WILDCAT BLOG: Cats win 43-38

Updated 7:55 p.m. -- You can now breathe, Wildcat fans. Trevin Wade continues his stellar play this season, knocking down the fade pass intended for Chris Owusu on fourth down to seal the Arizona win 43-38. What an exciting ballgame.

Andrew Luck connected with Doug Baldwin for 36 yards, streaking down the middle of the field with no safety help. Since Toby Gerhart was such a devastating force, Luck was able to throw aganist single coverage, giving him a career-high 423 yards on 21-35 passing.

However, it wasn't enough to overcome Arizona's big-play ability and bend-but-don't-break second-half defense.

Check back in a little while for my post-game story -- which I'll begin writing after I catch my breath. Whew.

Updated 7:35 -- Here's the scene: third-and-17 after an untimely UA penalty, three minutes left, Cats down two. Nic Grigsby has 32 yards on six carries -- a day he'd like to forget, until now. Grigsby takes the ball on a draw play (the perfect call) 57 yards, with a couple of those patented ankle-breaking juke moves of his to give the Cats a 43-38 lead with 2:57 left.

Grigsby has made some spectacular runs in his career, but that was something special. Stanford had at least three chances to stop that play, but Grigsby simply couldn't be caught.

Of course, UA's special teams doesn't do them any favors, kicking the ball out of bounds to give Stanford possession on the 40. Fortunately for the Cats, they committed an illegal procedure penalty -- an automatic re-kick, which he puts back to the goal line. Owusu is brought down at the 22 -- an 18-yard advantage for the Cats.

Arizona's defense has stepped up the last two possessions. Can the Cats do it again?

Updated 7:30 p.m. -- Huge defensive stand for the Wildcats after Greg Nwoko's fumble. The redshirt freshman gave Stanford the ball on the 27 after fumbling the exchange with Nick Foles, but UA's defense stood tall, stuffing Stanford on fourth-and-1 at the 8-yard line to give the Cats a chance.

This just in -- Juron Criner makes the biggest play of his career, hauling in his 12th reception on an over-the-shoulder bomb from Foles (perfect throw) with a Stanford corner shadowing his every move. The 35-yard gain has the Cats at the 47-yard line with four minutes left.

Updated 7:15 p.m. -- Greg Nwoko sprints untouched through the middle of the Stanford defensive line for 43 yards and an Arizona touchdown. Stanford 38, Arizona 36.

After that missed Stanford field goal, Foles went back to work with that effective short-pass offense. Juron Criner (career-high 11 catches on the night so far) had the big reception of the drive with an 18-yard run after the catch, setting up Nwoko's sprint up the gut.

Nwoko's run doubled Arizona's rushing output from the rest of the night.

Can Arizona's defense finally stop Stanford? The only stops have come from Golden's game-opening pick-six and that missed field goal. We haven't seen the Stanford punter once this evening. The 53,479 in attendance are finally making some noise.

Updated 7:10 p.m. -- With Stanford looking to extend its lead into two-touchdown territory, kicker Nate Whitaker pulled his 36-yard field goal attempt wide to the left, leaving the score at 38-29 with 12:20 remaining.

Stanford had little trouble marching the ball deep into Arizona territory, but the defense finally came up with some key plays to stop Stanford's relentless offensive attack.

Arizona did nothing with the ball on its last possession, going three-and-out. Look for Foles to go back to work with the short passing game and for his wideouts to make some big gains after the catch.

Updated 6:55 p.m. -- That's what Toby Gerhart can do for you. With the ball at the 2-yard line after a bomb from Andrew Luck to Chris Owusu, Gerhart pounds the ball over the goal line to put Stanford ahead 38-29 with 3:23 left in the third quarter.

Obviously, the key play on that drive was the 47-yard pass play between Luck and Owusu, set up by a terrific play fake that every Wildcat bit on. Trevin Wade was left to cover Owusu one-on-one and he didn't stand a chance. Luck (a redshirt freshman) throws a nice deep ball.

Earlier in the drive, Stanford was bailed out by a bone-headed late hit penalty on Ricky Elmore. Without that flag, Arizona has a chance to force a rare Stanford punt.

Arizona now needs two scores to reclaim the lead. You just knew that missed extra point in the first quarter was going to haunt the Wildcats.

Updated 6:45 p.m. -- Just as it appeared that another Arizona drive might stall deep in Stanford territory, David Douglas comes to the rescue. Douglas' one-yard touchdown reception on fourth down pulls the Cats to within two, 31-29.

Arizona picked up huge chunks of yards on the short passing game, once again. Juron Criner, David Roberts and especially Terrell Turner (two catches for 40 yards) did the most damage.

