GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Amid the sound of the doors of metal lockers slamming in anger and disappointment, Arizona senior Dan Pettinato stood in the locker room, looking for hugs.
His college career over -- ended abruptly when Arizona let time run out at the Boise State 10-yard line in a 38-30 loss in the Fiesta Bowl -- it was almost as if he wanted to linger in the moment, to soak it all in one final time. He hugged linebacker Scooby Wright before collecting the final items from his locker.
"Right now, I don't really know how to react," the defensive end Pettinato said. "I don't think it's hit me."
If the finish left him with ambivalent feelings, the Arizona defense's start against the Broncos on Wednesday was clear cut. Let's call it atrocious. And, ultimately, decisive.
Boise State's Jay Ajayi ran 56 yards for a touchdown on the fourth snap of the game, when an Arizona lineman was cleaned out of the middle, with no help behind him. On the Broncos' second possession, quarterback Grant Hedrick, with enough time to put his feet up in a recliner, threw deep to Chaz Anderson, who slipped behind the defense for a 57-yard touchdown.
On their third possession, they went 80 yards for a touchdown, reaching back into the Fiesta Bowl archives to run the Statue of Liberty play made famous eight years earlier against Oklahoma. Ajayi scored on a 16-yard run, flattening cornerback Cam Denson with a stiff arm near the goal line.
It was 21-0 with only about 10 minutes gone, and Boise State already had 246 yards, roughly on pace to gain 1,500 for the game.
"We weren't into the game and that really hurt us," defensive end Reggie Gilbert said. "I don't think we focused up until the season half."
Was that it? A simple of lack of focus? If so, how does that happen on a big stage like the Fiesta Bowl?
"I don't have any idea right now," Gilbert said.
Pettinato called the first two touchdowns the result of "two small mistakes."
"I'm not going to blame any one player, but our defense gave up two easy ones," he said. "You can't do against a good team. That will bite you in the tail."
Just to be clear: The Statue of Liberty was a great play, and a great call at the right time. But it was the execution, rather than the deception, that made it work.
Gilbert said the Wildcats had been practicing against it.
"We definitely knew they were going to throw out something tricky," Gilbert said. "That's what they do."
One thing Arizona had done this season is not give up when facing adversity and big deficits. Although the defense lost senior safety Jared Tevis to an undisclosed arm injury on the trick play -- "that hurt a lot," Wright said -- it's hard to argue with much of what came next.
Boise State had those 246 yards on three possessions ... and then gained 225 yards on their final 14.
"I don't know," Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez said when asked about Boise State's fast start and, by extension, the defense's early no-show.
"They executed a whole lot better. It was like (Boise) was going against air. I mean, it wasn't even challenged. And we didn't tackle well. It was a combination of a whole lot of stuff. To our guys' credit on defense, they buckled down a little bit, got some key stops."
Gilbert said Rodriguez and defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel were "furious" at halftime, and then the Wildcats responded by allowing the Broncos only two yards in the third quarter. But Boise State got seven points on an interception return for a touchdown. It was that kind of day for Arizona.
Hedrick peppered the Arizona secondary I the first half, completing his first 14 attempts before throwing a pass that was tipped by his own receiver for an interception. Thomas Sperbeck caught 12 passes for 199 yards. But Arizona's defense dominated the second half, not allowing any points and getting a strip and recovery from Tra'Mayne Bondurant in the fourth quarter that the Cats converted to a field goal to make it 38-30 with 6:11 to go.
The Cardiac Cats, set to ride again, fizzled from there. The offense couldn't get back to equal, and the defense's stand simply came too late. Arizona chased the 21-0 deficit all game and came up 10 yards and a few seconds short.
"It's tough," Wright said. "Just have to use it as motivation for next year. If we don't feel like doing stuff in the weight room, we just have to think about this and how much it hurts."
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