Baker leads Arizona past Colorado 38-31

“You’re so close and you can taste it”, MacIntyre said.

Baker scored three touchdowns and had 207 yards on the ground and 247 yards total. Mike MacIntyre’s team has been steadily improving, but so has the rest of the conference.

Arizona led last year’s game 21-17 at halftime, and 24-20 after three quarters before pulling away with a 38-20 victory.

Baker burst through a big hole, shot past a surprised secondary and outran defenders for a 79-yard touchdown that gave Arizona a quick 10-0 lead less than five minutes in.

By the time Rodriguez left the stadium, hopped onto the bus, and walked onto Arizona’s charter flight back to Tucson, he probably had forgotten about the Michigan game – if he even cared about it in the first place. After their next drive stalled and the Buffs were forced to punt, the ball ended up hitting a Wildcats’ player.

Quarterback Anu Solomon returned from a one-game injuryabsence last week, and Arizona returned to the win column, snapping a two-gameskid with a 44-7 rout of Oregon State. In the fourth quarter, Baker added a 45-yard rushing score to tie the game, then hauled in a 25-yard reception for the go-ahead touchdown in the final period. Solomon completed 17 of 30 passes for 276 yards before he sat out in the fourth quarter.

It could go down as the beginning of the resurgence of the Colorado Buffaloes football – or just another embarrassing footnote in the program’s current stretch of ineptitude.

But as we come to learn, these Buffs don’t quit, Jim leavitt made adjustments to the defense and suddenly the Buffs locked down, holding the Wildcats scoreless for the entire second and third quarters. The Wildcats had 645 total yards compared to just 249 for the Beavers. Last week, junior Ryan Severson injured his right ankle in his first career start, leaving the task Saturday night to freshmen Rick Gamboa and Grant Watanabe. It didn’t take a football genius to see that the Buffs’ defense was keeping things watchable for most of the game. Still, the Colorado game marked Matthews’ second-straight start at the position, and he delivered results, finishing tied with cornerback Jace Whittaker for the team lead with 11 tackles.

Liufau would connect with Fields for a 30-yard touchdown with 4:33 left in the fourth to pull the Buffs within a touchdown, but it came at a price. “I’m proud of how they always fight”. Sophomore tailback Phillip Lindsay was electric, running for 91 yards on 23 carries. Orlando Bradford didn’t receive a single carry after scoring three touchdowns last week, but receiver Tyrell Johnson carried the ball three times for 16 yards out of the backfield. Both games were road wins.

There are no “cupcake” games in Pac-12 play anymore. Arizona Wildcats rank at 5 for 301.0 road rushing yards where as Colorado Buffaloes rank at 58 for allowing 136.5 rushing yards at home.