TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Arizona Wildcats closed out their nonconference schedule in style last Saturday with a convincing 62-31 win over Southern Utah at Arizona Stadium. 

The Wildcats will now turn their attention to conference play and open their Pac-12 slate with a matchup at Oregon State. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m., at Reser Stadium in Corvallis. 

Below is a full preview:

Some Game Themes: A pair of first-year coaches meet in a pivotal September matchup this Saturday in Corvallis … Arizona and Oregon State both enter the contest at 1-2 overall with their lone wins coming against Southern Utah … For the visiting Wildcats, there's a sense of relief and even a dose of confidence following last Saturday's thumping of the Thunderbirds in Tucson that provided Kevin Sumlin his first win in the red and blue … Meantime, Jonathan Smith's Beavers return home following a difficult road loss at Nevada that saw a furious comeback fall just short on a missed field goal at the end of the game … The "fresh start" mantra is sure to be a key storyline these teams heading into the rigorous nine-game Pac-12 Conference schedule. The best news for each is they sit 0-0 in conference play. Every realistic goal these teams had at the start of August camp is still on the table, so expect plenty of intensity when they finally take the field Saturday afternoon ... It should be a rather typical early fall day with no significant weather concerns in the current extended forecast. But expect plenty of raucousness out of the Reser Stadium student section following the commencement of class on campus this week … Despite a couple blowout wins in Tucson in 2015 and 2017, the Wildcats struggled in Corvallis in 2016, their only trip to OSU since 2011 … Quarterback Khalil Tate played briefly as a true freshman late in that 2016 contest, but otherwise UA hopes Tate's lasting memories of the Beavers are from his strong outing at home last November … Tate & Co. finally showed off their big play capabilities in last week's win, though the junior still hasn't taken off on the ground like many expect. He had a 200-yard rushing game vs. OSU a year ago … On the other side, OSU has some questions to answer at quarterback. Jake Luton has battled injuries early in the year, but seems to be the preferred starter if healthy. Still, Conor Blount has exceeded expectations and has been key factor in OSU's 314.7 yard-per-game passing attack … One would think that both coaches will stress the importance of discipline, protecting the ball, limiting penalties and the other finer points of the game that will undoubtedly factor into the outcome … Wipe the slates clean, it's time to win one in a row to open Pac-12 play. See you Saturday.

Sweet 16 for 600: Last Saturday, Arizona racked up 626 yards of total offense, a mark impressive enough to rank No. 8 all-time in UA single-game history. It's the 16th time in school history that the Wildcats have topped 600 yards in a contest, a feat that has become increasingly more common in recent years. Of the 16 all-time occurrences, a dozen of those performances have come since 2012. Last season, the Cats hit the 600-yard mark on two occasions, including against UCLA (605 yards) and Oregon State (602).

Take it to the House: Sophomore J.J. Taylor's 84-yard kickoff return for a touchdown last Saturday was the longest for a Wildcat since 2010. The last UA player to score on a kickoff return was receiver Cayleb Jones, who scooped up an onside kick and took it in for a touchdown at Washington State in 2014. Otherwise, the last true kickoff return score was Travis Cobb's 100-yard burst in a home win over Iowa on Sept. 18, 2010. Prior to Taylor, the only other return of 80 yards or more since 2010 was Daniel Jenkins' 81-yard scamper against Louisiana in 2011, though he came up just short of the endzone.

Nifty Fifty: The Wildcats entered last Saturday's contest without any play (scrimmage or return) of more than 46 yards through the first two games. Their first 50-plus yard play came on Khalil Tate's 55-yard toss to Tony Ellison, the first of his four 50-plus yard completions on the night. J.J. Taylor also added an 84-yard kickoff return for a score. A season ago, Arizona twice had games with five plays (scrimmage or return) of 50-plus yards, including victories over Northern Arizona and No. 15 Washington State. Tate's touchdown passes of 65 yards to Shun Brown and 75 yards to Shawn Poindexter combined with Taylor's kick return for three 50-plus yard scores against the Thunderbirds. The last such occurrence was UA's season opener against the Lumberjacks a year ago.

