Arizona’s Big First Half Enough to Beat Cougars

Michael Bates returned a kickoff 97 yards and No. 23 Arizona’s blistering option offense produced four first-half touchdowns, but the Wildcats had to hang on to beat Washington State, 42-34, in a Pacific 10 game Saturday night.

The Cougars, 3-5 overall and 2-3 in the Pac-10, rallied in the second half behind freshman quarterback Drew Bledsoe, who caught his own deflected pass and ran two yards for the touchdown that brought Washington State within eight points with 2:58 to play.

Arizona (6-2, 4-2) recovered an onside kick and ran out the clock.

Bledsoe completed 15 of 22 second-half passes for 218 yards, after hitting only seven of 18 for 167 in the first half. He threw for two touchdowns and ran for two.

Washington State doomed itself with a mistake-laden first half that featured 11 penalties for 72 yards and five sacks of Bledsoe for 43 yards. Arizona rushed 29 times for 185 yards in building a 35-10 halftime lead.

The comeback began when Bledsoe marched Washington State 94 yards, scoring on a 4-yard keeper to cut the deficit to 35-17.

Jason Hanson’s 42-yard field goal pulled Washington State within 35-20 with a minute left in the third. Bledsoe then took the Cougars 61 yards, scoring on a seven-yard run with 9:35 left.