After seeing starting quarterback Jordan McCloud go done with a season-ending injury last week against UCLA, Arizona (0-6, 0-3 Pac-12) was forced to put Gunner Cruz back into the starting role against Colorado (2-4, 1-3).
The Wildcats' offensive struggles reached new heights with Cruz, who couldn't find his rhythm, going an abysmal 13 for 22 for 82 yards and an interception, as Arizona was shutout 34-0 to extend its losing streak to 18 games.
It is the first time Arizona has been shut out in a game Sept. 22, 2012 when the Wildcats lost to Oregon 49-0 during former coach Rich Rodriguez's first season at the helm.
"Yeah, not a good football game by us. Defensively I think we played a really good first half. And then I think we couldn't punch it in from the one-yard line to go up 7-6, probably at halftime.
"I need to coach a lot better; our staff needs to coach a lot better. Our players need to continue to improve so we can play better, and you know, block punt for a touchdown and to have two those in the same season is inexcusable. And then wind up losing sounds like Gunner for probably most of the year here, if not the rest of the year. So that's a tough one for the team again to handle some adversity," said coach Jedd Fisch during his postgame radio interview after loss to Colorado.
The only time Arizona was threatening in the red zone, the Wildcats were trailing 6-0 midway through the second quarter and had the ball first-and-goal on the Buffaloes' 1-yard line and couldn't punch the ball into the end zone on four attempts.
For Colorado, the play of the game came in the third quarter with Arizona lining up to punt down 6-0 when CU's special teams unit blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown making it a 13-0 game.
After suffering an injury to his hand in a 20-0 game, Cruz was pulled for quarterback Will Plummer who had his own struggles going 7 for 17 for 71 yards and an interception. The two quarterbacks combined for 153 yards and two interceptions.
"I thought we were in a good place. We had four drives in the first half I think it was maybe five we didn't move the ball very well the first couple. We had a couple of good ones on the third drive or fourth, whatever it was, got down to the one and were stopped. So not a very good offensive performance today," Fisch said.
The one bright spot on offense for Arizona was running back Jalen John, who on 11 carries racked up 71 yards and had the 23-yard run to put his team in scoring position on the 1-yard line.
"Yeah, it just looks like everybody's taking turns right now. Drake Anderson got dinged up a little bit. Jalen went. Jalen did a good job at really running the ball very, very well. And kudos to him and we'll have to keep getting him some more reps," Fisch said.
Arizona struggled defensively, giving up 248 yards through the air to Colorado quarterback Brendon Lewis, who came into the game averaging 100 yards passing per game.
Lewis was also able to complete three deep passes, one for 31 yards on a drive that led to a field goal, and one for 43 yards that led to another field goal. The final deep pass was a 62-yard strike to wideout Brenden Rice for a touchdown making it 27-0, putting the game on ice.
On three passes, Lewis was able to rack up 136 of his 248 yards passing.
Things won't get easier for Arizona as it has a short week to prepare for Washington (2-3, 1-1 Pac-12) as the two teams will play a Friday-night matchup in Tucson. Fisch will now be searching for a starting quarterback with both McCloud and Cruz likely done for the season due to injury.
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