Nifty Fifty Part II: Quarterback Khalil Tate's career-high 349 passing yards against Southern Utah included four completions that went for at least 50 yards. That ties his season tally of such throws from a season ago and now gives him nine total in his career. To put those numbers in context, consider that Arizona has thrown more than four pass completions of 50+ yards over the course of an entire season just six times since 1997. That's right: Tate's four 50-plus yard completions against Southern Utah were as many or more than the Wildcats had in the entire seasons of 2017, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999 and 1997.

Arizona Season Total Pass Completions of 50-Plus Yards (Since 1997)

Year	50+ Yard Completions
2014	10
2016	8
2015	5
2007	5
2003	5
1998	5

Arizona had 4 completions of at least 50 yards last week vs. Southern Utah

Arizona QB Career Totals (50+ Yard Completions Since 1997)

Quarterback	50+ Yard Completions
Anu Solomon (2014-16)	13
Willia Tuitama (2005-08)	12
Ortege Jenkins (1997-2000)	10
Khalil Tate (1996-99)	9
Brandon Dawkins (2015-17)	7
Nick Foles (2009-11)	6
Jason Johnson (1999-2002)	6

 
Nifty Fifty Part III: Providing even more context on Khalil Tate's passing performance last Saturday, the junior became the first Pac-10/12 quarterback with four 50+ yard passing plays in a single game since at least 2007 (data/research courtesy STATS).  On a national scale, Tate is one of seven Power 5 quarterbacks to accomplish the feat since 2010.
Power Conferences – QB's w/4+  50+ Yard Pass Plays in One Game, Since 2010

Quarterback (School)	Opponent	Date
Khalil Tate (Arizona)	vs. Southern Utah	9/15/2018
Drew Lock (Missouri)	vs. Missouri State	9/2/2017
Brad Kaaya (Miami Fla.)	at Appalachian State	9/17/2016
Trevone Boykin (TCU)	vs. Texas Tech	10/25/2014
Seth Russell (Baylor)	vs. Northwestern State	9/6/2014
AJ McCarron (Alabama)	vs. Oklahoma	1/2/2014
Robert Griffin III (Baylor)	vs. Oklahoma	11/19/2011

YPP Pay Days: After struggling to efficiently move the ball and score in the first two games of the season, the Wildcats cashed in a big way last Saturday against Southern Utah. Entering the contest, UA averaged just 5.1 yards per play, which was nearly two full yards less per attempt than a year ago. However, the Wildcats racked up 626 yards on only 60 snaps against the Thunderbirds, averaging out to an eye-popping 10.4 yards per play. That's not just a significant improvement, that's an historically good clip regardless of opponent. In fact, it's only the fifth time Arizona has averaged 10.0 yards or better in a game since at least 1997. Interestingly, four of those five occurrences have come over the last 17 games.

Havrisik Can Kick: Sophomore Lucas Havrisik has assumed the full time place-kicking and kickoff duties this season after focusing primarily on kickoffs a year ago. His big leg is key not just putting points on the board, but also in tilting the field position battle in the Wildcats' favor. The Riverside, Calif., native currently leads the Cats in scoring with 23 points, thanks to 11-of-12 PAT kicks and 4-of-6 on field goals (only misses: 43 and 53 yards). Otherwise, his reliability on kickoffs is evidenced by 18 of his 20 kickoffs resulting in touchbacks, a 90-pecent clip that ranks tied for sixth-best nationally among FBS kickers. The importance of the touchback for Arizona is how starting field position can affect the outcome of the game. Consider that Arizona is 6-2 the last two seasons when it wins the field position battle, while the tally flips to 2-6 when the opponent averages better starting position. With drives consistently starting at the 25 after touchbacks, UA has a better chance of keeping teams in the 20s for starting field position. UA has not won a game since 2015 (New Mexico Bowl) when the opponents' average starting field position is the 30 or better.

