Arizona overcomes two-touchdown deficit to beat Washington State in Pullman

PULLMAN, Washington — The Arizona Wildcats flirted with danger.

Arizona had sluggish starts in both the first and third quarters, but the Wildcats prevailed to beat their former Pac-12 rival Washington State, 34-24, at Gesa Field on Saturday.

The come-from-behind victory marked the third win of the season for the Wildcats. It’s also Arizona head coach Brent Brennan’s first nonconference road win at Arizona. It’s the Wildcats’ first nonconference road win since they beat San Diego State to open the season in 2022.

Arizona finished nonconference play with a winning record for the fifth straight season. It’s also the first time Arizona won back-to-back games in Pullman since the 2010 and ‘14 seasons.

Brennan called Saturday “a good win.”

“Winning is hard,” said Brennan, who arrived to the postgame press conference in wet clothes from the postgame celebration in the locker room. “Credit to Washington State. They played tough football and made plays. I loved our response. … We talked about multiple battles in this game that we’re going to have to fight. Coming up here, we know it’s a tough trip, we know it’s a tough place to play. Lots of us have played in games here, coached in games here and we knew the crowd would have an impact.”

The Wildcats rallied from a two-touchdown deficit to start the game. Arizona punted on its first two possessions, including a three-and-out on the first drive, and Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita threw a pick-six to Washington State safety Jackquintin Bal, who returned the interception 25 yards for a touchdown.

Fifita’s second interception of the season — both in road games — is his first pick-six since the BYU game in 2024. Fifita’s pick-six was the drive after Arizona safety Cam Chapa recorded his first interception as a Wildcat with just under three minutes left in the first quarter.

Pinnick scored an 11-yard touchdown on Washington State’s opening drive following the Wildcats’ three-and-out.

For the second straight week, Arizona trailed by two possessions to start a game. The Wildcats trailed Northern Illinois, 10-0, in their nonconference home finale.

Arizona clawed its way back into the game with a career-best performance by wide receiver Tre Spivey, who scored two touchdowns in the first half. Spivey had a career-high 129 yards on seven catches for two touchdowns, with most of his production in the first half.

The Cougars took a 17-14 lead at halftime following a 33-yard field goal by WSU kicker Jack Stevens, who had his first field-goal attempt blocked by Arizona defensive end Tre Smith, who became the first Wildcat to block a field goal since Ephesians Prysock against UCLA in 2023.

“That was awesome, man,” Smith said of the blocked field goal. “It’s all the boys, right, but I had (defensive linemen) Prince (Williams) on my right and (Domonic Lolesio) to my left and they were helping me out. I wouldn’t have made that play without them. It was super cool and I’m grateful to be a part of it. I was lucky that it was me.”

Preceding the made field goal on WSU’s final drive of the first half, Arizona had three penalties — two personal foul calls on cornerback Tyrese Boss and safety Lee Molette III, along with a passing interference on Chapa — and an overturned Jay’Vion Cole interception. At halftime, Arizona emphasized “the battle of discipline,” Brennan said.

“We talked about being poised, being composed in those moments, so that we don’t those things,” Brennan said. “I think we saw some real growth in the second half.”

Added Smith: “Obviously, we’re not aiming to get penalties, but we just played hard as a unit. I think sometimes you get a little caught up in that and we’re going to improve it and fix it from there. That’s not the goal. Never has been and never will be.”

Arizona shut out Washington State in the third quarter. The Cougars’ first offensive touchdown occurred with 9:57 left in the first quarter; the next one wasn’t until there was 7:15 left to play.

Turning point

Washington State defensive back Jeremiah Bernard was flagged for disconcerting signals on third-and-13 and the following resulted in Arizona wide receiver Tre Spivey picking up 44 yards for a first down on the WSU 29-yard line.

Two plays later, Spivey ran 25 yards on a short pass from Fifita and scored on a 28-yard touchdown for Arizona’s first score of the game.

Spivey caught his second touchdown to cap a 13-play, 78-yard drive that took up 6:20 of game clock — the only possession to exceed four minutes for either team on Saturday.

After Arizona surrendered a field goal to end the first half, here’s how each drive ended for Washington State in the second half:

• Punt

• Fumble

• Punt (three-and-out)

• Punt

• Punt (three-and-out)

• Touchdown

• Turnover on downs

The fumble was forced by Memphis transfer linebacker Everett Roussaw, who made his UA debut after missing the first three games with an undisclosed injury. Roussaw forced Pinnick to fumble the ball on a scramble, which was recovered by Smith on the WSU 32-yard line.

Arizona’s field-goal unit struggled in the third quarter. Second-year starter Michael Salgado-Medina missed a 42-yard and 43-yard attempt in the third quarter, with the latter being blocked due to a low-trajectory kick. Salgado-Medina’s first kick had a low snap and Arizona had to “dig out of the ground,” Brennan said. Both of Arizona’s empty drives to start the third quarter started in WSU territory.

After Salgado-Medina’s first two misses, Arizona took its first lead of the game after back-to-back explosive plays by freshman wide receiver Caleb “Jet” Smith, who had a 35-yard punt return to start the third quarter.

