Pullman, WA (Sports Network) – Keola Antolin ran 21 times for 92 yards and two touchdowns and Nic Grigsby added 66 rushing yards and a score on 14 touches to carry 17th-ranked Arizona past Washington State, 24-7.
Matt Scott came on in relief of injured starter Nick Foles and completed 14- of-20 passes for 139 yards and was intercepted once for the Wildcats (5-1, 2-1 Pac-10), who bounced back from their only loss of the season last week to Oregon State to beat the Cougars for a fifth straight meeting.
Foles left the game a minute into the second quarter with a right knee injury and did not return after going 6-for-7 for 71 yards.
Jeff Tuel connected on 18-of-32 throws for 257 yards and a score and ran for 33 more, while Marquess Wilson made six catches for 131 yards and a touchdown for the Cougars (1-6, 0-4), who have dropped five in a row.
“I thought our defense got better as the game went along, " Washington State head coach Paul Wulff said. “Offensively, we started the moving the ball. We didn’t convert when we had to make some plays against a very good defense. We needed to make some catches and we left some big plays out there. Two weeks in a row, we have played a very good football team. We need to keep fighting and compete.”
Following a three-and-out, the ’Cats took over at the Washington State 44 and ran just six plays to post the first points of the game on a nine yard-run by Antonlin with 4:48 remaining in the opening stanza.
Antolin’s one-yard scoring run finished off a 15-play drive that covered 95 yards and chewed up 5:44 to give the visitors a 14-0 lead with 11 minutes to go in the half.
Foles was hurt during the march after completing a pass to Travis Cobb. On his first play, Scott hooked up Taimi Tutogi on a 25-yard catch-and-run and directed the remainder of the drive.
Arizona held Washington State to just 56 yards of offense in the first 30 minutes and kept the hosts scoreless in the first half for the first time this season.
The Cougars were forced to punt on their first second half possession. Reid Forrest couldn’t handle the snap and Arizona recovered the loose ball at the seven yard line and needed only one play to cash in. Grigsby found paydirt just 72 seconds into the half to make it a 21-0 game.
WSU finally got on the board with 3 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter on a 23-yard scoring strike from Tuel to Marquess Wilson to polish off a nine-play, 63-yard march.
Alex Zendejas booted a 40-yard field goal with 11:57 to go in the game to account for the final margin.
Arizona leads the all-time series, 25-13…The Wildcats have won 12 of the last 17 meetings, including two straight visits to Pullman…Arizona has won 16 of its last 25 conference games since the middle of the 2007 campaign…The Wildcats played on the road for the first time in 43 days since a visit to Toledo on September 3 to open the season…Grigsby moved past Trung Canidate into third place on the Arizona all-time list with 26 rushing touchdowns…Cobb was Arizona’s leading receiver with seven catches for 62 yards…The Cougars are 9-33 against ranked teams since 2000…Washington State lost earlier this season to Oregon and USC when both teams were ranked…The Cougars recovered an onsides kick to begin the game.