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ARIZONA WILDCATS FOOTBALL

Kris Hutson has a career outing on senior day in Arizona’s thrashing of Baylor

Wide receiver Kris Hutson had himself a career day against Baylor on senior day in a 41-17 Arizona win on Saturday.

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Whether you’re playing for a shot at a conference championship or looking to extend a winning streak, senior day — more often than naught — brings out the best in a college athlete.

That was the case to a T with Arizona wide receiver Kris Hutson in a 41-17 win against Baylor on Saturday.

Hutson had himself a career game for receptions yards at the newly renamed Casino Del Sol Stadium in Tucson, with nine catches for 133 yards and a touchdown to give the Wildcats the edge in what began as an offensive shootout.

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He broke his previous best for receiving yards in a single game by 10 yards, which was set just last week in a comeback win over Cincinnati.

Hutson’s day was highlighted by a fourth-and-goal touchdown reception at the Baylor 2-yard line in which quarterback Noah Fifita (14-of-25 passing, 183 yards and a touchdown) dropped a dime right in the arms of Hutson in the back left corner of the end zone to tie the game at 14 with 9:00 left in the first half.

The 5-foot-11 transfer from Washington State also completed multiple acrobatic catches coming back to the ball for first downs. In fact, his longest reception of the game (36 yards) had Hutson coming down with a pass with his back to the Baylor secondary before spinning around and making two players whiff.

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The Wildcats’ defense had their paw print deep in this one as well, with three turnovers forced in the fourth quarter, including an interception by senior Treydan Stukes in the end zone with Arizona clinging to a 21-17 lead at the quarter’s start.

Arizona coach Brent Brennan was all smiles and very complementary of his entire senior class in a TNT Sports postgame interview.

“That senior class, they either chose to stay, or they chose to come for one year,” Brennan said. “So, those kids believed in the University of Arizona … and what an awesome day this was.”

Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson was rolling with 13-of-18 for 122 yards in the opening 30 minutes — especially against the No. 1 passing defense in the Big 12 entering Saturday — but severely regressed to only 40 yards on nine completions in the second half.

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Arizona’s offensive attack was about as balanced as you could ask for, as it rushed for 172 yards and threw for 183.

Junior running back Kedrick Reescano also had a career day with his most rushing scores in a single game (three) on 13 carries and 46 yards.

The Wildcats (8-3) extended their win streak to four and has the Territorial Cup and Arizona State waiting in Tempe on Black Friday.

Payne Moses ArizonaSports.com editor

Payne Moses is a web content editor for KTAR News and Arizona Sports at Bonneville Phoenix. A lifelong Arizonan, Payne briefly left the state to play collegiate golf but returned to pursue his passion for journalism. When he’s not managing digital… Read more

Comments

2 Comments

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Scott D 9 months ago

Heck of a 2nd half for those kids . . . T-Cup is going to be a knock down, drag'em out, fight to the finish, which is SO much better that the last two blow-outs . . . Yawn.

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SmartAz ! 9 months ago

What a shame nobody was there to see it.