User:Kevin W./Sandbox Arizona

The 2007 Arizona Wildcats football team represented the University of Arizona in the college football season of 2007–2008. The team's head coach is Mike Stoops, in his fourth year at Arizona. They play their home games at Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Arizona and compete in the Pacific-10 Conference. They finished the 2007 regular season with a record of 5-7.

Schedule

 * Schedule Source: 2008 Arizona Wildcats football schedule

Washington State
Washington State scored first - taking its first lead of the season in a Pac-10 game - when Dwight Tardy took a pitch from QB Kevin Lopina and ran 18 yards with 10:10 left in the first. Arizona replied with a 12-play drive and WR Mike Thomas ran 5 yards for a touchdown to tie the game. Arizona TE Rob Gronkowski caught a short pass from QB Willie Tuitama and ran 43 yards for a touchdown to put Arizona up 14–7 at the end of the first quarter. After getting the ball on their own 46 to start the next drive, WSU's Logwone Mitz tore off runs of 8 and 42 yards to take the ball to Arizona's 4. Lopina ran it in to tie the score at 14. Arizona replied with an 81-yard drive with RB Keola Antolin running 5 yards up the middle for a 21–14 lead with 10:20 left in the half. The WSU offense stalled the rest of the half. Meanwhile, Tuitama ran in from the 4 on a broken play for a 28–14 Arizona advantage. Arizona's Devin Ross intercepted Lopina on the next series, and RB Nic Grigsby ran it three times, the last for a 6-yard touchdown and a 35–14 halftime lead. Wildcat RB Xavier Smith scored on a 6-yard run on the opening drive of the second half for a 42–14 lead. Mitz scored from 3 yards out on the next series to bring WSU to within 42–21. Arizona would go on to beat Washington State by a final score of 59–28 for win number 6, making the Wildcats eligible for their first bowl game since 1998.

Oregon
The Oregon Ducks started hot against the Arizona Wildcats in Eugene, with Jeremiah Masoli getting a career high in rushing touchdowns (3) and broke the record for an Oregon quarterback in this category in a single Ducks game. He also had two passing touchdowns, all five in the first half. Oregon led at the half, 45–17, but Arizona started the second half hot. The Wildcats managed to hold the Ducks to merely ten points in the second half, while they had a 21-point fourth quarter to pull within three. However, a 40-yard touchdown hit from Masoli to LeGarrette Blounte sealed the Ducks win, 55–45, to avenge a loss to the Wildcats from last year. This game was the first in which the Ducks wore their new "blackout" jerseys and black helmets, to fit with the Autzen Stadium "blackout" theme for the game.

Oregon State
Before an enthusiastic crowd of 48,503 at Arizona Stadium, Oregon State had to go without starting quarterback Lyle Moevao, sidelined by a shoulder injury. Then they lost tailback Jacquizz Rodgers, the Pac-10's leading rusher and Pac-10 Player of the Year candidate, to a shoulder injury on their second possession. With the score tied at 10–10 early in the fourth quarter (on a 16-yard touchdown pass to Arizona TE Rob Gronkowski with 16 seconds left in the third quarter), Oregon State head coach Mike Riley went for it twice on fourth down near midfield. The first one worked and the second did not, and it proved costly. After backup tailback Ryan McCants lost a yard on fourth-and-1 at Arizona's 49, the Wildcats went on an eight-play march capped by a 9-yard touchdown run by RB Keola Antolin to give Arizona a 17–10 lead. Oregon State responded with a 10-play, 80-yard drive for a touchdown. Then, Beavers kicker Justin Kahut missed the extra point with 3:58 left, seemingly giving Arizona the chance for the win. Arizona's offense stalled, and while the Wildcats led 17–16 with 1:19 to play, Oregon State took over at their own 20 with no timeouts left. Oregon State quarterback Sean Canfield, who started in place of Moevao, hit Jeremy Francis for a 20-yard catch to the 40. A seven-yard run by receiver James Rodgers went to the 47. On the third play of the drive, Canfield found Sammie Stroughter alone behind the Wildcats secondary for a 47-yard gain to the Arizona 7. Then, Kahut calmly nailed a 24-yard field goal as time expired to seal an improbable 19–17 victory, redeeming himself and leaving the Beavers one win away from their first Rose Bowl trip since 1965. Keola Antolin rushed for 114 yards and a touchdown for Arizona, while Arizona QB Willie Tuitama threw for 158 yards and a score.