After an exciting offseason for the Arizona program, the Wildcats finally took the field for the season opener against San Diego State in what was the opening game at Snapdragon Stadium. Arizona fell 38-14 last season, but both rosters went through a ton of changes this offseason and that was evident early on.

This time around, it was the Wildcats that were able to jump up quick in the game taking an early 17-3 lead. Arizona (1-0) set the tone early in the game and walked away with the 38-20 victory over the Aztecs.

After forcing a three-and-out of the Aztecs to open the game, Jayden de Laura took the field for his first official snaps as the Arizona quarterback. The transfer from Washington State led the Wildcats on a slow, but efficient drive that lasted nearly six minutes. Arizona found themselves inside the 10-yard line where they struggled so often last season.

Despite Jedd Fisch preaching all offseason about establishing the run game in that area of the field, de Laura threw the ball three straight times leading to a 25-yard field goal.

The Wildcats' defense was putting pressure on San Diego State QB Braxton Burmeister all game. They forced a second straight three-and-out before Dalton Johnson got to the punter and blocked the kick to put the Wildcats immediately on the Aztecs side of the field.

de Laura took advantage of the field position, finding Jacob Cowing for the third time in two drives resulting in his first of many touchdowns on the afternoon. Arizona was up 10-0 at this point with just over three minutes left in the first quarter, while they were down 21-7 at the same time in the game last year.

After combining for nine total yards in their first two drives, the Aztecs finally put a drive together that resulted in a field goal to put them on the board. They established the run game all throughout this drive, but the Arizona defense held tight in the redzone that was capped off by a Jalen Harris sack to force the field goal attempt.

de Laura and the Arizona offense answered right back, turning in a 75-yard drive that resulted in the first collegiate touchdown for freshman Tetairoa McMillan. After he previously dropped his first target, Dorian Singer quickly rebounded for gains of 14 and 24 yards on the drive.

After forcing another San Diego State three-and-out, Arizona looked to continue to pile on the lead with all the momentum, but a fumble by Singer quickly changed that put the Aztecs on the Arizona side of the field.

Burmeister took advantage of the field position, tossing an 11-yard touchdown on 4th and four to cut the Arizona lead to 17-10. Three plays later, San Diego State got the ball back with all the momentum off a de Laura pick with just over three minutes left in the half.

Arizona quickly got the momentum back off an interception by Jaxen Turner. de Laura once again took advantage of the field position, finding Cowing for his second touchdown on the afternoon right before halftime to give Arizona a 24-10 lead heading into the break.

Turner talked after the game about how his interception changed the vibe.

"It definitely got our offense back because a couple of them had their head down," Turner said. "It was an unfortunate situation, but we preach out there to get the ball back for the offense so we were able to do that. We did that and the offense went right back and scored right before halftime."

Looking to add to an already two possession lead, de Laura and the Wildcats offense got the ball right back to open the second half.

While scrambling on a 2nd-and-7 play, de Laura found McMillan deep for a 37-yard reception on an insane throw and catch that the freshman had to come back to while also being held.

"I mean I know him, [McMillan] can just make plays," de Laura said. "I just got to put it up there around his area. He should have had another touchdown on a hook and go. I just threw that out of bounds. That's on me."

de Laura attributed to how dynamic the wide receivers are on the outside.

"I just believe in those guys and the two outside guys that they're going to go get it and even [Cowing,]" de Laura said. "They got legs. They can run. Those two guys on the outside can jump. [McMillan] got the size and frame."

On the very next play, de Laura found Cowing in the endzone for the third time in the game.

It started to get a little weird for Arizona when Kyle Ostendorp was punting in Arizona's end zone and the kick hit the left arm of Josh Donovan. The Aztecs landed on the ball in the endzone to cut the Wildcats lead to 31-17. After a three-and-out for Arizona, the Aztecs drove right back into the red zone but the Wildcats defense once again stayed strong holding them to a field goal.

de Laura and the offense pretty much put the game away on another long drive that lasted nearly six minutes and was capped off by a 10-yard rushing touchdown by transfer RB DJ Williams to put Arizona ahead 38-20 with just over 13 minutes left in the game.

Burmeister appeared to hurt his shoulder on a scramble, which resulted in backup quarterback William Haskell being under center for the Aztecs in the final quarter. The Wildcats were all over Burmeister all game as he completed just 5-of-10 passes for 51 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Kolbe Cage recovered a fumble with just under six minutes left to officially put the game away and move Arizona to 1-0 on the season in dominant fashion.

Fisch handed out game balls to six players after the game to de Laura, Cowing, Paris Shand, Kolbe Cage, Turner and defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen.

"We're very appreciative that those guys had faith and belief in us and chose to come to the University of Arizona as we are the recruits that came here," Fisch said. "[Tetairoa McMillan] and all those guys, [Jonah Savaiinaea] and there's so many to name. There's a lot of guys that played today for the first time. We're just getting started, we're building this. We really believe we could build something special at Arizona, but it's going to take time. We just tell our players to continue to trust the process and good things will come."

The five touchdowns scored by Arizona were all by either transfers or freshman. de Laura completed 22-of-35 passes for 299 yards with four touchdowns and one interception. Williams led the way on the ground running for 88 yards and a score on 14 carries. Cowing was the star of the afternoon, hauling in eight passes for 152 yards and three touchdowns. Singer also caught six passes for 52 yards, while McMillan caught three passes for 53 yards and a score.

The success of the offense in the season opener was no surprise to Cowing.

"Going into this fall camp, we started going over plays, going over film," Cowing said. "Just going out there today and executing those certain plays that we would run over and over and over. It's just kind of like the back of my hand. I know it pretty well and certain looks, we know what to do.

Arizona will host Mississippi State in the home opener on September 10 at 8:00 p.m. (MST).

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