Gimino: Cats' victory means 'everything'
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How they scored
ARIZONA 31, ARIZONA ST. 10
Arizona St. 0 10 0 0—10
Arizona 7 0 21 3—31
First Quarter
Ari—R.Gronkowski 17 pass from Tuitama (Bondzio kick), :31.
Second Quarter
ASU—FG Weber 40, 10:58. ASU—Pettes 2 pass from Carpenter (Weber kick), 5:53.
Third Quarter
Ari—Dean 10 pass from Tuitama (Bondzio kick), 7:23.
Ari—Grigsby 12 run (Bondzio kick), 4:24.
Ari—Thomas 52 punt return (Bondzio kick), 2:22.
Fourth Quarter
Ari—FG Bondzio 49, 12:34.
A—58,704.
ASU Ari
First downs 12 25
Rushes-yards 23-38 40-105
Passing 124 284
Comp-Att-Int 13-31-1 25-37-1
Return Yards 7 99
Punts-Avg. 7-43.7 4-44.8
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-0
Penalties-Yards 8-61 8-76
Time of Possession 23:10 36:50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Arizona St., Herring 14-31, K.Williams 1-12, Nance 3-11, Team 1-(minus 1), Carpenter 4-(minus 15). Arizona, Grigsby 22-114, Antolin 9-13, Thomas 2-(minus 5), Tuitama 6-(minus 5), Team 1-(minus 12).
PASSING—Arizona St., Carpenter 13-31-1-124. Arizona, Tuitama 25-37-1-284.
RECEIVING—Arizona St., K.Williams 3-40, M.Jones 3-33, McGaha 2-18, Nance 2-6, Taylor 1-13, Herring 1-12, Pettes 1-2. Arizona, Thomas 9-75, R.Gronkowski 6-95, Dean 6-86, T.Turner 2-16, Grigsby 2-12.
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Arizona coach Mike Stoops, his wife at his side and flanked by four security guards, was hurrying off to the locker room when he turned to look at the postgame mob scene on the field.
"Holy smokes," Stoops exclaimed.
Yep. Holy smokes.
Arizona won.
Arizona won 31-10 against Arizona State in the latest of a series of must-win games.
Arizona won on a night when it played without a brain in the first half, but showed up with plenty of heart in the second half.
Arizona won to finish with a winning record for the first time since 1998.
Holy smokes.
The 7-5 Wildcats are off the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 20 – officially accepting an invitation in the postage locker room – and, at least for the moment, everything seems right in their world.
"This is the way it's supposed to be," said assistant coach Jeff Hammerschmidt, who has never lost to ASU as a Wildcat. Arizona was 5-0 against ASU when Hammerschmidt was a player from 1986 to 1990, and 3-0 when he was an assistant from 1993 to 1995.
"The world is back to normal," he said.
Arizona ended a three-game losing streak to ASU, overcoming a mistake-filled first half that included punter Keenyn Crier fielding a punt snap with his knee on the ground. The play was dead at the spot – the UA 19 – setting up the 5-7 Sun Devils for their only touchdown of the game.
Crier wouldn't be a goat, though, because Arizona surged for 21 third-quarter points and stuffed ASU, allowing just 162 total yards.
"This is priceless, man," said senior linebacker Ronnie Palmer.
"I think this means you better start buying more football jerseys and less basketball jerseys. . . . I can't even explain how this feels."
Palmer was clutching a game ball in his left arm. Another guy holding a game ball – two of them, actually – was Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood.
Stoops had given one to Livengood and another to deliver to school president Robert Shelton.
"That was awfully nice and awfully kind," Livengood said.
Livengood no longer has to consider the alternative: A loss would have meant a 6-6 season and unhappy fans. Keeping Stoops after his fifth season wouldn't have been a great option, but firing Stoops amid a men's basketball coaching search wouldn't have been a good option, either.
Whew. Big decision averted.
"You remember the commercial, 'How do you spell relief?'" Livengood said with a smile.
"No, I'm not relieved. I'm happy. I'm happy for our players, for our coaches, for our fans, for our students. They were such a big part of this with the Zona Zoo. . . .
"What did the win mean? Everything."
Holy smokes.
Furthermore, Sandra Bullock didn't attend college at
the UofA she attended East Carolina University and
amazingly ESPN left out one of Hollywood's most
popular actors who is a UofA graduate, that being
Greg Kinnear who ironically graduated from the
UofA with a degree in broadcast journalism.
Arizona still should've hung another two or three touchdowns on ASU.