September 30, 2023 Week 5 · Regular Season Belt defended

Washington defends the belt, 31–24, on the road at Arizona.

Home · Challenger

Arizona 24

Away · Defending Holder

WashingtonAP No. 7 31

AP poll, week 5: Washington No. 7 at Arizona unranked · No. 1 that week: Georgia. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Washington came in 322 days into reign #321, which began with a win over Oregon, with 7 defenses already behind it; this was its 8th defense. Washington went on to defend it 9 more times before Michigan took it on January 8, 2024, 422 days after the reign began.

For Arizona this was its 16th shot at the belt; it had held the belt 5 times before.

It was the 5th of 5 belt games between the two; going in, Washington led the belt series 3–1; all-time Washington leads 4–1. Every meeting →

AI-Written

Recap

Washington's defense and balanced offensive attack proved too much for Arizona in this Pac-12 battle, as the Huskies held onto the College Football Belt with a 31-24 road victory. Washington jumped out to an early lead with two rushing touchdowns in the first quarter from Dillon Johnson and Germie Bernard, then added another TD run from Will Nixon in the second quarter to build a commanding advantage. Arizona mounted a second-half comeback led by Noah Fifita's passing, with Tetairoa McMillan catching two touchdown passes to pull within striking distance, but Washington's offense kept pace with a 57-yard pass to Josh Cuevas and additional field goals to seal the win. The Huskies' ability to establish the run game early and Michael Penix Jr.'s efficient passing kept Arizona's defense off-balance throughout the contest.

Germie Bernard's 3-yard TD run in Q1 established early Washington momentum and helped build a first-half lead
Josh Cuevas' 57-yard reception in Q3 kept Washington's offense moving and prevented Arizona from fully capitalizing on their comeback
Tetairoa McMillan's two TD receptions (Q3 and Q4) brought Arizona within reach but came too late to overcome the early deficit
Will Nixon's 5-yard TD run in Q2 gave Washington critical separation that ultimately made the difference in a close contest

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

ArizonaWashington

Total yards342474

Rushing yards110111

Passing yards232363

First downs2726

3rd down conv.5/136/10

Turnovers11

Penalties–yards8–6012–125

Time of possession30:0929:51

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 6:02	Washington	+4 yd	Dillon Johnson 4 Yd Run (Grady Gross Kick)
Q1 0:38	Washington	+3 yd	Germie Bernard run for 3 yds for a TD (Grady Gross KICK)
Q2 9:31	Arizona	+8 yd	Noah Fifita pass complete to Jacob Cowing for 8 yds for a TD Washington Penalty, Roughing the Passer on POWELL, Mishael of (Mishael Powell) to the WASH 0 (Tyler Loop KICK)
Q2 4:36	Washington	+7 yd	Michael Penix Jr. pass complete to Jack Westover for 7 yds Jack Westover fumbled, recovered by WASH for a 1ST down
Q2 3:31	Washington	+5 yd	Will Nixon run for 5 yds for a TD (Grady Gross KICK)
Q2 0:23	Arizona	+30 yd	Tyler Loop 30 yd FG GOOD
Q2 0:09	Washington	+23 yd	Michael Penix Jr. pass complete to Germie Bernard for 23 yds to the ARIZ 39 for a 1ST down
Q3 9:05	Washington	+57 yd	Michael Penix Jr. pass complete to Josh Cuevas for 57 yds to the ARIZ 16 for a 1ST down
Q3 6:42	Washington	+4 yd	Dillon Johnson run for 4 yds for a TD (Grady Gross KICK)
Q3 6:41	Arizona	+33 yd	Noah Fifita pass complete to Jonah Coleman for 33 yds to the WASH 42 for a 1ST down
Q3 3:03	Arizona	+1 yd	Noah Fifita pass complete to Tetairoa McMillan for 1 yd for a TD (Tyler Loop KICK)
Q3 1:19	Washington	+24 yd	Michael Penix Jr. pass complete to Germie Bernard for 24 yds to the ARIZ 15 for a 1ST down
Q4 13:24	Washington	+37 yd	Grady Gross 37 yd FG GOOD
Q4 11:46	Arizona	+0 yd	Noah Fifita pass intercepted
Q4 10:06	Washington	+0 yd	Germie Bernard run for no gain to the ARIZ 5 Germie Bernard fumbled, recovered by ARIZ Tyler Manoa
Q4 11:39	Washington	+28 yd	Dillon Johnson run for 28 yds to the ARIZ 16 for a 1ST down
Q4 1:08	Arizona	+10 yd	Noah Fifita pass complete to Tetairoa McMillan for 10 yds for a TD (Tyler Loop KICK)