DNP Cause and Effect: Graduate transfer punter Dylan Klumph DNP (did not play) last week because Arizona DNP (did not punt). That's often a good sign for any team, and for the Wildcats it was just that in a 62-31 rout of Southern Utah. Arizona had possession of the ball 12 times, which resulted in eight touchdowns, two field goals, a lost fumble and a 9-play, 41-yard drive that ran out the final 4:53 of game time in the fourth quarter. The last time the Wildcats did not punt at least one time in a game was in a 48-7 blowout win over Washington State on Nov. 7, 2009. The 110-game stretch between games included 503 total punts, in case you weren't keeping track.

Sixty-Two Will Do: Arizona's 62-point scoring outburst against Southern Utah tied for the 10th-most points in school single-game history. The Wildcats twice reached the mark a season ago, scoring 63 on the road at UTEP and 62 against Northern Arizona. Not surprisingly, Arizona has never lost when reaching 60 or more points, something that it has now done on 13 occasions. For head coach Kevin Sumlin, it was the 12th time one of his teams had scored at least 60 points. They, too, are undefeated in such games.

Pac-12 Openers: For the first time since 2013, Arizona will open the conference season on the road and maybe that's good news. The Wildcats have lost their last three Pac-12 openers – all at home – and six of the last seven overall.  Arizona's last Pac-12 opening win came against California (49-45) in Tucson on Sept. 20, 2014. The last time UA opened conference play on the road came on Sept. 28, 2013, when Washington prevailed, 31-13, on a soggy Saturday in Seattle. Going back a few more years you'll find Arizona's last conference-opening road win, which happened to come in Corvallis. The Cats downed the Beavers, 37-32, on Sept. 26, 2009, in what was Nick Foles' first career start at quarterback (254 passing yards, 3 TD). Interestingly, Corvallis has been a welcomed place for Arizona to open its conference season. The Wildcats also won Pac-10 openers at Reser Stadium in 1993 and 1988. All-time, Arizona is 20-20 in its first Pac-10/12 game of the season.

300-Yard Passing: For the third time in four games, junior quarterback Khalil Tate topped the 300-yard passing mark. His first career 300-yard game was in the Foster Farms Bowl vs. Purdue, when he tallied 302 passing yards. Two weeks ago at Houston, Tate set a then-career high with 341 passing yards, which came on a career high 45 attempts. Then he established a new career high last week, completing 13-of-20 passes for 349 yards against Southern Utah. Prior to Tate's trio of recent 300-yard games, UA had not had a 300-yard passer since Anu Solomon tossed for 329 yards to defeat New Mexico in the 2015 New Mexico Bowl. 

School-er Zone: A consensus Freshman All-America selection last season, Colin Schooler has started his sophomore season in style. He leads Arizona with 34 tackles through three games and ranks tied for third in the conference in the early going. The linebacker had Arizona's first 16-tackle game in four seasons in the opener versus BYU. He then had nine tackles apiece against Houston and Southern  Utah over the next two weeks. Where Schooler has made his biggest impact is behind the line of scrimmage. He has 19 ½ career TFLs to his credit in just 16 career games and 13 career starts. The Dana Point, California native already has six TFLs in three games this season, which is tied for second in the Pac-12. Schooler is averaging exactly 1 ½ TFLs per start in his career. He's had three TFLs in a game three times over his last seven games dating back to last season. Schooler has also been either the team's leading tackler or second leading tackler in eight of Arizona's last nine games.
16+ Tackle Games by an Arizona Defender Since 2000

Name	Year	Opponent	Tackles
Scooby Wright	2014	UCLA	19
Scooby Wright	2014	California	18
Spencer Larson	2007	USC	17
Spencer Larson	2005	Oregon State	17
Colin Schooler	2018	BYU	16
Marquis Flowers	2011	Stanford	16
Lance Briggs	2000	Utah	16
Spencer Larson	2007	Oregon	16
Jarvie Worcester	2001	Stanford	16

 
Pac-12 Leading Tacklers Through 3 Games

Player	School	Total Tackles
Adarius Pickett	UCLA	40
Evan Weaver	California	39
Colin Schooler	Arizona	34
Nate Landman	Colorado	34
Jordan Kunaszyk	California	27
Chase Hansen	Utah	27

