Arizona football traveled to Corvallis, Oregon Saturday night to take on Oregon State in hopes of ending its seven game losing streak. The Beavers defeated the Wildcats, 42-17 to drop the Wildcats to 2-9 on the season and winless in the Pac-12 Conference.
In a battle of a pair 2-8 teams, Arizona was dominated for four quarters by Oregon State en route to another blowout loss. Arizona drops to 0-7 in conference play and have not won in Pac-12 play since Nov. 14 of last season in the overtime upset of Utah. The Wildcats will also end the season without a road win.
Oregon State struck first with a 53-yard pass from Marcus McMaryion to Jordan Villamin. After Oregon State forced a three-and-out, it would extend its lead to 14-0. With 1:33 left in the first quarter, McMaryion found Ryan Nall for an 11-yard touchdown.
Anu Solomon got the start at quarterback over Brandon Dawkins and went 6-11 for 82 yards. After taking a sack that would take Arizona out of field goal range in the second quarter, Arizona inserted Brandon Dawkins into the lineup. Solomon left the game due to injury and hobbled to the locker room with Arizona trailing, 14-0. The ensuing drive, Dawkins led Arizona down the field and connected with Nate wide receiver Phillips for a 10-yard touchdown. With 9:45 remaining in the second quarter, Arizona closed the gap to 14-7.
The Beavers would respond with a touchdown before Arizona kicked a field goal before halftime to make the game 21-10. It was the first game since Arizona was at Utah back in October where the Wildcats were within reach of pulling off a comeback in the second half.
Oregon State scored first in the second half on a 35-yard pass from McMaryion to Trevon Bradford to extend its lead to 28-10.
Nall would extend the Beaver’s lead to 35-10 and Arizona wouldn’t be able to recover as it lost 42-17.
Dawkins finished the game 10-17 for 106 yards and one touchdown and one interception. Dawkins also carried the ball 15 times for 88 yards in the loss. Running back Samajie Grant had 12 carries for 12 yards and a touchdown.
The Beavers shredded Arizona’s defense en route to 475 total yards and held the ball for over 35 minutes.
McMaryion finished the game going 16-19 for 265 yards and five touchdowns and no interceptions. McMaryion found Villamin frequently through the air as the receiver recorded six catches for 124 yards and a touchdown. McMaryion distributed the wealth to a variety of receivers as each of his touchdown passes hit a different target.
Nall paced Oregon State’s running game with 23 carries for 124 yards and eluded multiple Arizona defenders throughout the game. Backup running back Artavis Pierce complemented Nall with 15 carries for 71 yards in the win.
Next week Arizona takes on rival ASU in the Territorial Cup to end the season. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN and the Sun Devils are 5-6 so they will need to beat Arizona in Tucson to earn a bowl berth.
While Arizona won’t earn a bowl bid, it can play the spoiler role against rival ASU. The Sun Devils are coming off of a 44-18 loss and are in the same predicament they were this time last season. The Sun Devils defeated Arizona in the 2015 Territorial Cup to finish 6-6 and earn a bowl berth.
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