Arizona Wildcats clobber West Virginia, off to best start since 2014

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — The winner of the first-ever RichRod Bowl is the team Rich Rodriguez used to coach for six seasons. 

The Arizona Wildcats beat the West Virginia Mountaineers, 52-31, at Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday.

It's the most points Arizona has scored in a Big 12 game since the Colorado game last season. 

Arizona is now 5-1 to begin head coach Brent Brennan's third season, which is the Wildcats' best start since the 2014 season, when Arizona won the Pac-12 South championship in Rodriguez's third year at the UA.  

Arizona is now 2-1 in away games this season, the best start on the road since 2017, when Arizona started 3-0 in Rodriguez's last season at Arizona. 

“Just an awesome day for our football team,” Brennan said. “To travel out here, wake (the players) up early Arizona time and get them ready to go. I thought all week our coaches did a fantastic job and we attacked our process and our players followed that lead. We know that’s where we operate the best, is when we’re focused on right now; this day, this rep, this moment.

“I thought our team bought into that and really subscribed to that and that gave us a chance to play good football today.”

The Wildcats were without their four starting pass catchers, who were all out for injuries: wide receivers Tre Spivey, Giovanni Richardson and Chris Hunter and tight end Cole Rusk.

Arizona's starting trio at receiver was Isaiah Mizell, Brandon Phelps and former Mountaineer and Pittsburgh-area native Rodney Gallagher III.

Despite three penalties on Arizona's opening drive, the Wildcats put together a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that was capped by a 14-yard pass from quarterback Noah Fifita to Mizell, who now has four receiving touchdowns this season, tied with Spivey for the most receiving touchdowns by a Wildcat in 2026.

Mizell ended Saturday with six receptions for 183 yards and two touchdowns.

“Holy smokes, Isaiah Mizell,” Brennan said. “I’m so proud of him, so happy for him. He’s different and that different showed up today in a super impactful way.”

Phelps had four catches for 88 yards and a touchdown. Brennan lauded UA wide receivers coach Bobby Wade in the postgame press conference on Saturday.

“What a great job he did getting those wideouts ready to go,” Brennan said of Wade. “And all of them made plays and performed and did a bunch of really good stuff.”

Added Mizell: “I feel like we stepped up. Obviously we’re playing the quote-unquote worst defense in the country, but I feel like we were on assignment and when the ball was in our hands, we did the most with the opportunity.”

After scoreless opening possessions against Northern Illinois and Washington State, the Wildcats have scored touchdowns on the first drive in back-to-back games against Cincinnati and West Virginia — and avoided getting sacked on the first play from scrimmage, ending a three-game streak. 

West Virginia entered Saturday as one of the top rushing attacks nationally and the best in the Big 12. The Mountaineers established the run early, rushing nine times on the first drive, but were stopped inside the UA 5-yard line and settled for a 25-yard field goal by kicker Jack Cassidy. 

That would be West Virginia's only lead for the entire game. 

West Virginia had four first-half drives end inside the Arizona 5-yard line — and result in a total of 10 points. Here's how they ended: 

• Field goal

• Turnover on downs

• Touchdown

• Fumble

West Virginia's first touchdown, a 3-yard rush by quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr., came after Fifita threw his fourth interception of the season. Under pressure, Fifita's pass was broken up by WVU defensive lineman Nate Gabriel, which caused the ball to sputter and get intercepted by West Virginia edge rusher David Afogho at the UA 3-yard line.

Arizona took a two-possession lead, 14-3, after linebacker Cooper Blomstrom tackled Hawkins on a speed option, forcing the WVU quarterback to pitch it to running back Cam Cook, who dropped the pitch. The loose ball was recovered by Arizona safety Lee Molette III, who had a 32-yard scoop-and-score.

“I was making fun of him, because he looked slow,” joked Arizona safety Cam Chapa.

Mizell interjected and called Molette “goofy.”

“It was good to see (Molette) score,” added Chapa.

It's Arizona's first fumble returned for a touchdown since Gunner Maldonado's touchdown in the 2023 Alamo Bowl. 

Turning point

With a chance to tie the game just before halftime, cornerback Jay'Vion Cole stripped Cook at the Arizona 2-yard line, the second takeaway of the game for Arizona. 

