No. 9 Washington beats Arizona 35-28 in overtime
Jake Browning hit Dante Pettis on a 4-yard touchdown in overtime, Lavon Coleman ran for 181 yards and No. 9 Washington held off Arizona 35-28 Saturday night in both teams’ Pac-12 opener.
Pettis made a tough grab in traffic on the first possession of overtime and Washington’s defense forced a turnover on downs to eke out the victory.
The Huskies (4-0, 1-0 Pac-12) had a hard time shaking Arizona (2-2, 0-1 Pac-12), which was down to its fourth-string running back after J.J. Taylor left in the third quarter with a left ankle injury.
Brandon Dawkins kept the Wildcats in it, dazzling with 176 yards and two touchdowns rushing, 167 yards and another score passing. He escaped what appeared to be a sack to hit Shun Brown on a 54-yard pass , then hit Josh Kern on a 3-yard TD pass with 17 seconds left to tie the game at 28.
Coleman kept the Huskies moving with Browning limited to passes underneath and scored on a 55-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Browning finished 14 of 21 for 160 yards and two touchdowns.
The Huskies faced adversity for the first time after three easy wins to open the season and survived. Washington failed to capitalize after manhandling the smaller Wildcats to start the second half – a 171-12 advantage in total yards – yet made the plays when it needed to down the stretch.
The Wildcats’ quick-tempo offense went into a slumber for a long stretch of the second half and its defense was manhandled at times by the Huskies. Arizona failed when it still had a shot at the end, but the bigger concern is depth after seeing another running back go down with an injury.
Colorado 41, Oregon 38: Steven Montez threw for 333 yards and three touchdowns in his first career start and the Buffaloes held off the Ducks, their first victory over Oregon since joining the Pac-12 in 2011.
Ahkello Witherspoon intercepted Dakota Prukop’s pass to Darren Carrington in the end zone on Oregon’s final drive to preserve the win for Colorado (3-1).
“That’s the most fun I’ve had in football in a while,” Montez said.
The Buffaloes had retaken the lead following a controversial 31-yard touchdown from Montez to Bryce Bobo. After review, the officials ruled Bobo had control of the ball in his right hand when his right foot came down in the end zone – but the crowd at Autzen Stadium booed in disagreement.
The Buffaloes had retaken the lead following a controversial 31-yard touchdown from Montez to Bryce Bobo. After review, the officials ruled Bobo had control of the ball in his right hand when his right foot came down in the end zone – but the crowd at Autzen Stadium booed in disagreement.
(7) Stanford 22, UCLA 13: J.J. Arcega-Whiteside caught an 8-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Burns with 24 seconds to play, and the Cardinal rallied on their final drive for its ninth consecutive victory over the Bruins in Pasadena, California.
Christian McCaffrey rushed for 138 yards for the Cardinal (3-0, 2-0 Pac-12), who haven’t lost to their downstate rivals since 2008.
After struggling on offense for 3 1/2 quarters at the Rose Bowl, Stanford put together a 70-yard winning drive capped by Burns’ fade to Arcega-Whiteside, who got one foot inbounds on an acrobatic play. Solomon Thomas then returned Josh Rosen’s fumble 42 yards for a touchdown on the game’s final play.
Boise State 38, Oregon State 24: Jeremy McNichols ran for 208 yards and scored four touchdowns and the Broncos are off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2011 after a win over Oregon State in Corvallis, Oregon.
McNichols did most of his damage in the first half, as the junior running back ran for 146 yards and touchdowns of 5, 6 and 70 yards, and caught a 6-yard scoring pass.