TUCSON, Ariz. -- Saturday night could end up being the night Arizona looks back at as the night when everything changed.
The program. The mentality. The culture.
Overdramatic? Maybe, but 52-17 wins over the Washingtons of the world can be signature wins. At least until better ones come along.
Of course, the bar for program-changing wins could be raised next week when current No. 10 USC comes to town to take on the back-on-track Wildcats. But until then, Arizona will lsavor a much-appreciated and much-needed victory over Washington that ended a three-game losing streak heading into the aforementioned game against USC.
"There’s a lot more that we need to accomplish," said UA coach Rich Rodriguez, who for the first time in his career has won more than three games in his first year at a coaching stop. The Wildcats are now 4-3 overall and 1-3 in the Pac-12.
"It was a really nice win, and we’re going to enjoy it, but there is a whole lot of stuff we need to work on. A whole lot of stuff we need to get better at."
But Rodriguez said the Wildcats are now "pulling in the same direction. Everyone
has bought in."
And while he's certain that there will be more "bumps in the road," it’s always a good thing when "all the momentum is pulling with you."
When Rodriguez was asked if the team needed a win like this -- a good old-fashioned beating -- Rodriguez smiled and said, "Everything is better when you win. You sleep better. You eat better. Our guys have worked so hard, you want them to be able to enjoy it."
There was little to no stress on Saturday night. Heck, for the first time in a month, there was laughter and smiling on the UA sideline with the clock winding down. There was no late-game collapse this week.
When Washington did get close, cutting UA's lead to 31- 17, in the second quarter, the Wildcats just put their foot on the pedal and pulled away, in large part thanks to running back Ka'Deem Carey, who finished with a career-high 172 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries.
"It feels good," Carey said. "It feels great. We finished a game like this against a good team like Washington. All we can do is celebrate."
Sure, the Huskies (3-4 overall, 1-3) went into Saturday’s game in a similar slump, but UA took advantage of its opponents' struggles in a way Washington couldn't.
And with an impressive win, talk again turned to Arizona's apparently bright future -- and perhaps even a bowl game this season.
It’s all premature, of course, but every win on the road to six helps. Resounding victories just add emphasis.
Arizona had its way with Washington in every way. Yes, even on defense, an area that had been UA’s Achilles heel. The Wildcats held the Huskies scoreless in the third quarter, marking the first time this season they'd held a Pac-12 team scoreless for a quarter. And then they repeated the effort in the fourth.
"I really thought our guys strained a little harder and caused some holding penalties," said Rodriguez. "We talked about that earlier in the week -- that a little extra effort may cause a guy to grab you. I thought our defensive line did a good job of that."
The defense finished with four sacks of Washington quarterback Keith Price after having totaled just six all season coming into the game.
Another contributing factor to the turnaround may have been the defense-only meeting UA had Friday night, according to linebacker Jake Fischer, who had a game-high nine tackles. Players aired their grievances, Fischer said, and admitted that they needed to more consistently pull their weight in games.
"We just said that we had to keep our end of the bargain, because the offense was doing great,’’ Fischer said. "We just need to get them the ball and limit the other teams' time of possession. I’m really proud of our guys and how they responded."
Fischer went as far as saying that he feels the Wildcats "are back on the
map and can take some motivation from it."
And Arizona’s problems in the red zone were all but a memory. UA went
4 for 4 inside the Washington 20-yard line, with three of the four scores being touchdowns.
Ditch the laugh track and insert the applause track here.
"I think we’ve been a lot more efficient the past couple of (games),’" said Arizona quarterback Matt Scott. "We’re executing better than we ever have. We just need to continue to get better."
While Scott referenced the need for improvement, the fifth-year senior was spectacular Saturday night -- again. He threw just 22 passes but connected on 14 of them for 256 yards and four touchdowns, a career high.
He admitted it being a "little bit" strange to throw just five times in the second half, but the damage had been done, and throwing simply wasn't necessary with the way the running game was working. UA finished with 277 yards on the ground and 533 total yards.
Carey did the majority of the damage before getting his touchdown -- his 11th of the season -- early in the fourth quarter to complete the scoring.
"Ka’Deem is a really talented guy," said Rodriguez. "He runs really hungry. He makes you tackle him. And they hit him pretty good. He’s a talented guy, and all he needs is a crease. He breaks a lot of tackles."
