‘Nobody flinched’: Arizona shows resilience in win over Washington State

PULLMAN, Wash. — Arizona went to Pac-12 country to face Washington State at Gesa Field on Saturday and rode a roller coaster of emotions en route to a 34-24 win over the Cougars.

Arizona head coach Brent Brennan used the program’s mantra, “redline,” as a way to describe the Wildcats’ 34-24 win over Washington State on Saturday.

It certainly wasn’t flatline.

The Wildcats overcame a two-touchdown deficit to beat the Cougars for the final nonconference game of the season — and the first nonconference road win of the Brennan era.

Recent history shows Arizona doesn’t often make two-touchdown comebacks.

Since 2004, Arizona is 8-108 when trailing by 14 or more points — 14-122 when trailing by 10-plus points, according to former UA football information director Blair Willis. Only one of those eight wins was on the road.

Before Saturday, the three most recent wins for Arizona, when trailing 14 or more points, were the 2016 home win over Grambling State, the 2014 game against Cal — known as the “Hill Mary” game — and the 2012 New Mexico Bowl, on one of the most memorable days in UA sports history.

Add Saturday’s win over Pullman to the list.

“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.”

Arizona wide receiver Tre Spivey said the Wildcats’ comeback win “shows our resilience as a team.”

“I feel like we’re fighters and when we have our backs up against the walls in certain situations, we’re able to keep throwing punches and get back into the fight,” Spivey said. “We never had a doubt with what out team could do and I’m just happy we could put that on display and finish out the game strong.”

Here’s a look at how Arizona overcame adversity at Washington State for their third win of the season:

The deficit

An 11-yard touchdown run by WSU quarterback Caden Pinnick and a pick-six thrown by Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita had the Wildcats in a 14-0 hole.

Fifita’s interception was the possession after Arizona safety Cam Chapa intercepted Pinnick for the Wildcats’ first takeaway since the season opener against Northern Arizona.

Then, the Spivey Show began.

Spivey had a career-high 129 yards on seven catches for two touchdowns, with most of his production in the first half. Spivey had six first-down catches, including 44-yard and 28-yard gains on Arizona’s first touchdown drive.

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.

Since his mild two-catch, 14-yard performance in the loss to No. 15 BYU in Provo, Spivey has a combined 13 catches for 219 yards and three touchdowns in two games.

“It’s my job to get open and create avenues for (Fifita) to make plays,” Spivey said. “(Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Doege) also called up some great 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.”

On Washington State’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. Boss and Molette were flagged for late hits near the sideline.

“Obviously, we’re not aiming to get penalties, but we just play hard as a unit,” said Arizona defensive end Tre Smith. “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.”

Added Brennan: “We need to be better than that. Both of those ones late were absolutely unnecessary — absolutely unnecessary — and our players and our coaches know that.”

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 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.”

Field-goal woes, ‘Jet’ takeoff

Arizona’s first two drives of the third quarter started in WSU territory. Neither of the possessions resulted in points.

Arizona freshman receiver and punt returner Caleb “Jet” Smith returned a punt 35 yards to the Washington State 33-yard line, setting up Arizona’s offense for at least three points.

Trailing 21-17, Arizona opted to kick the 42-yard field goal on fourth-and-2 from the WSU 25-yard line, and kicker Michael Salgado-Medina’s attempt was wide right due to a low snap.

Washington State gave Arizona great field position again after Memphis transfer linebacker Everett Roussaw, who made his UA debut on Saturday, sacked Pinnick and forced a fumble that was recovered by Tre Smith.

“Everett’s a dog, man,” Smith said. “He works hard, has a great mindset every day, has the right approach and I’m just blessed to be his teammate. That was a big-time moment right there and he made a big-time play. He showed up for us.”

WSU held the Wildcats to another field-goal attempt — this time, from 43 yards. Salgado-Medina’s second attempt on Saturday had a low trajectory and was blocked.

Two drives that started in field goal range. No points. Trouble found Arizona again.

After Salgado-Medina’s first two misses, Arizona took its first lead of the game after back-to-back explosive plays by Caleb Smith.

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 took the top off WSU’s defense on both catches to spark the UA offense in the third quarter. 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.”

Brennan said, “it’s been fun to see Jet start to emerge as a playmaker for us.”

“The transition from high school to college is a big jump and I think (wide receivers coach Bobby Wade) has done a nice job of getting him going, being patient and helping him learn,” added Brennan. “You got to see his talent show up, because he’s playing with confidence.”

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.

Salgado-Medina’s redemption, icing the game in the fourth quarter with his first field goal of over 50 yards this season, had shades of his performances on the road against Cincinnati and Arizona State last season.

In the Wildcats’ 23-7 win over ASU, Salgado-Medina missed field goals of 42 and 48 yards, then made a chip-shot 29-yarder to give the Wildcats a two-possession advantage.

Against Cincinnati, the team Arizona is facing this Saturday night at Casino Del Sol Stadium, Salgado-Medina missed his first two attempts and then made a 25- and 51-yarder to help the Wildcats win, 30-24.

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

“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.”

Running the rock

Arizona struggled to run the football for three quarters against Washington State, which was a microcosm of the season for a UA offense that ranks last in the Big 12 in rushing yards and rushing attempts.

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.

Mahdi had 43 rushing yards in the fourth quarter against Washington State. Arizona had 150 rushing yards — 93 in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats had just 47 net rushing yards in the first half on Saturday, a week after rushing for 86 yards against NIU. Arizona used four running backs on Saturday.

“It was great,” Brennan said. “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.”

Getting off the field

Arizona entered this past weekend with a 39% third-down stoppage rate, which defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales said was “disgusting.”

Washington State was 4 for 7 (57%) on third- and fourth-down conversions in the first half; the Cougars were a combined 1 for 9 (11%) in the second half.

The defensive game plan?

“We just needed to get after them,” said Tre Smith.

Pro Football Focus credited Arizona with 18 quarterback pressures, the most since they had 25 against NAU. The Wildcats often deployed linebackers and defensive backs on blitzes. Arizona had 10 quarterback hurries on Saturday, per PFF.

“That’s kind of who we are,” Brennan said. “You don’t need to be a genius football coach to watch us and know that we like to pressure. The hard part for that is the guys behind it, the guys playing in man coverage. They’re on an island. … Those pressures led to some big third-down stops and halted drives. I trust Danny G to call it and let it rip.”

Arizona only gave up one touchdown in the second half and forced Washington State to punt four times, fumble and turn the ball over on downs to end the game.

Washington State’s average distance on third down was 8.6 yards — distance that favors passing the ball more than running. Arizona now faces Cincinnati for its Big 12 home opener, and the Bearcats have the second-best rushing offense in the Big 12, averaging 270 rushing yards per game, and the fourth-best fourth-down conversion rate at 5 for 7 (71.4%). Cincinnati has the 13th-best passing offense.

“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.”