 
Shun Does a Ton: A member of the Paul Hornung Award List for the country's most versatile player, Shun Brown does a little bit of everything for Arizona. A dynamic punt returner, Brown's primary responsibility for the Wildcats is as the team's leading receiver. The senior from Shreveport has established two new career highs over the last two games. In the most recent contest against Southern Utah, Brown had five catches for 97 yards and two touchdowns. It marked the first time he had two receiving touchdowns in the same game. One game earlier, Brown had a career-high nine catches for 73 yards against Houston. It bested his previous career high of eight set last season at USC. This season, Brown has a Pro Football Focus "threat rate" of 33.8 percent, which is the highest on the team, meaning he is Khalil Tate's most targeted receiver. Tate and Brown have a completion percentage of 65.2, which is the highest of any Wildcat receiver. Brown now has 91 career receptions for the Wildcats and is approaching heady status. Brown is 37 career catches away from entering Arizona's Top 12 all-time in receptions. He would need to average 4.11 catches per game over Arizona's final nine regular season games to get to that point. Brown is also one career touchdown reception away from entering Arizona's Top 14 all-time. Brown led Arizona with 43 receptions last year and finished with 573 yards, which was second most on the team behind Tony Ellison.
 
Most Career Receiving Touchdowns in School History
1. Juron Criner; 32
2. Theopolis Bell, 30
3. Dennis Northcutt, 24
------------------------
14. Samajie Grant, 12
14. Rodney Williams, 12
15. Shun Brown, 11
 
OL Breakdown: Arizona opened the year with four new starters on the offensive line and a lot of question marks. However, through two games, the front five has performed admirably in front of quarterback Khalil Tate. Redshirt sophomore Bryson Cain has started the first three contests at right guard and in 233 snaps, has yet to commit a penalty. He's allowed just three quarterback hurries and pressure to Tate on just 2.5 percent of snaps, according to Pro Football Focus data. He has made a positive impact on run blocking 9.1 percent of the time, which is the highest of any Wildcat lineman. Redshirt junior Cody Creason started the first two games at right tackle, before moving to left guard against Southern Utah. He's committed just one penalty in 233 snaps and has yet to allow a sack of Tate. Center Josh McCauley, a walk-on sophomore, has been accurate on 99.6 percent of his snaps, having played 232. True freshman Donovan Laie has started all three contests as well this season, starting the first two at left tackle, before moving to right tackle last game to accommodate the return of Layth Friekh. As a group, the offensive line has allowed just two sacks in three games, which is tied with Washington State for the best mark in the Pac-12. Arizona has lost just 14 yards on sacks in three games.
 
Welcome Back, Layth: A starter in 33 straight games leading up to this year, Layth Friekh returned to the Arizona lineup this past weekend against Southern Utah after sitting out the first two games of the year. Friekh was forced to miss two games after being granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA after last year's season. It will be a welcome addition for the Wildcats. Friekh has been Arizona's most reliable lineman the past two seasons and a constant at left tackle, protecting the quarterback's blind side. With Friekh at left tackle last season, Arizona rushed for a school-record 4,021 rushing yards and 48 touchdowns, which also marked a school best. Arizona scored 537 points last season with Friekh protecting the blind side. With Friekh on the line, Arizona has rushed for 6,841 yards over the past two seasons with the tackle from Glendale in the lineup for every single game.
 
Finton Fit for Success: Redshirt junior defensive tackle Finton Connolly has started the past two games for the Wildcats and has made an impact in the middle of the defensive front. Against Houston, Connolly had three total tackles, including one for a loss. One week later, Connolly had two tackles and a pass breakup against Southern Utah. He's played 154 snaps total in three games and has had a positive impact on run plays 20.3 percent of the time, which, according to Pro Football Focus, is the highest percentage of any Arizona defensive lineman on the season. Connolly has had a negative impact on runs just 3.8 percent of the time, which also rates as the best by any Arizona defensive lineman. Connolly has a PFF season grade of 71.6, which is the best of any Wildcat defensive lineman, as well. He has a grade of 84.1 on run plays and is one of only two Arizona defenders with 100 or more snaps to be above 80 percent, joining safety Tristan Cooper (80.3 percent). Per PFF, Connolly graded out at 74.8 last week against Southern Utah, which ranked second among defenders with more than 50 snaps.
 