Smith’s first catch was a 41-yard haul on a deep ball, which set up his 38-yard touchdown — the first receiving touchdown of his career. Smith had a punt return for a touchdown last week against NIU.

“I couldn’t be more proud of Jet,” Spivey said. “He attacks every day like a pro. I feel like that’s rare to see from a freshman. You don’t really see that. When he gets his opportunities, he makes the most of it. His head is always in the game and he had two huge catches. … He’s just talented and has a great feel for the game. The more he plays, the more reps he gets on the field. The sky’s the limit for him.”

The Wildcats took a two-touchdown lead after Salgado-Medina made a 27-yard field goal and an 11-yard touchdown from Fifita to second-year wide receiver Isaiah Mizell, who now has two touchdowns in his career. Salgado-Medina made a 51-yarder to grab a 34-24 lead with 1:57 left.

Arizona’s final four drives included two touchdowns and two field goals.

“When I think about how that thing finished, to me, that’s something that we’ve been talking about and working on since (the loss to) BYU,” Brennan said. “We didn’t finish in the fourth quarter, but tonight we did, when we had to have a drive and sustain it and hit a field goal to make it a two-possession game, Mike did that and our team did that.”

Added Brennan: “We’ve got a lot of faith in Michael. Being a placekicker is a tough job, because you only get one shot. There’s no second or third down. … If I didn’t have confidence in him, I wouldn’t put him out there. He went out there and ripped it. It was beautiful.”

Brennan was “fired up for how we responded.”

“You go down 14-0 and nobody flinched,” Brennan said. “Everybody just went to work, doing their job, redline and the results followed after that.”

Offensive MVP

Spivey was targeted 10 times and had 71 yards after the catch. Spivey’s performance on Saturday marked the second time he recorded two receiving touchdowns in a game. It’s Spivey’s third multi-touchdown game, joining the Colorado and Houston performances last season.

“It’s my job to get open and create avenues for (Fifita) to make plays,” Spivey said. “(Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Doege) also made plays. It was really the whole offense working together. Today, you could really feel the team coming together in this game. That’s what I’m most proud of, for sure.”

Defensive MVP

Chapa didn’t have the most tackles (three) by a Wildcat, but the safety had an interception and a quarterback hurry in the first half. Chapa’s hit on Pinnick rattled the quarterback on third down, setting up the blocked field goal by Tre Smith.

“Cam has really been showing up, man,” Smith said. “He’s a dog. It starts with how he practices. Turn on that film and he’s just giving max effort. It starts in practice. He’s so diligent processing and studying the game and improving as an individual. It’s legendary.”

Unsung hero

Arizona running back Ismail Mahdi led the Wildcats with 10 carries for 63 rushing yards, the most yards since the loss to SMU in the Holiday Bowl. Arizona exceeded 100 rushing yards in a game since the season opener against Northern Arizona.

Arizona, which ranks last in the Big 12 in rushing yards and attempts, had 150 rushing yards — 93 in the fourth quarter.

Mahdi, who filed for a temporary restraining order against the NCAA as a “five-for-five” player, had 43 rushing yards in the fourth quarter.

Running the football “is one of those things we’ve been working on tirelessly,” Brennan said.

“It was great,” Brennan added. “We really started to move them in the second half. They played good defense. Going into this game, we had a lot of respect for them offensively and defensively. They’re well-coached, they play extremely hard and they played two really tough Power 4 teams (Washington and Kansas State) on the road. We have a ton of respect for them.

“It was great to see that momentum swing in the second half for us, where the run game became really impactful.”

Availability report

Arizona wide receiver Giovanni Richardson missed the second straight game after suffering a leg injury in the first quarter against No. 15 BYU. Third-year wide receiver Brandon Phelps started in place of Richardson and had a reception for 6 yards.

Arizona tight end Cole Rusk, who got injured last week, didn’t make the trip this week. Second-year tight end Shane King was also out for an undisclosed injury on Saturday.

Arizona linebacker Chase Kennedy and defensive lineman Mays Pese, who both missed the NIU game, returned to action on Saturday. UA cornerback Dwight Bootle II, who missed last week, was active.

Roussaw limped off the field with an undisclosed injury.

Arizona right guard Alexander Doost exited the game and was replaced by second-year guard Sione Tohi.

What’s next

Arizona (3-1) has ended nonconference play and now turns to the Big 12 home opener against the Cincinnati Bearcats at Casino Del Sol Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 3, at 8 p.m. on Fox — the latest kickoff time for the Wildcats since the Houston game in 2024, which kicked off at 8:15 p.m.

Arizona upset Cincinnati on the road last season, which was also the same game Fifita set the program's career passing touchdowns record. When Arizona faces Cincinnati next week, it’ll be the Bearcats’ first-ever trip to Tucson.

The Bearcats (4-0) are undefeated after rallying to beat Kansas State in Cincinnati on Saturday. The Bearcats are one of four undefeated Big 12 teams, along with BYU, Texas Tech and Utah.

“Winning is hard, but we’re excited,” Brennan said. “We know we have a huge conference game this week at home. We’ll enjoy this one today and then we’ll get to work on that. … I’m excited about the resiliency of this team. We’re going to need it in the Big 12. This conference is incredibly competitive. There’s a lot of good football teams in this thing and now we’re in it.”