When Arizona spread the field in its four- and five-wideout sets, Stanford appeared confused and disoriented. Grigsby's rushing attempt on second-and-goal from Stanford's one-yard line was swallowed whole, but Douglas ran a perfect slant route to haul in the TD.

However, Arizona's two-point attempt failed, as Stanford broke up the short slant route to Criner to keep the Cardinal in the lead.

Stanford will finally have to make a long drive, as Arizona's kick coverage was up to the task this time. After a kickoff five yards deep, the UA coverage unit stuffed Owusu at the 14.

Updated 6:40 p.m. -- Stanford answers with a field goal of its own -- Nate Whitaker's 33-yard boot. The Cardial leads 31-23.

If Arizona ends up losing today, it will be in large part to the squad's terrible kick coverage. Stanford started that drive on the 37-yard line and has terrific field position all night.

Gerhart had another strong series, but it was the fake-and-go from Andrew Luck to Ryan Whalen that set up that score. Whalen appeared to set up for another bubble screen, and Devin Ross bit hard on the play fake, allowing Whalen to sprint by him for the big gain. After gaining steam as a potential first-day draft prospect thanks to some stellar early-season performances, Ross is struggling tonight.

Updated 6:30 p.m. -- Arizona starts out with an impressive 64-yard drive to open the second half, but all that results is a field goal. Alex Zendejas boots it through from 24 yards to pull the Cats to within five, 28-23.

Nic Grigsby, who only carried the ball three times in the first half, opened the drive with a stellar 20-yard jaunt up the middle, showing plenty of burst. However, the rest of the drive consisted of more short Nick Foles passes, taking the Cats deep into Stanford territory.

The key play on that drive was the pass interference flag thrown on Richard Sherman as Terrell Turner attempted to haul in a fade pass. Arizona ran that same play twice in a row, with Stoops believing the Cats had a major advantage in the Turner/Sherman match-up.

But a procedure penalty and a near-interception from Foles killed that drive, leading to the Zendejas field goal.

Updated 6 p.m. -- Arizona finally catches a break. After a tipped ball that led to an apparent Stanford interception was overturned, Terrell Turner scores on an 11-yard touchdown reception to bring the Wildcats back into it. Stanford 28, UA 20.

With three minutes left before halftime and the ball at the 11, the Wildcats desperately needed a drive to keep this a one-possession ballgame. Juron Criner stepped up on that drive, hauling in four Nick Foles passes for 52 yards.

But with the drive at Stanford's 16-yard line, Will Powers tipped the ball high into the air and into the waiting arms of Kris Evans. However, the ball hit the turf just before Evans could gain possession, with the replay overturning the call on the field.

Two plays later, Turner scored on a terrific comeback route and lunged into the end zone between two Stanford defenders.

Even though Arizona has been out-gained 315 to 235, it finds itself behind by only eight, and it begins the second half with the ball.

Foles is 19-25 for 213 yards and two scores -- another outstanding outing. But UA's rushing attack has been essentially useless, with the team gaining 22 yards on only five attempts.

Updated 5:45 p.m. -- Stanford is moving the ball at will. It took the Cardinal less than three minutes to move 80 yards on that drive, with Chris Owusu snagging a 19-yard touchdown pass to give his squad a 28-13.

A 45-yard bomb to a wide-open Konrad Reuland was the key play on that drive.

The UA defense is so concerned with Gerhart (16 carries, 74 yards) that the Stanford receivers are often streaking down the field with hardly anyone around them.

Arizona's offense can't sustain a drive, either, leaving the defense to wilt on the field. Stanford is dominating the time of possession battle, holding the ball for roughly 10 minutes longer.

Coming into the game, Arizona was 16th in the nation in total defense, giving up an average of 281 yards per game. Tonight, the Cardinal has already gained 315.

Updated 5:30 p.m. -- Stanford is having no problem moving the ball right now. With 235 yards of total offense (68 on that drive), the Cardinal have taken a 21-13 lead after a Ryan Whalen touchdown reception.

Gerhart has continued to be a load for this Arizona defensive line, but it was Andrew Luck and the passing game that got it done that possession. With so many UA players forced to focus on stopping Gerhart, Luck has had ample opportunities to carve up this Arizona secondary.

Long pass plays to tight end Konrad Reuland (13 yards) and running back Tyler Gaffney (22 yards) kept the chains moving, with Whalen's 11-yard touchdown catch capping that drive.

It appeared as if the UA secondary simply forgot about Whalen on that play, as there was nobody within five yards of him in the middle of the end zone.

