Tate leads Arizona past Colorado 35-30

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Khalil Tate threw for 404 yards and three touchdowns in his return from a leg injury and Arizona used stops at the goal line and midfield on Colorado’s final two drives to wrap up its 35-30 win over the banged-up Buffaloes on Saturday.

Tate completed 31 of 41 passes and only ran four times, including a 7-yard scamper on third-and-6 from midfield in the closing minutes that allowed Arizona (4-1, 2-0) to run out the clock and leave Folsom Field as the Pac-12 South’s last unbeaten team.

In a game that featured 10 lead changes, the Buffaloes (3-2, 1-1) sorely missed star receiver Laviska Shenault (abdominal), CB Chris Miller (knee) and DE Mustafa Johnson (ankle), all of whom sat out. Several more Buffs were injured Saturday, including safety Mikial Onu (torso), receiver K.D. Nixon (unspecified), and nose tackle Jalen Sami (knee). Onu had a first-half interception and Nixon a first-half touchdown throw.

“Next man up is not a cliche, it’s what’s required,” Colorado coach Mel Tucker said. “There’s really no excuse and no explanation” for the Buffs’ breakdowns with so many backups filling the field.

The Wildcats weren’t whistled for a penalty until the final play of the third quarter — offside — during the Buffalos’ longest drive of the day, a 14-play marathon that stalled with Colorado failing to score on three plays from inside the Arizona 5.

They settled for James Stefanou’s 20-yard field goal and a 30-28 lead.

“That was the difference in the game,” Arizona coach Kevin Sumlin said.

The Wildcats responded with Nathan Tilford’s 5-yard TD run that put Arizona on top 35-30 with 6:51 left.

The Buffaloes drove to midfield and converted a fourth down but on third-and-4 from the Arizona 46, quarterback Steven Montez didn’t recognize two open receivers on slant routes up the middle when the Wildcats blitzed two linebackers. Instead, he overthrew a receiver on a go-route down the right sideline.

His fourth-down throw to Dimitri Stanley was too high and Arizona took over with 2:23 remaining, then sealed the win on Tate’s 7-yard keeper with less than a minute left.

“To get a fourth-down stop, that’s the one everyone is going to point to,” Sumlin said.

Tate threw TD passes of 33 yards to Brian Casteel, 75 yards to Cedric Peterson and 7 yards to Stanley Berryhill III.

WILD SECOND QUARTER

Colorado took a 20-14 halftime lead after a wild second quarter that almost ended with a touchdown return on a squib kick.

On third-and-3 from the Arizona 12, Montez scrambled before finding tight end Brady Russell for the score with 3 seconds remaining.

“Initially, everybody was covered, so I just kind of figured I would scramble around,” said Montez, who knew he could throw it away if no one was open, sending the field goal unit out. But with no timeouts left, “All I needed to do was not take a sack,” Montez said.

“I avoided a couple of defensive linemen, saw Brady sitting in the corner with his hands up” and delivered the TD strike.

The Buffaloes squibbed the kickoff and Jamarye Joiner scooped it up at his 10 and raced down the opponents’ sideline for an apparent touchdown only to turn around and realize he’d stepped out of bounds at the Colorado 46.

The Buffs went ahead 14-13 on a razzle dazzle touchdown in which Montez got the ball into the hands of tailback Jaren Mangham, who flipped it to a reversing Nixon, who in turn threw a pinpoint pass to Dimitri Stanley for a 39-yard score.

Tate replied with a 75-yard TD toss to Peterson, who burned Onu, whose interception at midfield had set up Stanley’s touchdown.

Montez completed 28 of 42 passes for 299 yards and a TD with Tony Brown catching 10 passes for 141 yards, and Stanley four for 75 yards and a touchdown.

FLAG FOOTBALL

The Buffaloes were whistled eight times for 85 yards in penalties — and their sideline was warned about barking at the officials — and the Wildcats were flagged just once for 5 yards.

UP NEXT

Arizona: host Washington on Oct. 12.

Colorado Visits Oregon on Friday night.

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Follow Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton

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