San Diego State’s defense dominated and the Aztecs pounced on Arizona early in cruising to a 38-14 victory in a nonconference game Saturday night in Tucson, Ariz.
Jordon Brookshire completed 10 of 14 passes for 183 yards and two touchdowns, and Greg Bell carried 17 times for 125 yards and a touchdown for San Diego State (2-0).
The Wildcats (0-2) lost their 14th consecutive game.
Arizona scraped together only 111 yards through three quarters and 228 for the game against a salty San Diego State defense that had four sacks.
Wildcats quarterback Gunner Cruz completed 10 of 19 passes for 70 yards with one touchdown and one interception before being replaced by Will Plummer in the third quarter.
Bell scored on a 55-yard run on the fourth play of the game, and San Diego State went up 21-0 within the first eight minutes with the help of two more big plays. Tight end Daniel Bellinger’s 73-yard reception set up a Brookshire rushing TD, and Tyrell Shavers snagged a blocked punt out of the air and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown.
Arizona stopped the bleeding when Stanley Berryhill III turned a short screen pass into a tackle-breaking 43-yard score with 5:50 to go in the first quarter. But the rest of the half belonged to the Aztecs, who rolled up 344 yards before the break en route to a 35-7 lead.
None of Arizona’s first 13 possessions lasted longer than four plays, including one that ended in an interception that led to a San Diego State field goal and a 38-7 lead with 5:13 to go in the third quarter. The Wildcats had the same number of punts and first downs (11).
Plummer hit Tayvian Cunningham for a 7-yard touchdown pass midway through the fourth quarter for the final points of the game.
Since the start of the 2016 season, San Diego State is 6-2 against teams from the Pac-12. The Aztecs will host Utah next Saturday.
–Field Level Media