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Casey Skowron was a difference-maker in Arizona’s win over Washington
Arizona place-kicker Casey Skowron, the Pac-12’s special teams player of the week, did his best to increase the Wildcats helmet sticker production against Washington on Saturday even with his 18-yard run on a fake field goal in the second quarter.
Skowron’s run was one of only six plays of 12 or more yards for the Wildcats, as they fell short of the goal to achieve at least 10 such plays. The six plays are a season low and only the second time this season Arizona has failed to reach that mark (the UCLA loss the other game when the Wildcats finished with nine).
Arizona had only one play of 12 or more yards in the second half — a 63-yard pass from Anu Solomon to Trey Griffey in the fourth quarter — which is alarming because Solomon usually heats up after halftime.
Arizona’s offense also had only three drives of at least eight plays, falling just short of the goal of four. An alarming trend on those drives: On two of them, Arizona did not score. The Wildcats were stopped on downs on an eight-play drive in the first quarter and Solomon was intercepted in the end zone to end a nine-play drive in the fourth quarter.
It’s no wonder Arizona had a hash-it-out meeting between Solomon and its receivers after the game. The precision of the offense has been lacking since the UCLA game.
Skowron earned Arizona four of its seven stickers with the successful execution of the fake field goal that ignited the Wildcats after they trailed 17-7 in the second quarter. His game-winning 47-yard field goal also eclipsed the helmet-sticker goal of converting a field goal of at least 45 yards.
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HELMET STICKER RESULTS
HS: Helmet stickers
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Casey Skowron runs to the end zone on his successful 18-yard run for a touchdown on a fake field goal attempt in the second quarter Saturday (Fox Sports screen shot)
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Both plays enabled Arizona to win and improve to 5-2 in the Pac-12 South. An overall victory and Pac-12 win also earns the Wildcats helmet stickers.
Skowron is an efficient three of four on his field goals longer than 40 yards this season.
Arizona also received stickers for having less than five penalties (only two for 14 yards) and for forcing at least three turnovers.
The most significant of those was Tra’Mayne Bondurant forcing Washington running back Deontae Cooper‘s fumble that set up Skowron’s heroics.
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HELMET STICKER CRITERIA
The Wildcats earn cat claws for the Arizona helmet if they achieve these following marks. This helmet will be updated weekly as the Wildcats attempt to fill the helmet with the cat claws:
LAST SIX GAMES
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[table “” not found /]ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He also writes articles for Bleacher Report and Lindy’s College Sports.
