Box Score TUCSON, Ariz. - Arizona scored 28 points off of a season-high four forced turnovers, as the Wildcats rolled to convincing 38-20 victory in the school's 100th Homecoming game Saturday night at Arizona Stadium.
Redshirt freshman Anu Solomon completed 21-of-38 passes for 211 yards and four touchdowns on the night, while also rushing for a career-high 115 yards in the win.
Freshman Nick Wilson rushed for a game-high 153 yards on 21 carries, while sophomore Samajie Grant hauled in six balls for a team-high 83 yards and two touchdowns. Solomon and Wilson combined to rush for 168 yards, marking the second time Arizona has boasted two 100-plus yard rushers in a game this season.
Sophomore Scooby Wright led all tacklers with 10, while recording two tackles for loss and a sack on the evening. Arizona's four forced turnovers were the most since forcing five against USC on Oct. 27, 2012.
"We're happy to get that one and I'm proud of our guys," said Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez. "Colorado is a well-coached football team that played hard. After the first play our defense settled down and got some turnovers. Anu Solomon really competed and ran well. His running was probably the difference for us offensively."
Colorado (2-8, 0-7 Pac-12) got things rolling early, as Shay Fields hauled in a 75-yard strike from Sefo Liufau on the first play from scrimmage to put the Buffs up 7-0 just 11 seconds into the contest.
However, Arizona (7-2, 4-3 Pac-12) responded with a punch of its own, as Tra'Mayne Bondurant capitalized on an Anthony Lopez forced fumble, taking it back 22 yards to the house to tie things up at 7-7 with 1:12 remaining in the quarter. The touchdown return was Bondurant's fourth career defensive touchdown, while the fumble forced extended Arizona's forced turnover streak to six consecutive games.
The Wildcat defense held Colorado to just 58 yards of total offense the rest of the quarter, including -13 yards on the ground.
Arizona continued to keep the defensive pressure coming in the second quarter, as Jared Tevis forced the second turnover of the game for the Cats, recording a sack and fumble recovery to set the UA offense up in great field position at the Colorado 31-yard line.
The Cats quickly took advantage, as Solomon engineered a quick five-play drive, ending with a Tyrell Johnson eight-yard touchdown reception to sport Arizona its first lead of the game at 14-7 with 12:16 left to play in the half, marking Solomon's ninth straight game with at least one touchdown pass to open up the season.
Colorado quickly knotted things back up at 14-14, as it strung together a six-play, 75-yard scoring drive capped off with a little trickery, as wide receiver Nelson Spruce found Liufau in the back of the end zone for a seven-yard touchdown score with 10:19 remaining in the second quarter.
The Buffs soon regained the lead at 17-14 after a stingy defensive effort forced Will Oliver to kick a 19-yard field goal 4:09 remaining in the first half.
Jourdon Grandon helped give Arizona a spark right before the half, recording his first interception of the season to give the Cats the ball back on their own 45-yard line, eventually leading to Solomon's second touchdown pass of the game, a one-yard strike to David Richards, to put Arizona in front 21-17 heading into the halftime intermission.
The Cats scored all 21 first half points off of three first half turnovers. Coming in, the Cats had only scored 31 total points off of 11 total turnovers on the season. The three forced first half turnovers were already the most since UA also forced three in last year's victory over Oregon on Nov. 23.
Arizona kept its positive momentum rolling in the second half, as Casey Skowron booted through a 37-yard field goal on the opening drive of the second half to extend the Cats' lead to 24-17 with 12:48 remaining in the third quarter.
However, Colorado responded on the very next drive with an Oliver 33-yard field goal to cut Arizona's lead to 24-20 with 7:35 remaining in the third.
But that was the last score the Buffs would get on the night, as Arizona went on to score the final two touchdowns of the game.
Devin Holiday came through with Arizona's fourth turnover of the game, taking back an interception 16 yards to Colorado's 31-yard line to set up what would end up being Solomon's third touchdown pass on the night, a 27-yard strike to Grant to sport UA its largest lead of the game at 31-20 with 9:50 remaining.
Minutes later, Solomon put the finishing touches on the victory, slinging another 20-yard bomb to Grant to give Arizona its final winning margin of 38-20.
The Cats will get back to work next Saturday, as they will host Washington at 1:30 p.m. MST. The game will be televised on FOX, while the Arizona IMG Sports Network will have the radio call.
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