Notable storylines, statistics and quotes from Arizona’s win over Cincinnati

In the Wildcats’ dominant 34-7 win over Cincinnati in the Big 12 home opener Saturday night at Casino Del Sol Stadium, Arizona nearly pitched a shutout, but the Bearcats scored with just under two minutes remaining.

It would’ve been Arizona’s first shutout since 2013 and the first in conference play since 1993 — the height of the “Desert Swarm” era.

Instead, the Wildcats had to settle for the largest margin of victory in Big 12 play since thumping Colorado last year in Boulder — and their first conference win of the season. Saturday also marked the first loss of the season for the previously undefeated Bearcats.

“How dialed in are we on our process of improvement and development and I thought that showed up tonight,” said Arizona head coach Brent Brennan. “Tonight, I felt like you saw redline when you talk about effort and execution. It’s our standard and how we live and die and I thought you saw that in all three phases.”

Brennan is the first UA coach since Dick Tomey in 1993 and ‘94 to start back-to-back seasons with a 4-1 record.

Here are notable storylines, statistics, quotes and a look at what’s next for the Wildcats following their win over Cincinnati.

Injuries stack up at receiver

Arizona went into Saturday night with everyone available at wide receiver, but left with its starting trio injured.

Tre Spivey, who’s Arizona’s leading receiver with 314 yards and four touchdowns, missed the second half with a broken foot and is expected to miss the rest of the season. Spivey spent the second half on the sidelines in a walking boot and crutch.

Chris Hunter exited the game with an undisclosed leg injury, but wore a sleeve on his left knee. Giovanni Richardson, who missed the last two games with a leg injury, returned to the starting lineup on Saturday, but left after the Wildcats’ opening drive with an injury. The severity of Hunter and Richardson’s injuries is unknown.

Arizona’s starting receiving trio in the second half was third-year receiver Brandon Phelps, freshman R.J. Mosley and sophomore Isaiah Mizell, who had four catches for 67 yards.

Arizona’s pass-catching depth was tested, and it prevailed against Cincinnati. Phelps scored a 24-yard touchdown near the end of the third quarter, which gave the Wildcats a 24-0 lead. Phelps avoided a low tackle, swung his leg up, maintained balance and ran in for his second touchdown as a Wildcat — the first since the season opener against NAU.

“I slipped through, made a play on the ball and made one miss and got a little touchdown,” Phelps said.

Not only was Arizona without its starting receiving trio for the final two periods, but the UA also played its second game without starting tight end Cole Rusk, so the Wildcats were without three starting receivers and their starting tight end in the second half.

“Something we talked about throughout the week is being prepared, and knowing the plays,” Phelps said. “There wasn’t any shock. (Arizona wide receivers coach Bobby Wade) came in and said, ‘We’re going to do exactly what we’re going to do and there’s going to be no humps.’ We went out there and scored right at the (start of the) second half. We’re all prepared and ready to go and it’s a next-man-up mentality.”

Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita “didn’t flinch at all” when Arizona’s starting trio went out with injuries, Phelps said.

“Noah has complete faith in every single person in our room down to the last guy,” Phelps added. “He knew what he was going to do and we knew what we were going to do and come out and play the second half and win this game. We had no doubt in our minds we were going to come out and execute exactly what we needed to do.”

The injury pileup “is one of those things you can’t plan for,” Brennan said.

“I feel for those young men that got banged up tonight, because they’re such big parts of our team,” added the Arizona head coach. “But we also know that all season, we’ve been talking about the depth in our receiver room and that’s going to be super, super critical now as we move forward. Those young players are ready to play. … The next part of our process is tailoring the scheme to what they do best.”

Establishing the run, stopping the run

Cincinnati’s rushing attack against Arizona’s rushing defense was a focal point entering this week.

The latter won the battle on Saturday.

Arizona shut down Cincinnati’s run game. The Bearcats finished with 74 rushing yards, the fewest since the Wasabi Fenway Bowl in 2022. Cincinnati was also a combined 8 for 19 on third- and fourth-down conversions. Arizona’s defense played “lights out considering what Cincinnati had been able to do prior to coming in here tonight,” Brennan said.

“We knew they wanted to run the ball,” Brennan said. “And we said, no, we’re not going to do that tonight. ‘We’re not going to let you do that tonight.’ That’s just a commitment and a mentality from the defensive staff and the defensive players.”

It’s the fewest rushing yards Arizona has allowed since giving up 35 yards to Washington State in 2023. Cincinnati entered Saturday averaging just over 270 rushing yards per game, which ranked second in the Big 12. The Bearcats had less than that in total offense (227 yards) on Saturday. Cincinnati leading rusher Gi’Bran Payne had three 100-yard rushing performances this season after transferring from Notre Dame; he had 11 carries for 24 yards.

