Arizona pulled off a 20-17 win against UCLA in its first Pac-12 game of the season and did it without two of its best offensive players.
Quarterback Khalil Tate and running back J.J. Taylor, two of the Wildcats biggest playmakers, both suffered injuries during the game against Texas Tech forcing them to sit out against Bruins Saturday night at Arizona Stadium.
It marked the second consecutive game against UCLA that Tate was not able compete in because of an injury. Tate’s absence gave freshman Grant Gunnell the opportunity to lead the Wildcats in Saturday night's game as he made his first career start.
During Gunnell’s first collegiate appearance he proved himself to be a threat as he scored three of Arizona’s touchdowns against Northern Arizona.
Gunnell initially struggled to find a rhythm Saturday but with a little push from the team’s leading rusher Gary Brightwell and the team's other offensive weapons, Gunnell eventually gained the momentum he needed to finish the game strong. Brightwell proved that just a 1-yard gain could completely change the outcome of a game.
On fourth down with the Wildcats trailing 17-13 early in the fourth quarter Brightwell appeared to reach the first-down marker on a 1-yard rush. After a measurement from the referees Brightwell was given the first down setting up the perfect sequence for Arizona to score.
Gunnell was able to take advantage of Brightwell's play completing three passes for 42 yards the next three plays before the junior running back finished what he started rushing for 10 yards to score the last touchdown of the night.
Head coach Kevin Sumlin said during Arizona's bye week that Tate sat out allowing Gunnell and third-string quarterback Rhett Rodriguez to practice and get more reps with the first unit. Making the call to have a true freshman start in the first conference game of the season, over someone like Rodriguez who has more experience and started against UCLA last season in a one-point loss, was a gamble by Sumlin that ultimately paid off.
“The first thing you look at with a true freshman quarterback is, the number one thing is poise and how you handle situations," Sumlin said of Gunnell's first start. "I thought he was very, very mature about how he handled things, how he went about his business. The second thing that's probably the biggest plus is zero turnovers. You didn’t give the other team the ball. I said pregame — and we talked about at the hotel before we came over — it’s not on Grant, it’s on the ten other guys on the field to make him make this thing work tonight.
“...He missed a couple of things, but he managed the game well. Not a lot of miscues with delay of games, things like that that happen in those pressure situations from a freshman quarterback.”
The Bruins' touchdown early in the first quarter gave them the momentum to get in control until the second half when running back Bam Smith scored Arizona’s first touchdown of the game giving the Wildcats the lead for the first time midway through the third quarter.
UCLA's defense created some challenges offensively for the Wildcats early on preventing Arizona from bering able to dictate the pace of the game on the ground. The only points Arizona scored during the first half came from kicker Lucas Havrisik making 40-yard and 41-yard field goals at the end of the second quarter.
"We struggled early running the ball, because they just loaded the box and dared [Gunnell] to throw," Sumlin said. "So, we ran the perimeter. Got around early, that was our plan. They stretched it out a little bit but they were running the linebackers through and basically said, 'hey look, young guy, we're not gonna let you, without your two best offensive players, we're not gonna just let you run the ball.'"
The ultimate suspense of the game for Arizona came at the end of the fourth quarter with only 34 seconds left when UCLA attempted to tie the game with a 39-yard field goal but missed. Sumlin had two timeouts remaining at that point in the game and he used one of them to ice UCLA kicker JJ Molson who made his first attempt just as the timeout was called before he eventually went to to miss wide right on the next attempt securing the victory for UA.
“You got them in your pocket I can’t take them home and bring them the next game," Sumlin said of his decision to call a timeout at that moment in the game. “Probably the biggest decision was not to use the last time out on that next kick. That’s all luck of the draw."
After Saturday night's win Arizona is on its first three-game win streak since 2017. The Wildcats now have five consecutive weekends of games starting with Colorado on the road next Saturday.
"It feels good to get a win especially to start conference play, but we got a game next week on the road," junior middle linebacker Colin Schooler said after Saturday's win. "Based on our past we don't really play to our full potential on the road, so we're focusing on getting a road win especially in conference play but I loved the way we played tonight."
