Arizona finishes strong

Mike Thomas broke the game open with a 52-yard punt return for a score, and Arizona whipped Arizona State, 31-10, on Saturday night in a Pacific 10 Conference game at Tucson, clinching the Wildcats’ first winning season since 1998.

Nic Grigsby rushed for 114 yards and a touchdown and Willie Tuitama threw for 284 yards and two scores for Arizona (7-5, 5-4), which was expected to accept a bid to the Las Vegas Bowl.

Cardinal-clad Arizona students rushed the field to celebrate the Wildcats’ most lopsided Territorial Cup triumph since a 30-6 victory in 1964. The Wildcats ended a three-game losing streak to the Sun Devils (5-7, 4-5), whose string of four straight bowl appearances ended.

Down 10-7 at halftime, the Wildcats blew past the Sun Devils with 21 third-quarter points.

Arizona took a 14-10 lead on Tuitama’s 18-yard pass to Delashaun Dean midway through the quarter.

Then cornerback Marquis Hundley picked off Rudy Carpenter’s pass and returned it 47 yards to the ASU 34. Four plays later, Grigsby scored on a 12-yard run to make it 21-10.

Then came the backbreaker: the punt return by Thomas that electrified the Arizona Stadium crowd of 58,704.

Carpenter completed 13 of 31 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown and threw an interception. He started his 43rd straight game, the nation’s longest active streak. He finished his career with 26 victories, tied with Dennis Sproul for second in school history.

California 48, Washington 7 -- Jahvid Best rushed for a school-record 311 yards and four touchdowns for the Golden Bears (8-4, 6-3) at Berkeley and the Huskies (0-12, 0-9) concluded the first winless season in school history in Tyrone Willingham’s last game as coach.

Falling behind, 31-0, by halftime, Washington wrapped up its miserable year as the nation’s only winless school and the first 0-12 team in conference history. The Huskies, who announced Willingham’s departure in October, have lost 14 straight since their last win, over Cal late last season.

Washington confirmed it had hired USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian to replace Willingham. The former Stanford and Notre Dame coach won only 11 games in four seasons with the Huskies.

Nate Longshore threw a touchdown pass in his final home game, and Cal’s defense created four turnovers.

After the game, the Golden Bears accepted a bid to play in the Emerald Bowl on Dec. 27.

Best broke Jerry Drew’s 54-year-old school record of 283 yards during a 34-yard run early in the third quarter. He has 1,394 yards rushing this season, the fourth-best total in school history.