No. 12 Oregon spoiled family weekend and Arizona's first sellout at home since 2015, running all over the Wildcats leading to a 49-22 win.
"Tonight, we didn't stop them," Jedd Fisch said. "We turned it over and that is usually the recipe for not winning the game."
The Wildcats won the coin toss and elected to receive, taking the opening drive deep into the Ducks territory before a fumble gave Oregon the ball. After a quick stop by the defense, Arizona was able to drive back down the field and open the scoring with a field goal.
"After that, we couldn't keep up," Fisch said. "They were going and we weren't stopping them and then we got stopped a couple of times in a row and kicked it back and didn't get the stop. It wasn't the type of game we wanted to have but they played a complete game. Our players in the locker room, we tell them all the time you win or you learn and in this case we learned and we learned how to get better."
Bo Nix was about as efficient as it gets, completing 20 of 25 passes for 265 yards but it was all about Oregon's run game against the Wildcats run defense. As a team, they ran for 310 yards on 39 carries with five different Oregon players scored a rushing touchdown including three touchdowns on the ground by Nix himself.
"What they do a really good job of is kicking the ball out," Fisch said. "If you sell out inside, they do a really good job on the perimeter... They hit two big explosive passes over the top. Those were really you're trying to sell out to stop the run and that's what happens. We have to improve there. There is no question about it and we're going to work very hard at it."
On the offensive side of the ball for Arizona, DJ Williams ran a 52-yard touchdown right before halftime to which Oregon responded with a touchdown of their own a few minutes later. That run by Williams was one of two long runs by Arizona on the night along with a 43-yard run by Jonah Coleman.
"Those two are really good," Jordan Morgan said. "They're going to be really good players throughout the whole season. As we keep going, they're going to keep striving."
Jayden de Laura completed 24 of 242 passes for 241 yards with a touchdown and interception. The Arizona run game ran for 115 yards on 25 carries, but they fell behind by a lot too soon to be able to continue to establish the running game. Jacob Cowing led all wide receivers with six catches for 77 yards with most of his production coming in the opening quarter. Tetairoa McMillan hauled in five passes for 48 yards and a late touchdown.
This was the start of the toughest stretch of the season for Arizona and it won't get any easier traveling to Husky Stadium next week to face a Washington team that just got upset by Arizona State.
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