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Arizona

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Noah Fifita	27/39	232	5.9	3	1	73.9

Washington

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Michael Penix Jr.	30/40	363	9.1	0	0	84.1

Rushing

Arizona

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
Jonah Coleman	12	44	3.7	12
D.J. Williams	10	43	4.3	13
Noah Fifita	6	19	3.2	8
Rayshon Luke	3	4	1.3	3

Washington

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Dillon Johnson	16	91	5.7	2	28
Germie Bernard	5	12	2.4	1	11
Will Nixon	2	8	4.0	1	5
Tybo Rogers	1	5	5.0	0	5
Michael Penix Jr.	2	-5	-2.5	0	0

Receiving

Arizona

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Jacob Cowing	8	61	7.6	1	13
Jonah Coleman	3	51	17.0	0	33
Tanner McLachlan	6	51	8.5	0	17
Tetairoa Mcmillan	6	45	7.5	2	19
Montana Lemonious-Craig	3	14	4.7	0	9
Kevin Green Jr.	1	10	10.0	0	10

Washington

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	LONG
Germie Bernard	8	98	12.3	24
Rome Odunze	5	64	12.8	18
Josh Cuevas	1	57	57.0	57
Dillon Johnson	5	48	9.6	18
Ja'Lynn Polk	5	41	8.2	15
Devin Culp	2	32	16.0	18
Will Nixon	1	16	16.0	16
Jack Westover	2	11	5.5	7
Tybo Rogers	1	-4	-4.0	0

Show more stats (7 more categories)

Defense

Arizona

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Dalton Johnson	10	5	0	0	0	0
Jacob Manu	9	3	0	0	0	0
Ephesians Prysock	6	4	0	0	0	0
Daniel Heimuli	6	2	0	1.5	0	0
Genesis Smith	5	4	0	0	0	0
Gunner Maldonado	5	3	0	0	0	0
Treydan Stukes	4	2	0	0	2	0
Tacario Davis	4	2	0	0	1	0
Tiaoalil Savea	3	2	1	2	0	0
Isaiah Taylor	2	2	0	0	0	0
Taylor Upshaw	2	1	1	1	0	1
Tyler Manoa	2	0	0	0	0	0
Bill Norton	2	0	0	0.5	0	1
Dylan Wyatt	1	1	0	0	0	0
Tanner McLachlan	1	1	0	0	0	0
Isaiah Ward	1	1	0	0	0	0
Justin Flowe	1	0	0	0	0	0
Jeremy Mercier	1	0	0	0	0	0
Ta'ita'i Uiagalelei	1	0	0	0	0	0
Kamuela Ka'aihue	1	0	0	0	0	0

Washington

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD
Dominique Hampton	12	5	0	0	0
Edefuan Ulofoshio	6	4	0	0	0
Elijah Jackson	6	4	0	0	0
Kamren Fabiculanan	6	3	0	0	0
Vincent Nunley	6	3	0	0	0
Ralen Goforth	5	2	0	0	0
Carson Bruener	5	0	0	0	0
Alphonzo Tuputala	4	2	0	0	0
Jabbar Muhammad	3	2	0	1	0
Thaddeus Dixon	3	2	0	1	2
Bralen Trice	3	1	1	1	0
M.J. Ale	3	1	0	1	0
Mishael Powell	3	1	0	0	1
Zion Tupuola-Fetui	2	1	0	0	0
Tuli Letuligasenoa	1	1	0	1	0
Lance Holtzclaw	1	1	0	0	0
Leroy Bryant	1	1	0	0	0
Jacob Bandes	1	0	0	0	0
Sekai Asoau-Afoa	1	0	0	0	0
Voi Tunuufi	1	0	0	0	1
Tristan Dunn	1	0	0	0	0

Fumbles

Arizona

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Rayshon Luke	1	0	0
Tyler Manoa	0	0	1

Washington

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Germie Bernard	1	1	0
Jack Westover	1	0	0

Interceptions

Arizona

No recorded stats in this category.

Washington

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Vincent Nunley	1	1	0

Kick Returns

Arizona

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Rayshon Luke	1	-1	-1.0	-1	0

Washington

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Josh Cuevas	1	1	1.0	1	0

Kicking

Arizona

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Tyler Loop	1/1	100.0	30	3/3	6

Washington

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Grady Gross	1/1	100.0	37	4/4	7

Punt Returns

Arizona

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Jacob Cowing	1	-1	-1.0	-1	0

Washington

No recorded stats in this category.

Punting

Arizona

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Kyle Ostendorp	3	140	46.7	0	2	69

Washington

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Jack McCallister	2	85	42.5	0	0	48

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 401524021) · This game in the downloadable dataset

← California at Washington Oregon at Washington →