Monday, December 22, 2008
The Wildcats knocked off No. 17 BYU, 31-21, Saturday night in the Las Vegas Bowl.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — After four years spent setting every major passing record for his school, it took three final touchdowns and plenty of long throws Saturday night for Arizona’s Willie Tuitama to prove himself a winner.
“Nobody has endured more — well, maybe me — in the last four years,” Arizona coach Mike Stoops said after the senior quarterback led the Wildcats to a 31-21 win over No. 17 BYU.
“He’ll go down in history at Arizona. His legacy is forever etched,” Stoops said.
Tuitama finished 24-for-35 for 325 yards and two touchdowns, leading Arizona to its first bowl win in 10 years. He added a 6-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to give the Wildcats a 31-14 lead.
“We had a goal before the season started and tonight we finally reached it,” Tuitama said. “I’ll never forget to finally be in a bowl game with this group of seniors, on this team.”
Arizona fans trickled onto the field as the last minute ticked off the game clock, then sprinted to midfield in celebration of the school’s first bowl victory — and winning season — since 1998, when it finished 12-1 and beat Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl.
Mike Thomas caught a 3-yard pass on the final play of the game to give him the Pac-10 career receptions record with 259.
Arizona handed BYU a tough end to a disappointing season for a team that spoke of making a BCS game at the beginning of the year.
“Ten and three is a solid season, but the standards here are much higher,” BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “Our standards here are to win the conference championship and be on the national stage.”
The Wildcats (8-5) kept the ball in the air most of Saturday night. Tuitama threw a 71-yard pass to Terrell Turner that set up the first score, a 37-yard touchdown to Delashaun Dean that gave the Wildcats the lead for good, and a 24-yard strike to Chris Gronkowski that sent Cougars fans toward the exits.
The Wildcats stifled BYU quarterback Max Hall throughout the game, forcing him to scramble often, lose two fumbles and throw an interception.
“We had to go with physical tackling — we had eight guys in the box at all times,” linebacker Xavier Kelley said.
BYU (10-3) lost its bid to win three straight Las Vegas Bowls in four consecutive trips, ending a sloppy night with three missed field goals and 10 penalties for 76 yards.