Swirling winds, tough defense stymie Huskies

TUCSON, Ariz. — Arizona walked into the locker room at halftime with a 24-point lead and believing Washington's players were already defeated.

"Right before the half we were taking a knee. [Tight end] A.J. Simmons and me were saying, 'These guys are looking sick over there,' " Arizona tailback Nic Grigsby said. "I looked over there and they were not talking to each other, not doing nothing. We sensed they were quitting already. In the second half we tried to pour it on."

Arizona (4-1, 2-0 Pac-10) came out after the break and scored on an 8-yard touchdown catch by tight end Rob Gronkowski. That was more than enough to keep the Wildcats going on the way to a 48-14 victory Saturday.

The Huskies (0-5, 0-3), playing amid swirling winds, watched their chance of a third straight win at Arizona Stadium sail away quickly.

The trouble started at the coin toss, when Arizona won the flip and deferred to take the wind on offense.

"[The wind] was probably the most important aspect of the game," Wildcats coach Mike Stoops said. "I don't understand why they didn't take the wind in the second half, [too]. When you are down like that, I didn't understand that. We handled the wind very well."

Washington didn't handle the wind, Arizona quarterback Willie Tuitama or an aggressive defense very well.

Washington punter Jared Ballman had two punts hit the wind and net just 20 and 33 yards.

The Wildcats made the most of their opportunities, with three first-quarter drives starting inside the Washington 40 and a fourth drive before halftime starting inside the 35.

Washington, by comparison, started at its own 20 three times and its 5 once in the opening quarter.

"Getting up early was important," Stoops said. "We talked about it, don't let them hang around."

The Huskies' defense started off strong, holding the Wildcats to just a field goal on their opening two possessions. That changed when Gronkowski took a 37-yard screen pass in for the first of his three touchdowns at the 7:10 mark of the first quarter.

Grigsby scored on a 4-yard run on the final play of the quarter to add insult to injury.

That was more than enough for an Arizona defense that was originally prepared to face injured quarterback Jake Locker, but proved more than ready to trouble Ronnie Fouch.

"We were concerned about their run game and we didn't know much about Ronnie," Stoops said. "We had a good game plan, and our kids executed very well."