Storylines, stats and quotes from Arizona’s comeback win over Washington State

PULLMAN, Wash.— There were ups. There were lulls. There were moments when the Arizona Wildcats appeared to be in danger of dropping their nonconference finale despite being two-possession favorites.

Despite the rollercoaster performance by the Wildcats, they escaped their final nonconference road game of the season with a 34-24 win over the Washington State Cougars on Saturday at Gesa Field.

The Wildcats rallied to beat their old Pac-12 rival after trailing by touchdowns early in the game.

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 the triumph over Washington State “a good win” for the Wildcats.

“Winning is hard,” said Brennan, who arrived at the postgame press conference in wet clothes after singing “Bear Down, Arizona” with the team during 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.”

Here are notable storylines, statistics and quotes, along with other pertinent information, following Arizona’s 10-point victory over Washington State in the Palouse.

‘Nobody flinched’

It was déjà vu for Arizona in Pullman — and not from past games against the Cougars, but last week.

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 last week.

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.

“Cam has really been showing up, man,” said Arizona defensive end Tre Smith. “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.”

Washington State went 2 for 2 on third down on its opening drive, and WSU quarterback Caden Pinnick, who’s in his first season at WSU after transferring from UC Davis, ran for an 11-yard touchdown run.

The Wildcats were on the ropes, down 14-0 to their old Pac-12 rival and just over three quarters away from being the first Power 4 school to lose to the new Pac-12 conference, which is 0-11 against Power 4 teams this season.

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. 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.

“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.”

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.”

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.”

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, and recovered by Smith. Roussaw forced Pinnick to fumble the ball on a scramble, which was recovered by Smith on the WSU 32-yard line.

“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.”

But trouble awaited the Wildcats. Again.

Arizona’s field-goal unit struggled in the third quarter, and second-year starter Michael Salgado-Medina missed a 42-yard and 43-yard attempt, 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 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.”

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. 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 performance on the road against Cincinnati last season.

“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.”

Pressure at the Palouse

Arizona’s defense emphasized pressuring Pinnick, and it was effective, especially in the second half.

Pro Football Focus tracked 18 quarterback pressures — the most since they had 25 against NAU — by Arizona, which sometimes deployed linebackers and defensive backs on blitzes. Arizona had 10 quarterback hurries on Saturday, per PFF.

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

Playing aggressively can be consequential sometimes. Room for error for the defensive backs can be slim to none, because more defenders pass-rushing the quarterback frees up more space in the secondary.

A “cover zero” blitz allowed Washington State to score a 46-yard passing touchdown from Pinnick to wide receiver Branden Ganashamoorthy, getting the Cougars within a touchdown deficit with just over seven minutes remaining.

“But that’s football,” Brennan said.

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. Arizona entered this past weekend with a 39% third-down stoppage rate, which defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales said was “disgusting.” Smith said Gonzales is “a mastermind and does his thing.”

“That’s kind of who we are,” Brennan said of Arizona’s blitzes and pressures on Saturday. “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.”

Mahdi sparks Cats in crunch time

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, who filed for a temporary restraining order against the NCAA as a “five-for-five” player, had 43 rushing yards in the fourth quarter and played like the Mahdi who was Arizona’s leading rusher last season.

Arizona, which ranks last in the Big 12 in rushing yards and attempts, had 150 rushing yards — 93 in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats had just 47 net rushing yards in the first half, a week after rushing for 86 yards against NIU.

“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.”

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

Arizona used four running backs on Saturday: Mahdi, Kedrick Reescano, Quincy Craig and Antwan Roberts, who scored a touchdown on his carry as a Wildcat against NAU. Reescano had 28 offensive snaps on Saturday, followed by Mahdi (21), Craig (20) and Roberts (8).

“This is a long season and at that position, those guys get beat up and they have to be absolute war-daddies and those guys are,” Brennan said. “The best part is, they’re doing a great job of being unselfish, supporting each other and cheering for each other whenever somebody makes a play. That just speaks to the healthy culture.”

By the numbers

0: The Wildcats are 0-4 against the spread this season.

3: Takeaways for Arizona this season after an interception and fumble recovery at WSU. Arizona safety Quinn Olson had an interception in the season opener.

7: Arizona had seven big plays (15-plus-yard gains), including gains of 44, 38 and 28 yards — the final two resulting in touchdowns. The Wildcats also had seven tackles for loss.

50: Career wins for Brennan as a head coach.

They said it

Smith, on Arizona’s sluggish start in the first quarter: “Sometimes you start slow. That’s something we’re definitely going to attack and work on. No football game is perfect, as we all know. That’s just something we gotta work on.”

Brennan, on only drawing one penalty in the second half after four in the first half, including three on WSU’s final drive of the second quarter: “I thought we played with more composure and poise. … 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.”

Brennan, on Arizona freshman receiver and returner Caleb Smith: “It’s been fun to see Jet start to emerge as a playmaker for us. He’s a young player. 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. You got to see his talent show up, because he’s playing with confidence.”

Spivey, on Arizona’s win: “I think it 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. 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.”

Smith, on Arizona’s gutty performance: “Just like life, you have obstacles all the time. The strong are going to survive. I was just proud of the boys all coming together and having the same mindset and being one as a team, no matter what happened.”

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 starting 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 in the second half 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 in which 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.

Arizona is a 7.5-point favorite to beat the Bearcats, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

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 this was a great win for us,” Brennan said. “We’re excited. 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.”