Coming into Saturday’s contest against Colorado, Arizona quarterback Nick Foles needed only 285 yards to surpass Willie Tuitama’s school record of 9,221 passing yards.
By the end of the day, Foles tallied 352 and was able to claim his spot on the top of the leader board.
But Foles’ record-setting day was marred by three interceptions and a 48-29 loss in Boulder, where the Wildcats dropped to 1-7 in Pac-12 play. Arizona’s loss was the Buffaloes’ first conference win, and the Wildcats now find themselves all alone, in the bottom of the Pac-12 rankings.
Now with the Wildcats sitting at a disappointing 2-8 overall, Foles said after the game that getting the record was an honor, but it’s never what he’s playing for.
“The most important thing is winning the game,” Foles told the Arizona Daily Star. “I could care less about any record. It’s an honor, but at the same time I want to win the game.”
Saturday marked the 16th time in the senior’s career that he passed the 300-yard mark in a single game. Foles also managed to break Tuitama’s records for both total offensive yards and pass attempts.
Despite his inconsistency throughout the game, Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Littrell,was quick to praise Foles.
“Nick’s not only a great player, but he’s an unbelievable person,” Littrell told the Daily Star. “He’s great for this team. He works his tail off.”
Running on empty
It’s awfully hard to create any sort of offensive success without a running game and the Wildcats have sure proved that this season.
The Arizona run game only managed to pick up 60 yards on the ground against Colorado.
Meanwhile, the Buffaloes’ Rodney Stewart managed to run for 181 yards on a lingering ankle injury.
Despite Stewart’s banner day, his yardage marked only the second highest an opposing running back has tallied against the Wildcats this season.
Against Oregon, running back LaMichael James managed to dump 288 yards on the Wildcats.
To put it into a little bit of perspective, James now has a total of 1,207 yards on the season, and that’s after being injured and sidelined for two games.
The Wildcats, between seven players, have only totaled 912 yards on the ground.
To add insult to injury, the Arizona run game average of 91.2 yards per game is good enough for 117th out of 120 in the country.
Steve Physioc loves his seniors
It got to the point on Saturday where Fox College Sports play-by-play commentator Steve Physioc was saying the word “seniors” every few minutes to make sure that people were aware that it was the last game for the Colorado seniors at Folsom Field.
Physioc and analyst Yogi Roth made sure that their storyline was set and continued on the senior train all day.
Each pass from senior Tyler Hansen to senior Toney Clemons was met with vivacious commentary.
They almost lost it completely when Hansen managed to haul in a touchdown reception on his senior day.