Cole's forced fumble was recovered by linebacker Taye Brown, who had nine tackles. 

“It was a big momentum killer (for West Virginia),” said Chapa. “Just flying to the football with bad intentions and getting the ball on the ground really helped us.”

Arizona running back Kedrick Reescano's 8-yard touchdown to start the third quarter gave the Wildcats a two-touchdown lead. The Mountaineers never pulled within a touchdown in the second half. Both touchdowns West Virginia scored in the second half — two goal-line rushes — were countered with Arizona touchdowns on the ensuing drives.

Arizona running back Antwan Roberts’ 30-yard touchdown with just under 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter gave the Wildcats a 52-31 lead — and essentially sealed the win.

“When we needed a big play on offense, we found a way to make it and we found a way to run the football; that battle of physicality, controlling the line of scrimmage,” Brennan said. “There’s stuff to work on, we know that.”

Offensive MVP

Mizell, a second-year receiver from Orlando, was Arizona's top pass catcher. Mizell had 83 yards after catch, including a 72-yard touchdown to take a two-touchdown lead in the third quarter. 

Mizell is the third Arizona receiver to have over 100 yards in a game this season, joining Spivey and Richardson.

The 6-1, 170-pound Mizell has always been considered arguably the fastest player on Arizona’s roster, but he “made a choice last January” to mature and develop his skill set, like route-running and lining up correctly.

“He has always been talented, but he’s young,” Brennan said. “The way he has attacked the last nine months, 10 months, has really been different.”

Brennan nicknamed Mizell “different” after the “I’m Different” song by rapper 2 Chainz.

“That’s what I call him, ‘different,’ because what he has been over that time is different than what he was before,” Brennan said. “He knows Chris Hunter is a good player, Spive is a good player, Gio is a good player, but he was going to be ready for his opportunity. He was going to attack his process of development — his own personal process — and when he finally got a chance to do it, Goddamn. Wow. They had no answer for him and it was really, really special.”

Mizell drew two passing interference penalties, “and those are explosive plays in my book, because those are 15-yarders,” Brennan said.

“I’m just really, really happy for him and have an incredible amount of respect for Bobby Wade and what he’s done,” Brennan added.

Mizell said his “biggest motivation” on Saturday was playing for the injured Spivey, Richardson and Hunter.

“They all sent me text messages last night saying how much they believe in me and that gave me a boost today,” Mizell said. “You pick up little things from everybody, but those are probably the three people in the receiver room I’m tightest with. We’re brothers and that 'Bear Down Brotherhood’ is different.”

Defensive MVP

Chapa, in his second start after playing behind Quinn Olson to start the season, had a season-high 15 tackles, including 10 solo tackles. Chapa had 13 tackles in four games before Saturday.

Arizona surrendered 522 yards of total offense to West Virginia, the most yards the Wildcats have allowed since giving up 643 to Arizona State in the 2024 Territorial Cup. The last time Arizona allowed 500-plus yards in a win was the Alamo Bowl in 2023.

“I think we played really well,” Chapa said. “We played a great offense, credit to them. We made mistakes here and there, but our motto is fly to the ball with violence and bad intentions and I feel like we did pretty good with that. … It started up front with the (defensive) line. We really just followed them.”

Unsung hero

Arizona running back Quincy Craig had a 40-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and gave the Wildcats a 24-17 lead in the second quarter. Craig was also one of Arizona's top blitz protectors. 

Up next

Arizona enters a bye week at the halfway mark of the season, before hosting the Iowa State Cyclones on Saturday, Oct. 24 at Casino Del Sol Stadium for homecoming. 

It's also "Bear Down 100" weekend, a celebration of the 100th anniversary of John Button Salmon coining the phrase "Bear Down" before dying from a car accident on Oct. 18, 1926.

“The awesome thing is that we came on a plane here and won a game in a stadium that’s really hard to win (in),” Brennan said. “Now we get to go home and enjoy this for 24 hours and then we get to focus on what’s next and what’s next is getting healthy and getting right during this bye week, looking at ourselves and what we can do to improve over the next two weeks and hopefully get our bodies fresh, because we’re two months into the season and everyone is beat to hell. I’m really, really proud of our team.”