Bledsoe Beats Arizona’s Blocks With Passes, 40-27

Drew Bledsoe passed for three touchdowns and Washington State intercepted four passes to beat Arizona, 40-27, Saturday in a Pacific 10 Conference game.

Washington State, 4-5 overall and 3-3 in the Pac-10, had only a 9-7 lead at halftime, but Bledsoe threw for two touchdowns in the second half as the Cougars pulled away from Arizona (3-6, 3-4), which blocked four kicks in the game.

Bledsoe completed 20 of 36 passes for 268 yards, throwing touchdown passes to Deron Pointer, Phillip Bobo and Rodney Scott.

Arizona quarterback Charles Levy ran for touchdowns of eight and 19 yards and completed eight of 13 passes for 75 yards. He had two passes intercepted.

Ontiwaun Carter of Arizona rushed for 106 yards in 22 caries, including a 17-yard touchdown that pulled the Wildcats to within 27-21 midway through the final quarter. But Washington State’s Paul Carr ran for a 10-yard touchdown with 1:47 remaining to make it 34-21.

The Cougars iced the victory when Michael Wright intercepted a pass by Arizona backup quarterback Bill Prickett and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown and a 40-21 lead.

Prickett hit Terry Vaughn with an 18-yard scoring pass in the closing seconds.

Anthony Prior and Anthony McLanahan also had second-half interceptions for the Cougars.

Washington State kicker Jason Hanson made field goals of 51 and 49 yards but the Wildcats blocked two other field-goal attempts and one of his tries for an extra point. Hanson also missed a field-goal attempt and conversion kick.

Heath Bray intercepted a pass by Bledsoe at the end of the first quarter, setting up the Wildcats’ first score. Bray later blocked Hanson’s 40-yard field-goal attempt in the fourth quarter.