the Cougars on top of the scoreboard. 4th and 7 at the Wildcat 39 yard line. Erik Powell on to attempt a field goal from 56 yards out. NO GOOD. Powell misses just outside the left bar.
-Wildcats take over on their own 39 yard line, not terrible field position to work with. Cats get a yard on first down but can't add anything to that, quick three and out. Pollack punts a 42 yarder and the Cougars take over on their own 19 yard line. Schooler comes up big on third down and wraps up Falk on a keeper. Sweet with a 37 yard punt on 4th and 8.
-Shun Brown fair catches the punt, Wildcats take over on their own 42 yard line. Khalil Tate his Ellison in stride behind the Cougar defensive backs. Great finger tip grab by Ellison that goes for 41 yards. Tate hits Shun Brown for a WR screen on the left side of the field, Ellison cracked a Cougar DB and Poindexter hangs on to his block long enough to spring Brown free. Touchdown Wildcats. SCORE UPDATE: Arizona 17 Washington State 7.
-Cruikshank and Whittaker take down Dezmon Patmon a yard shy of the first down marker to force a 4th and 1. Cougars have a decision to make! Falk initially starts behind center on 4th down but WSU rethinks their decision and calls a timeout. What looked like a terrible punt from the press box goes for 50 yards on the rugby style hit.
-Khalil Tate being Khalil Tate takes designed run up the left side of the field, JJ Taylor with another huge cut block and Tate just blazes past any Cougar with an opportunity to touch him, he gets caught at the end of the play and after review Tate's foot hits out at the 2 yard line which looked like a score. 1st and goal on the Washington State 2 yard line. Arizona goes backwards, Zach Green gets stuffed for a loss of 1 on first down, Tate has nothing on an option to the right and is stopped in the backfield for -6 yards. 3rd and goal from the 9 yard line. This is looking like a chess match, WSU takes a timeout right before the play is snapped, Wildcats dip into their bag of tricks but come up with nothing, a fake end around option play gets stopped for a gain of 1 yard. 4th and 8 at the Cougar 8 yard line. Pollack on to attempt the field goal and it's good from 25 yards out. SCORE UPDATE: Arizona 20 Washington State 7.
*Injury Update - Washington State's starting QB Luke Falk is not starting the drive for the Cougars. Tyler Hilinski is behind center.
-So far so good for Hilinski as he completes three straight passes and then some. One of his check downs got blown up for a loss of 4, tackle made by Lorenzo Burns. Hilinski and the Cougars answer going for it later in the drive on fourth down and have a fresh set of downs at the Wildcat 27 yard line. He completes a couple big time passes into the Arizona zone defense and gets helped by a nice catch and run to get a first down at the Arizona 6 yard line. Hilinski has all day and then some in the pocket on first down, runs to the left, back to the right, then back to the left up the center for a 6 yard keeper. SCORE UPDATE: Arizona 20 Washington State 14. Tough points to give up for the Wildcats with only seconds remaining till halftime.
-Tyrell Johnson with a big return to the WSU 40 yard line and gets out of bounds with 1 second remaining in the half. Josh Pollack on to attempt a 57 yard field goal. WOW! It's good. Pollack hits from 57 yards out. SCORE UPDATE: Arizona 23 Washington 14. That concludes the half, the Cougars will start the second half on offense.
HALFTIME STATS:
Arizona
Khalil Tate 7-11 182 yards. 2 TD. 8 rushes 92 yards.
Jamie Nunley 1 catch 48 yards. 1 TD.
Shawn Poindexter 1 catch 43 yards.
Tony Ellison 1 catch 41 yards.
Washington State
Luke Falk 13-23 93 yards. 1 TD.
Tyler Hilinski 7-8 69 yards. 1 rush 6 yards. 1 TD.
Jamal Morrows 6 catches 51 yards.
Tavares Martin Jr. 4 catches 48 yards.
THIRD QUARTER
-Poor tackling again in a soft Wildcat zone gives Dezmon Patmon a 22 yard gain, he escaped a Schooler arm tackles, bounced off a couple of other Wildcat defenders and fights for what he earned. Hilinski is moving the ball well behind center for the Cougars. Scratch that, Fields drops back into zone picking off Hilinski whom delivers a pass into quadruple coverage, i'm guessing he never even saw the linebackers. Arizona takes over at their own 32 yard line for their first possession of the half.
-Uh Oh! Khalil Tate stumbles and fumbles, the ball is out at the Arizona 37 yard line and the Cougars take over. Hilinski hits Jamire Calvin in soft zone coverage for a big gain. He then hits Tay Martin on the sideline for a 10 yard gain, Martin keeps it coming, Hilinski with a beautiful back shoulder pass to Martin on the left size of the end zone for an 8 yard touchdown. Erik Powell's PAT is no good. SCORE UPDATE: Arizona 23 Washington State 20. Hilinski with a great response on the drive after a terrible interception.
-Momentum shift! Marcellus Pippens draped all over a Wildcat receiver and the ball is tipped on a Khalil Tate pass over the middle resulting in an interception, what should have been a pass interference call against the Cougars will likely result in points against the Wildcats.
-Hilinski gets what feels like all week in the pocket and makes a man miss, that carry goes for 11 yards and is down at the Wildcat 1 yard line. Tony Fields smacks Hilinski with helmet to helmet contact but is not flagged, good effort on the touchdown saving tackle. James Williams is stuffed for no gain on first down, Cruikshank with a nice PBU forces third down. Hilinski gets loose to the right because of an over pursue by the Wildcat DL, no one in his way easy touchdown for the Cougars. SCORE UPDATE: Arizona 23 Washington State 27.
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