“The game plan was to be physical and violent in everything we do — every movement, every slant and every blitz,” said linebacker Chase Kennedy, who had seven tackles and a stop for loss. “That’s all it was, honestly, and playing within the scheme. (Arizona defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales) always tells us that players make plays, so we tried to go out there and execute to the best of our abilities and be physical. That was the game plan.”

The Wildcats out-gained Cincinnati 522-227 and out-rushed the second-best rushing attack in the Big 12, 238-74. It’s the most rushing yards for Arizona this season and the most since rushing for 244 yards against UTEP in 2023. It’s the most rushing yards for Arizona in a conference game since the 2022 Territorial Cup. Saturday was the most rushing yards for Arizona — which ranks last in the Big 12 in rushing this year — since joining the Big 12 in 2024.

“That’s awesome against a good football team, against a sound defense,” Brennan said. “The physicality that our (running) backs chose to run with showed up. I think that’s one of the reasons we’re feeling good about tonight.”

Arizona senior running back Kedrick Reescano only averaged 2.7 yards per carry, but was a tone setter for the Wildcats, especially on the first drive with runs of 7, 8 and 10 yards — the latter resulting in the first touchdown of the game.

Arizona running back Antwan Roberts led the Wildcats in rushing with 87 yards on five carries. Arizona senior running back Quincy Craig had seven carries for 77 yards.

At the start of the third quarter, Roberts raced down the left sideline for a 70-yard gain and was closing in on the longest touchdown run of the season for the Wildcats until Cincinnati cornerback Jacob Finley punched out the ball from behind, forcing a fumble that dribbled in the end zone, which was intentionally knocked out of the back of the end zone by Cincinnati linebacker Antwan Peek Jr.

Instead of a touchback for Cincinnati, Peek’s decision penalized the Bearcats, and Arizona regained possession at the UC 6-yard line.

A few plays later, on third-and-8, Fifita took the ball on a designed quarterback run, cut up the middle and scored a rushing touchdown. Arizona tight end Shane King pulled from the right side of the line of scrimmage to seal a defender and allow Fifita to run through the middle.

If Cincinnati recovered the fumble, the Bearcats would’ve had possession trailing 10-0, but Arizona grabbed a 17-0 lead.

“That’s going to be one of those painful lessons for Antwan about ball security in the open field,” Brennan said. “The amount of time and effort and energy we put into coaching, teaching, drilling ball security, he now goes on the ball security tape for how not to do it, because he’s out and it’s an incredible run and we got bailed out because the kid batted it out of the back of the end zone. … So we got bailed out by the decision of their player. For Antwan, it’s a really tough lesson. But also, not a bad result.”

Another potentially moment-swinging play was Arizona safety Gavin Hunter’s pass breakup in the end zone on Cincinnati tight end Gavin Grover.

Before the final drive, the closest Cincinnati came to scoring points — besides a missed field goal that thumped the upright — was a fourth-down stop by Arizona on the UA 2-yard line. On a play-action pass, Cincinnati quarterback JC French IV’s pass to Grover was broken up by Hunter, who dove on Grover to break up the pass.

Hunter “is one of those players that continues to show up and make plays,” Brennan said.

“That group, we’re playing a lot of players at safety and they all bring something different to the table,” Brennan said. “It’s a good thing, because it allows us to keep people fresh and play with the physicality that our defense demands. I love Gavin and he’s doing a great job.”

Arguably the two most notable plays on Saturday involved two Antwans and two Gavins — one from each team.

“There were a lot of moments in that game with outstanding complementary football, good offense and good defense. That’s what we want to get to. That’s why us being so focused on our process is so important. We are in a one-week season every week and that’s all that matters.”

Mahdi, Harris ruled ineligible

Before the game, Arizona running back Ismail Mahdi and linebacker Max Harris were ruled ineligible by the Pima County Superior Court.

After filing for a temporary restraining order against the NCAA in the Pima County Superior Court, a judge denied the order that would prohibit the NCAA from making them ineligible to compete this season. 

The preliminary ruling was made Friday evening, just days after Mahdi, Harris and several other “five-for-five” athletes were in a one-hour Order to Show Cause hearing at the Pima County Superior Court on Monday. Both Mahdi and Harris watched Arizona’s win on Saturday from the sidelines.

“Of course we’re disappointed,” Brennan said. “That’s one of those things that’s out of our control and we respect the legal process. I’m definitely disappointed for those two young men.”

If they’re unable to complete an appeals process before the season ends, it’s conceivable Mahdi and Harris will remain with the team and practice with the Wildcats. When former Arizona running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt was ineligible after the first game of the 2024 season, he became a scout-team player and practiced in front of NFL scouts, which played a key role in him getting drafted by the Washington Commanders in the seventh round of the 2025 NFL Draft.

Brennan said he was told about the Pima County Superior Court ruling Friday evening around 6 p.m.

