By Ryan Casey
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Sunday, November 6, 2005

Fans storm the field after 52-17 upset

As the clock ticked down to triple zeros Saturday, and the Arizona football had sealed a 52-17 upset over No. 7 UCLA, fans at Arizona Stadium stormed the grass and celebrated with the players, then carred senior running back Mike Bell off the field.

"Our fans have stayed positive through it all," Stoops said. "It was nice to win on Homecoming and do that for the fans."

Bell ran for 154 yards, and backfield mate Gilbert Harris added 112 more, as the Wildcats rolled over the Bruins.

"We knew we were going to be aggresive all the way though the night," Stoops said. "That was the major difference in the game."

True freshman quarterback Willie Tuitama threw for 204 yards on 14-of-24 passing, including two touchdowns -- one of which went to fellow freshman Mike Thomas.

Thomas had himself an all-around game, catching five passes for 104 yards and rushing twice for 24 yards and a touchdown.

"(The Bruins) were trying to stop the run every time," Tuitama said. "I don't know how many yards we racked up on offense, but it was crazy."

The Arizona offense gained 524 yards in total offense, 320 of which came on the ground.

The Wildcat defensive and special-team units got into the action as well, each reaching the end zone on spectacular, unexpected plays.

Junior wide receiver Syndric Steptoe returned a punt 63 yards for his first career punt return touchdown with 11:12 left in the third quarter, and junior linebacker Marcus Hollingsworth recovered a fumble in the end zone seven minutes later to cap Arizona's scoring.

"We're playing a lot of young players and we're only going to get better," Stoops said.