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No longer in the driver's seat in a competitive Pac-12 South, Arizona can hardly afford a loss to the last-place team in the other division.
The 15th-ranked Wildcats will try to disrupt Washington State's high-powered passing attack and avoid a second straight loss to the Cougars on Saturday in Pullman.
Before a bye week, Arizona lost its spot atop the division when it couldn't complete another pulse-pounding victory Oct. 11 against Southern California. The Wildcats missed an opportunity to tie the game with 1:07 left when Jared Baker was stopped on a two-point conversion following a 1-yard touchdown run, his third score of the game.
Arizona recovered an ensuing onside kick, but Casey Skowron's 36-yard field goal attempt went wide right in a 28-26 loss.
After thrilling wins over California and then-No. 2 Oregon, the Wildcats (5-1, 2-1) are now one of four teams with one loss in the Pac-12 South, and they trail USC by two in the win column. A loss to Washington State (2-5, 1-3) would likely deal a heavy blow to their chances of reaching the conference title game for the first time.
The Cougars are also coming off a bye week after a 34-17 loss at then-No. 25 Stanford on Oct. 10. They were held to a season-low 266 yards, minus-26 rushing, and FBS passing leader Connor Halliday had 292 yards after setting an NCAA record with 734 in a 60-59 loss to Cal on Oct. 4.
Halliday has 3,344 yards and leads the next-closest quarterback by 695 despite the week off. His 28 TDs are six shy of matching the Cougars' single-season mark that he shares with Ryan Leaf.
"He is obviously a very talented guy and can make a lot of throws, but their wide receiver crew is really good and they know what they are doing," Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez said. "All of the guys are valuable options whether it is four or five wideouts because the ball may go to any of them at any time."
Arizona quarterback Anu Solomon is ninth in the FBS with 2,136 yards in his first collegiate season, and he had 395 yards against USC.
"A good player. He's a big, physical guy and does some good stuff," Washington State coach Mike Leach said.
Halliday went 39 of 53 for 319 yards in his only matchup with Arizona on Nov. 16, and his two second-half touchdowns led to a 24-17 victory that snapped the Cougars' five-game skid in the series.
"Connor Halliday's throwing seems a lot more on point this year, but at the same time this will only give us an opportunity to show everyone what we're capable of," Wildcats safety Jared Tevis said. "They're a good team so we have to go out there and give it our all. Last year, we didn't come out with the right energy, so this game we're starting out and firing on all cylinders."
Arizona, which has won three in a row at Washington State, ranks 106th nationally with 278.0 passing yards allowed per game and is 90th with 432.0 total yards yielded per contest. The Cougars are 109th and 96th in those categories and are 103rd with an average of 35.0 points conceded, while Arizona allows 26.8 points per game - good for 67th.
