Arizona Erases a 14-point Hole and Beats Washington State 34-24
Take away the pick-six and Washington State has 17 points, not 24. That 25-yard interception return in the first quarter put the Cougars up 14-0 and, as it turned out, was the high point of their day. Arizona won 34-24.
Arizona was down 14-0 early: Caden Pinnick ran in from 11 yards, then Jackquintin Bal took Noah Fifita's pass back 25 yards. Fifita did not flinch. He threw a 28-yard touchdown to Tre Spivey with eight seconds left in the quarter and a four-yarder to Spivey in the second to tie it 14-14. Jack Stevens kicked a 33-yard field goal with 22 seconds left in the half, and WSU led 17-14 at the break.
That was its last lead. Fifita found Caleb Smith for 38 yards in the third to make it 21-17, Michael Salgado-Medina kicked a 27-yard field goal to open the fourth, and Fifita hit Isaiah Mizell from 11 yards to make it 31-17 with 9:07 left. Branden Ganashamoorthy answered with a 46-yard catch from Pinnick to get it to 31-24, and Salgado-Medina put it away with a 51-yard field goal with 1:57 to go.
Arizona outgained WSU 451 yards to 335, with 297 through the air and 154 on the ground. WSU threw an interception and lost a fumble. Fifita threw one interception himself, and it was the expensive one. Four touchdowns and a pick is still a 37.9-point fantasy day.
Arizona is 3-1. Washington State drops to 1-3. For Arizona, the comeback from 14 down is the thing to remember about the day; for the Cougars, it is that a pick-six and a 17-14 halftime lead were not enough.