Arizona football: The good, the bad and the ugly from the Wildcats’ loss to BYU

PROVO, Utah — The drought has continued for Arizona.

The Wildcats are 0-3 against BYU since joining the Big 12 — and with head coach Brent Brennan and quarterback Noah Fifita at the helm.

There were multiple layers of positive and not-so-positive storylines from Arizona’s first setback of the season — the first of Big 12 play. We examine those layers with the good, the bad and the ugly.

The good

Compared to Arizona’s 22-point defeat in Provo in 2024, the Wildcats chopped the margin of defeat in half this time around.

Unlike the 2024 game, Saturday’s game was within reach for the Wildcats in the fourth quarter, whereas the ‘24 contest derailed quickly in the second half and Arizona struggled to catch up.

Arizona led BYU at halftime, 17-14, and had over 100 more yards of total offense than the Cougars in the first half. If cornerback Jay’Vion Cole didn’t drop a potential pick-six and if quarterback Noah Fifita didn’t throw an interception to BYU linebacker Cade Uluave to set up BYU’s first touchdown drive inside the 10-yard line, the Wildcats conceivably could’ve had a stronger lead at halftime.

Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita completed 23 of 31 passes (74%) for 230 yards, a touchdown and an interception and had the second-most rushing yards (38) for Arizona behind running back Kedrick Reescano, who had 15 carries for 49 yards. In the first half, Fifita completed 16 of 20 passes (80%) for 141 yards.

The Wildcats were effective moving the ball in the first half, converting 4 of 7 (57%) third-down plays and dominating BYU in time of possession, 21:29-8:31.

Even though Arizona was shut out in the second half for the first time since 2024, the Wildcats never trailed by two possessions until the 6:10 mark in the fourth quarter, when Kyler Kasper caught his second touchdown pass of the second half following Legend Glasker’s 61-yard haul from quarterback Bear Bachmeier.

The Wildcats were outgained 233-87 in total yards in the second half and were 1 for 6 on third- and fourth-down conversions.

“When I look at how that thing went for us late in that game, to me, we just have to finish,” said Brennan. “That is execution, that is redline for us and we didn’t finish in the fourth quarter — on offense or defense. We had opportunities to do that.

“As frustrated as we are, I was proud about how hard we played. I thought we played physical, I thought we ran the ball effectively against a really good defense and I was proud of our kids.”

Arizona didn’t have an unblemished performance, but “I think we showed glimpses that we’re a really good team, but you have to play a complete game and we haven’t done that offensively,” Fifita said.

“I take the blame for that,” added the Arizona quarterback. “I gotta be more consistent in the second half to give us opportunities to score points. There’s a lot of things that I wish I could have back, some decisions, some throws. I thought we were going to come out victorious, but God doesn’t make mistakes. I’m going to learn, but I’ll take the blame for this one, especially offensively.”

The loss for Arizona is “a learning lesson like anything else,” said UA defensive end Tre Smith.

“It’s like a life lesson: you go into battle and come out with knowledge,” Smith said. “The biggest thing for us is to keep working hard, step it up a little bit and put a premium on execution.”

The loss to BYU is not a make-or-break loss for the Wildcats. Arizona has eight more Big 12 games and 10 more games to improve its postseason resume. Room for error is slimmer for the Wildcats’ path to the Big 12 championship (and the College Football Playoff), but it’s still reachable. Plus, Arizona went toe-to-toe with a top-15 opponent that’s 13-1 at home since 2024.

“We know in our locker room that there are plays to be made that we didn’t make personally and it would’ve changed the tide of that game,” Fifita said. “We’re 0-1 in Big 12 play, but we have eight more opportunities — 10 more to go in total — so it’s back to the drawing board for us. It’s going to hurt today, but I’m looking forward to getting back to Tucson and getting to work.”

Added Brennan: “I’m disappointed we didn’t get the win. Everybody is. But the reality is this: we gotta look at the film and fix it. That’s part of redline: own it, fix it and we gotta get back to work. We have a lot of football left to play this season. We’ll assess the tape and attack what we need to attack. We’ll go to work to prepare for Northern Illinois next week.”

The bad

Arizona had two fourth-down decisions in the second half that could’ve resulted in six points (two field goals), but the Wildcats opted to punt the first one and attempt to convert the second deep into BYU territory.