All over the Field(s): Sophomore linebacker Tony Fields has been a tackling machine since making his debut last season. Fields led Arizona with 104 stops last season, and currently sits second on the team with 24 stops and is 10^th in the league through three games. In his 16 career games, Fields has 128 total tackles, which is now the second-most by any Arizona player through 16 career games. His teammate, Colin Schooler has exactly one more tackle than Fields through their first 16. Fields has started every game of his career and has proven to be a stalwart for coach Marcel Yates' defense. The combination of Fields and Schooler at linebacker has been a lethal one-two punch. In fact, the two teammates have combined for 58 total tackles through two games, which is the highest mark of any conference teammates. The two combined for 199 last season with 21 tackles-for-loss and nine sacks.
Most Tackles by Teammates in the Pac-12

Players	School	Total Tackles
Evan Weaver/Jordan Kunaszyk	California	66
Colin Schooler/Tony Fields	Arizona	58
Nate Landman/Rick Gamboa	Colorado	54

 
 
Lockdown Lo: Sophomore cornerback Lorenzo Burns, who had a breakout season last year as a redshirt freshman, has taken the next step in his development this year as a sophomore. In the season opener this year, Burns established a new career high with three pass breakups and finished with three tackles in the 14^th consecutive start of his career against BYU. He then started his 15^th straight game against Houston and had three stops, but wasn't tested much by Houston quarterback D'eriq King. Against Southern Utah, Burns was once again a menace in the defensive backfield, breaking up a pair of passes to give him five for the season. He leads the team in that category and ranks tied for second in the Pac-12 in passes defended, averaging 1.67 per contest. Burns established himself as one of Arizona's most reliable defenders a year ago as a freshman. He finished as Arizona's third leading tackler with 81 stops and led the Wildcats in interceptions with five. He had four of his five picks in the final seven games of the season and recorded eight tackles, an interception and a pass breakup at Arizona State in the regular season finale. In the Foster Farms Bowl, Burns again had a strong showing, collecting six tackles and a sack. He tied for second in the nation in interceptions by a freshman with his five. The five picks were the most by an Arizona defender since Trevin Wade also had five in 2009. Burns now has 12 career pass breakups in 16 games.

Taylor Time: The 2017 Co-Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year, J.J. Taylor is once again making a positive impact for the Arizona offense this season. Taylor leads Arizona with 193 rushing yards through three games and is averaging 4.4 yards per carry. Since breaking his ankle as a true freshman in 2016, Taylor has gotten stronger and stronger as his career has progressed. Consider in his first seven games back from injury, Taylor rushed for 366 yards on 78 carries for a 4.69 yards per carry average. In his nine games since, Taylor has rushed for 674 yards on 112 carries for a 6.01 yards per carry average. He also has four rushing touchdowns in that span, as opposed to two in his first seven games back.  
J.J. Taylor Rushing Breakdown Last 16 Games

Games	Rushes	Yards
First 7 back from Injury	78	366
9 Games Since	104	620

 
Touchdown Tony and Showtime Shawn: Through three games, Tony Ellison and Shawn Poindexter both have 12 catches. Poindexter is averaging 23.1 yards per reception, while Ellison is averaging 20.1 yards a catch. The two teammates join Jerry Jeudy and DeVonta Smith from Alabama as the only teammates in the country to both be averaging more than 20 yards per reception. Poindexter has 12 catches for 277 yards and a touchdown this season. He's averaging 92.3 yards per game and had a 75-yard touchdown reception from Khalil Tate last week. Ellison has 12 catches for 241 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Ellison is averaging 10.3 yards after contact, according to Pro Football Focus. Poindexter's 277 yards lead the team and Ellison's 241 are second.