COLLEGE FOOTBALL : Backup Batten Leads Arizona Over Cal, 20-15

Brady Batten replaced injured Dan White and threw the first two touchdown passes of his career as Arizona snapped a two-game skid with a 20-15 Pacific 10 victory over California Saturday.

Arizona, 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the Pac-10, dropped out of the rankings for the first time in 39 weeks after last week’s 31-10 loss to USC.

Batten, a sophomore who had attempted 19 passes in college, came on after White suffered a concussion 5:59 into the game.

Batten threw to Richard Dice for touchdowns on plays covering 40 and 13 yards.

Arizona also got a 13-yard scoring run from Gary Taylor and a safety en route to a 20-5 halftime lead.

Cal (1-3, 0-1) tightened things in the third quarter when Ryan Longwell, who had earlier kicked a 28-yard field goal, booted a 35-yarder and Pat Barnes connected with Bobby Shaw on a 31-yard touchdown pass play.

Barnes threw an apparent scoring pass to Iheanyi Uwaezuoke minutes into the fourth quarter, but a holding penalty not only nullified the touchdown but took the Bears out of field-goal range.

The Wildcats scored three touchdowns and a safety in the first 7:35 of the second quarter but got only 20 points out of it because Cal’s Andy Jacobs, Duane Clemons and Regan Upshaw blocked Jon Prasuhn’s extra-point attempts.

Arizona led, 20-3, after Batten’s second strike to Dice, but then Marquis Smith fielded the blocked placement and returned it 100 yards for two points.