Arizona 52, The Citadel 6

By foxsports
Published

Nic Grigsby rushed for three touchdowns, including a career-long 62-yard scoring run, and Arizona routed The Citadel 52-6 in the Wildcats' home opener on Saturday night.

Nick Foles completed 17 of 22 for passes for 214 yards and one touchdown before calling it a night early in the third quarter as the Wildcats (2-0) rolled for 489 yards in a tuneup for next Saturday's home game against No. 9 Iowa.

Grigsby rushed for 107 yards in 11 carries and boosted his career rushing touchdown total to 25, tied for third-most in Arizona history.

The Citadel (1-1), a member of the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly NCAA Division I-AA) Southern Conference, played a Pac-10 team for the first time.

Matt Thompson, freshman quarterback in the Bulldogs' triple-option offense, fumbled the ball twice to set up Arizona touchdowns late in the first half and early in the second.

Arizona third-stringer Greg Nwoko gained 72 yards in seven carries, including touchdown runs of 23 and 3 yards.

The Wildcats, who opened their season with a 41-2 win at Toledo, have outscored their first two opponents 93-5. Sam Keeler's 39-yard field goal with 6:55 left in the third quarter for The Citadel provided the first offensive points against Arizona this season. Keeler also had a 23-yarder.

After a slow start, Arizona scored on consecutive possessions at the end of the first quarter and start of the second.

Foles' 44-yard pass to Juron Criner highlighted a six-play, 60-yard drive that put the Wildcats up 7-0 on Grigsby's 3-yard scoring run. Criner caught Foles' long pass, bounced off a would-be tackler, then broke downfield to the Bulldogs' 3.

Arizona went 84-yards on 12 plays the next time it had the ball. Foles threw to Bug Wright in the back of the end zone for the touchdown to make it 14-0 with 12:58 left to go in the half. Foles completed 5 of 6 passes on the drive for 69 yards.

Alex Zendejas' 41-yard field goal with 2:25 left in the half made it 17-0. The first play after the subsequent kickoff, Thompson fumbled and Paul Vassallo recovered for Arizona at The Citadel 22. Foles threw over the middle to Wright to the 1-yard line, and Grigsby took it in from there to put the Wildcats up 24-0 25 seconds before the half.

Arizona scored two touchdowns in a 27-second span the first two minutes of the second half.

Grigsby's 62-yard run one play after the second-half kickoff made it 31-0. Although the senior tailback has a 94-yard run in his career, the 62-yarder was his longest for a touchdown.

The first play after the subsequent kickoff, Thompson's bad pitch was recovered by Derek Earls for Arizona at the Bulldogs' 23. Nwoko went 23 yards for the score on the next play to put Arizona ahead 38-0 with 12:23 still left in the third quarter.