Arizona football: Wildcats too generous against Bruins

But the Wildcats shot themselves in the foot over and over in the first half, fumbling twice and having a pass intercepted.

The first giveaway came when a bad snap sailed over Anu Solomon on the fourth play of Arizona’s second possession. UCLA recovered, and junior Paul Perkins rushed for a 16-yard touchdown on the next play to give the Bruins a 14-7 lead.

Then, less than two minutes into the second quarter, Solomon fumbled on his own 30, and UCLA took a 28-7 lead five plays later on a touchdown catch by Jordan Payton. Backup quarterback Jerrard Randall accounted for Arizona’s third turnover of the first half when he was intercepted and the Bruins drove 64 yards to go up 42-14 on Perkins’ third touchdown run of the game.

“Any time you turn the ball over, it’s going to be pretty bad,” said Arizona redshirt senior wide receiver David Richards.

Adams jumps right in

UCLA junior cornerback Ishmael Adams didn’t take long to make an impact in Saturday’s game against the Wildcats, his first game of the season.

Adams was suspended for the first three games after he was arrested on suspicion of felony robbery for allegedly taking a phone from an Uber driver the week before the season started.

Adams, who started all 26 games for the Bruins over the last two years, entered Saturday’s game as a substitute and eventually intercepted a pass with 5:33 left in the second quarter. He also broke up a pass and had a solo tackle in the win.

Next generation

Although Arizona lost to UCLA on Saturday night, it could gain something down the road: There were 120 recruits visiting Tucson on Saturday, as the Wildcats were in the national spotlight.

Among the notable 2017 targets in Tucson were cornerback Darnay Holmes (2017, 5-star), defensive end Jaelan Phillips (2017, 4-star) and linebacker Levi Jones (2017, no stars yet).

Holmes is the brother of UA receiver Darick Holmes, and Jones is Cayleb Jones’ brother.

The UA also had a handful of verbally committed players on the 2016 class in town for the Pac-12 opener, including defensive end Josh Allen, quarterback Devon Modster, athlete Khalil Tate, athlete DeVaughn Cooper, linebacker Jacob Colacion, athlete Sean Riley and defensive back Isaiah Hayes.

Arizona could have benefited from having some of those players on the field as UCLA amassed 497 yards of offense.

Extra points

• While Arizona’s star linebacker, Scooby Wright, returned after missing three weeks with a knee injury, another linebacker remained out. Outside linebacker DeAndre’ Miller missed his second straight week with a wrist injury. Jake Matthews, an Ironwood Ridge High product, started in his place and recorded one solo tackle.

Receivers Samajie Grant (foot) and Jones (ankle) played despite being listed as “questionable” on this week’s injury report. Jones had four catches for 44 yards, while Grant was held without a reception.

• Coming into Saturday, UCLA had yet to allow a sack. Even though Arizona’s defense struggled, it still managed to make a dent in that statistic, recording two sacks and six tackles-for-loss. Safety Tellas Jones and defensive lineman Luca Bruno recorded the quarterback takedowns.

• Thanks in part to the presence of Randall at quarterback for most of Saturday’s game, the Wildcats ran for 353 yards. Combined with their performance against NAU, that’s 852 rushing yards in two weeks.