From a purely statistical standpoint, the California Golden Bears should have taken down the Arizona Wildcats on the road this weekend, but unfortunately, they were bitten by the turnover bug. In fact, Cal turned the ball over four times in the second half, all by quarterback Brandon McIlwain, and one of which was returned 24 yards for a touchdown by Scottie Young Jr., which put the Wildcats up 24-14 with a little over three minutes left in the game.
That would be all the scoring Arizona would need, as they escaped a very hard fought battle with Cal by the score of 24-17. Cal battled back until the end, kicking a field goal with under 0:30 seconds left in the game, but the Wildcats recovered the onside kick, sealing the victory for new head coach Kevin Sumlin.
For Cal, they decided to employ McIlwain as the starter on Saturday, as he has been splitting time with Chase Garbers over the last couple of weeks. McIlwain has the talent to get the job done on the ground, and through the air, as he is putting up tremendous games statistically, but you cannot have the mistakes he did in the second half and expect to beat Arizona on the road.
The Arizona Wildcats are starting to turn their season around, and on Saturday, they got a tremendous effort from their star quarterback, Khalil Tate, who battled injuries and led the team to a victory. Tate was aided by a very opportunistic effort by the Wildcats defense, which forced four turnovers in the second half, which was capped off by Scottie Young Jr.’s 24-yard pick six to put the Wildcats up for good.
Tate had been limited in practice this past week, so it was no surprise that when he came up limp with his ankle injury, that the team would turn to backup Jamarye Joiner. However, Joiner only played one series before Tate returned, and he put the team on his back, showing the kind of leadership that makes your teammate want to run through a wall for you.
Young finished the game with two interceptions, and star linebacker Colin Schooler added an interception of his own. Arizona has won three of their last four games, but this weekend they have a rough one on the horizon, as they have to go to Utah to take on a Utes team that is fresh off an absolute drubbing of No. 14 Stanford.