Arizona needs to answer with a time-consuming drive of its own, as the Wildcat defense has spent almost the entire game on the field thus far.

Updated 5:15 p.m. -- Stanford marched the ball 82 yards in eight plays in a drive that took up four minutes, capped by Toby Gerhart's two-yard touchdown run to put Stanford ahead 14-13.

That blocked extra point might prove costly for the Wildcats, as Stanford had an easy time moving the ball against Arizona's defense on that possesssion.

Gerhart is up to 46 yards rushing already, with three quarters still to play. His 12-yard run before the touchdown was one impressive display of tightrope walking. He came millimeters within the sideline on three different steps, but kept his feet in bounds.

The key play on that drive was Chris Owusu's 30-yard bubble screen. Devin Ross gave Owusu an eight-yard cushion, allowing Owusu to sit down in the open zone and make an easy catch. Owusu put a nasty juke move on Ross and sprinted right by him. With no safety help, Owusu had nothing but open field in front of him.

The first quarter is over, and it's the first time this season Arizona has found itself behind. Stanford has held the ball for 10:28.

Updated 5 p.m. -- Back-to-back fumbles in the first quarter -- how often does that happen? Once the dust settled, David Douglas leapt into double coverage and came down with Arizona's second TD. UA 13, Stanford 7.

Just a few plays after Juron Criner's controversial fumble deep in Stanford territory, Andrew Luck gave the ball right back with a giveaway of his own.

Criner's fumble came after his forward progress looked to be stopped by at least a half-dozen Stanford defenders. But as he kept fighting for yards, the ball popped loose. The booth review confirmed the call on the field -- Stanford ball.

But after the Cardinal moved the ball 25 yards, Luck fumbled the snap on third-and-inches. Sterling Lewis recovered the ball, setting up Foles' incredible pass (in the face of a heavy rush) to a double-covered Douglas, who snatched the ball away from the two defenders and sprinted in for a 43-yard score. Zendejas' point was blocked (it's just not his day).

Now, we get a TV timeout to catch our collective breath. Whew.

Updated 4:45 -- Well, that didn't take long. Working with another short field, Stanford QB Andrew Luck hits sure-handed tight end Jim Dray to tie the score at 7 with 10:26 left in the first quarter.

With Arizona's special teams failing to do anything useful on kick coverage, Stanford capitalized on the field position this time, with Luck finding Dray running alone for a 30-yard touchdown right down the middle of Arizona's secondary.

Phew, this could be a good ol' fashioned Pac-10 shootout.

Updated 4:40 p.m. -- Robert Golden picks off a terrible Andrew Luck pass and returns it 79 yards to open the scoring. Arizona 7, Stanford 0.

The Cardinal had terrific field position after Chris Owusu returned another shallow Alex Zendejas kickoff (a recurring problem in the Washington game) 52 yards to Arizona's 33. Stanford picked up one first down and appeared poised to put some points on the board, but Luck threw the ball well behind his intended receiver and Golden was more than happy to take it the other direction.

Golden has struggled at times with his positioning and tackling this season, but he was in the perfect spot for that pick. I can't stress this strongly enough -- Luck's pass was dreadful.

John Bonano came in for that kickoff -- the first of his career. He got the ball to the goal line, but Owusu took that one 56 yards. Arizona will need to figure out what's going on in kick coverage, and soon. You can't keep giving Stanford a short field and hope to come away with a win.

Updated 4 p.m. -- Hello and welcome to another (hopefully) exciting Arizona football game.

Today, the Cats (3-2, 1-1 Pac-10) host the Stanford Cardinal (4-2, 3-1) in a pivotal Pac-10 match-up.

Arizona hasn't been home since that 34-17 win over NAU on Sept. 12. These wonderful weather conditions (currently 97 degrees with a gentle breeze) will hopefully remind these Cats just how delightful it is to be here in Southern Arizona this time of year.

Stanford will rely on the powerful Toby Gerhart to control the clock and wear out the UA defense. Gerhart came into today ranked first in total rushing yards with 746. Last season, Gerhart torched the Wildcat defense to the tune of 116 yards and completely took over the game in the fourth quarter to lead Stanford to a 24-23 win in Palo Alto.

Keep an eye on Arizona's red-zone conversion rate today. The Cats will be able to move the ball today behind Nick Foles' accuracy in the short passing game, but the team has had a really tough time converting touchdowns when it's near the goal line. Rob Gronkowski would obviously alleviate a lot of these problems, but with him expected to spend the entire season inactive, someone else will need to step into that role.

Check www.gvnews.com throughout the afternoon for updates.