The first one occurred on fourth-and-10 from the BYU 36-yard line in the final seconds of the third quarter. Arizona opted to punt, hoping Chase Ridley could pin the Cougars inside the 5-yard line; however, his kick landed a yard into the end zone for a touchback.

A field goal would’ve been a 53-yard attempt for kicker Michael Salgado-Medina, who made a 37-yarder in the first half.

Brennan said the decision to punt instead of kicking the field goal was because “we’ve done a great job (on defense) and had great field position.”

“I was disappointed we didn’t (do) more with that possession, because we didn’t get the ball in plus territory (to start),” Brennan said. “My thought process was, ‘Let’s do that again (on defense).’ Now I’m playing the field-position game. How many possessions are left in this for us? We just didn’t execute. … They went three-and-out again. Our defense stopped them again. I was hoping to create a short field for Noah and our offense.”

Arizona found itself in another fourth-down dilemma with just over eight minutes remaining to play, trailing 21-17.

On fourth-and-4 from the BYU 21-yard line, Arizona wide receiver Rodney Gallagher III picked up 3 yards on a short pass, but the play was ruled a first down. After review, Gallagher was spotted a yard short of the first down and Arizona’s potential go-ahead drive ended in a turnover on downs.

Maybe a previously made field goal would’ve had the Wildcats more inclined to kick a field goal in the fourth quarter?

“We were chasing there a little bit and time was short in the game,” Brennan said. “I just have a lot of faith in Noah. He delivered a strike, but BYU made a great play, a great tackle and a great tackle in space and stopped us just short of the sticks. … That’s football.

“They made a great play right there at the sticks and that’s disappointing, but in that moment, what choice do you have? The only choice you have in that moment is getting back to fighting, because there’s still plenty of time in the football game. In my opinion, that’s when we did not execute at the level we need to.”

The ugly

Fifita contributed 268 of Arizona’s 327 yards of total offense — 82%.

Arizona’s quarterback was without his top wide receiver for the second half after Giovanni Richardson exited with a leg injury following a tackle by Uluave and BYU cornerback Evan Johnson on the UA sideline.

Even though Richardson didn’t play the final three quarters, he led the Wildcats in receiving with five catches on six targets for 48 yards.

“He was pretty hot, so the impact was significant,” said Brennan, who didn’t have an update on Richardson’s health status.

Excluding Richardson, Arizona’s five receivers used on Saturday — Chris Hunter, Tre Spivey, Caleb “Jet” Smith, Phelps and Gallagher — had a combined 10 catches for 87 yards. Hunter was targeted six times and had one reception for 12 yards. Gallagher had five catches for 26 yards.

“I think Rod stepped up in a big way,” Fifita said. “He has a lot of game experience. He’s a dude. He’s been a dude for a long time. I don’t think we missed too much of a beat. Gio brings some explosiveness to our offense that we’re going to need when we get him back. Rod and Jet, they’re both really good players, running routes and also with the ball in their hands.

“I gotta take it upon myself to get my guys the ball. Tre Spivey and Chris Hunter didn’t touch the ball enough today and that’s my fault.”

Arizona’s offensive line also lacked discipline in crucial moments, in addition to allowing 10 quarterback pressures.

The left side of Arizona’s offensive line — left tackle Matthew Lado and left guard Rhino Tapa’atoutai — committed five of Arizona’s seven penalties. Tapa’atoutai and Lado combined for two holding penalties, two false starts and a personal foul. Lado (42.2), Tapa’atoutai (44.4) and right tackle Tristan Bounds (46) had the lowest Pro Football Focus grades for Arizona’s offense on Saturday.

“Mental mistakes,” Fifita said. “I gotta be a better communicator. We knew this environment was going to be great. I knew it was going to be loud. I didn’t do a good enough job communicating, which caused some of the pre-snap penalties that we can’t have. That threw us off rhythm. That’s another part we gotta be better at.”

Extra points

— The Wildcats opened up as a 31.5-point favorite to beat Northern Illinois on Saturday at Casino Del Sol Stadium, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. The over/under for total points was set at 50.5 points, according to Action Network.

— Northern Illinois — a Mountain West team — is led by interim head coach Rob Harley, who took over for Thomas Hammock in February after the NIU head coach became the running backs coach and senior offensive assistant for the Seattle Seahawks. NIU was shut out by Iowa, 40-0, and lost to Illinois State, 28-24, at home to start the season.