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Arizona quarterback Nick Foles (8) is sacked by Stanford's Trent Murphy, right, during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game at Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Ariz., Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Wily Low) Nick Foles passed with his ...
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Arizona quarterback Nick Foles (8) is sacked by Stanford's Trent Murphy, right, during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game at Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Ariz., Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Wily Low)
Foles threw for 239 yards and a touchdown, but the Wildcats had another anemic night running the ball, leading to a 37-10 loss to No. 6 Stanford on Saturday in both team's Pac-12 opener.
"We just have to grow from tonight and work on our ability to run the football," Arizona coach Mike Stoops said. "Those have to be better plays for us (so) we're not getting into a dropback game every time we step on the field."
Playing with a rebuilt offensive line, Arizona (1-2) has struggled to run the ball all season. One of the nation's worst rushing teams, the Wildcats were again ineffective getting much of anything going on the ground.
Foles hit 24 of 33 passes, including a 6-yard touchdown to Juron Criner in his return to the lineup, but was sacked five times. Keola Antolin had some good bursts, running for 69 yards on nine carries, but the numerous losses offset the good he did.
The result was another ineffective game on the ground, a net of 51 yards on 23 carries that led to Arizona's sixth straight loss to an FBS team.
Andrew Luck picked the Wildcats apart on 20-of-31 passing, throwing touchdown passes to Zach Ertz in the third quarter and Levine Toilolo in the fourth. Stepfan Taylor added a career-high 153 yards rushing and Stanford had a balanced 567 yards while shutting Arizona out in the second half to win its 11th straight game, the Cardinal's longest run since taking 13 straight from 1939-41.
Stanford rolled through its first two games, outscoring San Jose State and Duke by a combined score of 101-17. Luck, not surprisingly, was the catalyst, throwing for 461 yards and six touchdowns with one interception.
The Wildcats have one of the nation's best quarterbacks in Foles, who, like Luck, figures to be a first-round NFL draft pick. The 6-foot-5 senior doesn't have the polish that Luck has, but is prolific, completing 76 percent of his passes for 810 yards and six touchdowns the first two games.
Arizona also sent Stanford home with a disappointing loss in its last trip to Tucson, scoring two touchdowns in the fourth quarter for a 43-38 comeback victory.
The Cardinal rolled over the Wildcats 42-17 last season behind Luck's 293 yards and two touchdowns. Luck may be even better this season and Arizona struggled against a good passer last week, allowing Oklahoma State's Brandon Weeden to pick it apart for 397 yards and two touchdowns in a 17-point loss.
The Wildcats also have been one-dimensional on offense, relying almost solely on Foles while the running game has averaged just 58 yards per game, 115th in the nation. Stanford was second nationally through the first two games, allowing 28.5 yards per game, so it was weakness against strength.
Arizona again had trouble running the ball _ minus-6 yards on 10 carries in the first half _ but Foles made up for it, completing his first 17 passes while throwing for 198 yards and a touchdown. The score went on a 6-yard pass to Juron Criner, who showed no ill affects from the appendectomy that kept him out of last week's game against Oklahoma State.
The Wildcats kept it close, but could have been closer: Jaime Salazar missed field goals to end the second quarter and start the third, making him 1-for-4 on the season after Arizona was haunted by missed kicks a year ago.
Stanford's kicking game worked just fine _ Jordan Williamson hit from 20, 45 and 33 yards _ but the Cardinal wanted touchdowns after getting so deep into Arizona's end. The only one Stanford got came late in the first quarter, when Anthony Wilkerson scored on a 24-yard run on a fourth-and-a-foot misdirection play.
Luck hit tight end Ertz on a 16-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter, then had two choices to open the fourth quarter on a defensive breakdown by Arizona. He settled on Toilolo (he was deeper), who scored easily on a 34-yard pass to put the Cardinal up 30-10.
That's seven touchdowns to tight ends _ out of nine _ this season for Stanford and 53 TDs overall for Luck, moving him one ahead of Jim Plunkett for third all-time in Stanford history.
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