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Washington State scored 55 points in the first period and maintained its hopes in college football matches with a 69-28 victory over Arizona.
PULLMAN – It's a milestone season for Washington State and the Cougars made a Saturday night, trying to become the sixth team in the program's history to win 10 wins in a season and the first to do since 2003.
The visiting Arizona Wildcats were never going to interfere in the school's history on a cold night in Pullman; in many cases, they actually helped WSU No. 8 reach the 10-goal plateau at Martin Stadium. In an explosion of 69-28, the Cougars achieved this record and tackled several others that they probably did not count on.
If we had not taken a bad shot on a PAT in the second quarter, WSU would have equaled the most points scored in a single half in the history of the program. Instead, the Cougars settled for a 55-14 lead at half-time – one point out of the 56 scored in 1997 against southwestern Louisiana.
But it is okay. The Cougars still pushed their record to 10-1 and improved their Pac-12 to 7-1 by dominating an Arizona team that had beaten them by three touchdowns a year ago.
Quarterback Gardner Minshew continued to refine his Heisman Trophy CV, completing 43 of his 55 passes for 473 yards and a seven-touch school record. Junior University transfer Calvin Jackson Jr. captured his first and second touchdown passes in a WSU uniform and Tay Martin led the receivers with seven catches for 124 yards and one touchdown.
The versatile half-goals of the Cougars also helped make this match the most significant match of the Mike Leach era. James Williams scored a touchdown and another reception to bring his season total to 14, while Max Borghi ran for 50 yards, caught for 65 yards more and rushed for a touchdown in the first quarter.
The Cougars did not need a ton of help on a night when their attack generated 605 yards. The offensive line gained a lot of time at Minshew and opened the way for the riders, who finished with 111 yards and 5.8 yards per run.
But the Wildcats (5-6, 4-4 Pac-12) constantly crashed, making six penalties in the first half for 72 yards. They also gave four turnovers.
Rather than staging a great annoyance for the country's eighth-ranked football team, Arizona, whose chances of winning the Pac-12 South title were canceled earlier in the afternoon when Utah beat Colorado, often looked like a team more interested in returning to the Tucson sun. desert as fast as humanly possible.
The Cougars were already comfortably 14-0, when the Wildcats finally won the first dive in their third offensive possession. Williams had scored the first WSU touchdown on a 1-meter run and the Cougars quickly recovered the ball when cornerback Marcus Strong made an impressive game as he returned to intercept quarterback Khalil Tate in Arizona.
WSU also had two touchdowns in four seconds in the second quarter. After Minshew was sent back to Jackson Jr. to take the score to 41-14, the Cougars recovered the kickoff of Jack Crane, who then reached the end zone after two players tried to fix it.
Kainoa Wilson finally jumped on the ball to allow the special teams to score 41-14.
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Linebacker Peyton Pelluer of Washington State became the oldest player of the school against Arizona in the 52nd match of his career.
Last week, in a 31-7 victory in Colorado, Pelluer tied the mark of 51, held by wide receiver Gabe Marks and defensive lineman Daniel Ekuale. The average sixth-year linebacker broke the Wildcats record Saturday when the Cougars came out for the first defensive series of the game.
Pelluer is also in the top 10 of the attack team – he is seventh at all times with 325 – and 31.5 for loss.
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