Jayden de Laura passed for 484 yards and tied a 40-year-old Arizona school record with six touchdown passes as the Wildcats kept Colorado winless with a 43-20 victory Saturday night in Tucson, Ariz.
De Laura’s touchdown tosses tied the record set by Tom Tunnicliffe against Pacific on Oct. 23, 1982. Arizona (3-2, 1-1 Pac-12) rolled to 673 yards against Colorado (0-5, 0-2), which has lost each game by at least 23 points.
The Wildcats’ yardage total was their most ever against a Pac-12 foe, eclipsing the 670 they gained against Colorado in 2013.
Arizona running back Michael Wiley caught two touchdown passes and ran for a team-high 77 yards. Jacob Cowing led the receiving corps with career highs in catches (12) and receiving yards (180) and a touchdown. Dorian Singer added nine catches for 163 yards and a score, while Tetairoa McMillan also found the end zone on five catches for 90 yards.
de Laura completed 33 of 46 passes without an interception. Colorado true freshman quarterback Owen McCown, making his second career start, was 14 of 30 for 186 yards and a touchdown.
Arizona led 26-13 at halftime and later pushed its advantage to 36-20 on Tyler Loop’s 29-yard field goal with 1:22 to go in the third quarter. A 5-yard touchdown pass to Wiley with 8:57 left in the game made it 43-20, and McCown’s lost fumble on a sack at the Arizona 16 at the 5:17 mark secured the victory for the Wildcats.
Arizona scored on its two first possessions, going up 13-7 when de Laura connected with Cowing late in the first quarter on a 3-yard pass on fourth-and-goal.
Arizona scored two more touchdowns in the second quarter as de Laura found Singer and Tanner McLachlan on scoring throws to extend the lead to 26-7. Colorado inched closer on McCown’s 14-yard pass to Daniel Arias with 1:05 left in the half to make it 26-13.
–Field Level Media