“The plan at that time was to kick ass tonight and that’s what we did,” Brennan said.

By the numbers

0: The Bearcats are now 0-4 against Big 12 teams in the Pacific and Mountain time zones since 2024.

2: Arizona had two passing touchdowns, two rushing touchdowns and two field goals. Kicker Michael Salgado-Medina made both of his 23- and 35-yard field-goal attempts.

5-0: Arizona’s record under Brennan when rushing for 200-plus yards.

9: Arizona has held opponents scoreless in nine quarters this season.

30: Arizona’s first downs on Saturday compared to Cincinnati’s 12.

78: Total plays Arizona ran. Cincinnati had 57. The Wildcats bested Cincinnati in time of possession, 35:39-24:21.

86: Career passing touchdowns for Fifita, who broke into college football’s all-time passing touchdowns list. Fifita is now tied for the 93rd-most passing touchdowns in college football history.

86.2: Arizona’s run-blocking grade against Cincinnati, per Pro Football Focus.

10,000: Reescano’s touchdown in the first quarter contributed to Arizona’s partnership with Purina’s “Friskies” cat food. Purina is donating 10,000 meals to local shelters and other areas for each first point Arizona scores this season — touchdown, field goal or safety.

They said it

Brennan, on Arizona’s defense: “I think we can feel great about tonight. … We’re not going to worry about next week or down the road. We’re just focused on tonight and I thought our defense was awesome, the way we flew around, the physicality we played with, the plays people made, the tackling, population to the football, that showed up. That’s something that needed to show up against a team that been so effective running the football. That was awesome. That was outstanding.”

Brennan, on Phelps: “Brandon Phelps is an awesome young man and a great kid. He’s just a hard worker. Earlier in his career here, he’s had some unfortunate injury stuff, so you weren’t able to see him. … Numbers wise, he had one of the best offseasons of our entire team this past year. It’s great to see him starting to make plays. Because he’s tough, because’s smart, he’s also a guy that you can line up in any of the spots and he can play them all at a high level.”

Kennedy, on stopping Cincinnati’s rushing offense: “We knew they came into the game averaging around 270 rushing yards a game. The goal was to keep them under 100 (rushing yards) and we knew we’d have a great chance of winning if we did that. … We knew once we’d stop the run, we knew everything was going to be in our hands, because Coach G is very aggressive in everything he does and we were able to get after the quarterback.”

Phelps, on Arizona’s running backs: “They do what they do. They are some of the hardest-hitting people on our team, and they execute every single thing with violence. … As a defender, I wouldn’t want to be in front of that.”

Availability report

Besides the aforementioned ineligible players, which also includes backup kicker Sullivan Moon, other Wildcats inactive on Saturday were Rusk, safety Matai Tagoa’i, defensive tackle Ezra Funa and defensive back Dajon Hinton.

Up next

The Wildcats (4-1) turn to their second Big 12 road game of the season against the West Virginia Mountaineers (3-2) in Morgantown Saturday morning at 9 a.m. on TNT, TruTV and HBO Max.

Arizona is a 3.5-point favorite to beat West Virginia, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

West Virginia is coming off a 45-42 shootout loss to Iowa State in Ames. After starting 3-0, West Virginia has lost two straight games to Oklahoma State and Iowa State.

It will be West Virginia’s first matchup with Arizona since hiring head coach Rich Rodriguez, who coached the Wildcats from 2012-17. It’s also Rodriguez’s first game against the Wildcats since he was fired following the 2017 season.

Rodriguez replaced the fired Mike Stoops and was hired by Arizona in 2012 and led the Wildcats to five postseason appearances and three bowl victories — and a Pac-12 South championship in 2014.

Rodriguez was fired by Arizona following the 2017 season, but quickly returned to the sidelines as an offensive coordinator at Ole Miss and head coach at Louisiana Monroe and Jacksonville State in Alabama.

Following a 27-10 record at Jacksonville State, along with West Virginia firing Neal Brown, the stars aligned for Rodriguez’s return to WVU last season, his first Power 4 head coaching gig since Arizona.

Arizona also has two players connected to West Virginia: wide receiver Rodney Gallagher III played three seasons for the Mountaineers, including last season under Rodriguez, and punter Chase Ridley was previously committed to WVU’s 2026 recruiting class.

The Mountaineers have a Tucson connection on their roster this season: former UA fullback and Canyon del Oro High School product Kayden Luke, who led the Dorados to a Class 4A state championship, is in his first season with the Mountaineers after two seasons with the Wildcats.

The Wildcats lost their only game against West Virginia, 31-26, in Tucson in 2024.

“Each week, we’re pushing and striving to improve,” Brennan said. “That is the goal when you're in season. We’re going to enjoy this tonight, and then we’re going to get back tomorrow on our process. That is one day at a time, one meeting at a time, one practice at a time, one rep at a time. That is where we live.”