Arizona came back home after its upset win against at Utah to take on Texas Tech in what was expected to be an offensive shootout.
But the offense was virtually nowhere to be found for Arizona and the Red Raiders left Tucson with a 28-22 win.
Here are our grades for the offense, defense, special teams, and coaching:
Offense: D+
In the first half, Arizona only scored on one of six drives and four of the six drives went into Texas Tech territory. The second half was better as the offense scored on five of their eight drives, but settled for field goals on four of the drives.
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Noah Fifita struggled tonight. He went 28-49 for 301 yards, but his two interceptions were costly. One was tipped in the air and caught by a defensive lineman, but his second interception was thrown into double coverage.
“That’s my job, to get the offense going, to get us in rhythm, and keep us in rhythm,” Fifita said. “So I feel like every time we got something going, I would make a mistake or two that stalls a drive, so I take full responsibility.”
Junior wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan had eight catches for 161 yards. The big mistake for McMillan came in the fourth quarter after Texas Tech took the lead 21-19.
On an 18-yard pass from Fifita, the ball was punched out of McMillan’s hands from behind and any chance for Arizona to win was essentially gone.
A bright spot for the offense was Quali Conley’s performance. The senior running back had 14 carries for 97 yards and found the end zone from 3 yards out for his fifth rushing touchdown of the season.
Defense: B +
Arizona’s defense gave the Wildcats a chance to win the game. There were many moments where they could’ve broken but held strong as Texas Tech scored on only three of their seven first half drives.
The second half was where the defense shined, as they only allowed ten points. They also forced two fumbles. One forced by Dalton Johnson which was recovered by Taye Brown, and another forced by Stanley Ta’ufo’ou which was recovered by Chase Kennedy.
Arizona would’ve had a third takeaway, but both Jacob Manu and Genesis Smith dropped potential interceptions.
“It creates momentum, you know, creates a spark,” Johnson said on the two turnovers. “It was an emphasis from Coach B this week, so we were trying to hunt the ball, you know, get takeaways.”
Johnson was the leading tackler for the Wildcats with eight tackles, and Ta’ufo’ou recorded a sack for the second straight game.
Special teams: A
Senior kicker Tyler Loop had another efficient night going 5-6 on field goals. His made field goals came from 47 yards, 40 yards, 30 yards, 37 yards, and 52 yards. The miss came from 48 yards.
“I’m grateful Tyler Loop’s on our team, and he definitely kept us alive tonight,” head coach Brent Brennan said.
Freshman punter Michael Salgado-Medina had three punts for 130 yards with his longest being 45 yards. His kicks hung high and long enough for the coverage to get down and force the returner to fair catch every time.
Coaching: C
Brent Brennan got his first landmark win last week at Utah. His next focus was to try and not have a let down performance for this week’s game.
“We had a great practice, and we talked about all that stuff,” Brennan said about not having a hangover from last week. “We used the Coach Tomey, the better team doesn’t win on game day, it’s the team that plays the best that day, and these guys (Texas Tech) played better than us for four quarters.”
However, the Texas Tech game has shown that there is something not clicking on offense. Brennan knows that something has to be fixed in order for them to be successful moving forward.
“I think we had some guys go the wrong way on some of those calls, which is just, that’s coaching,” he said. “That’s my fault, and we got to take a long hard look at that and just figure out, ‘Are we carrying too much scheme?’ I don’t know, but that’ll be part of the film evaluation.”
Credit to defensive coordinator Duane Akina for the defensive performance, it was something Brennan was pleased with even in a loss.
“I think our defense has actually been playing a lot of good football,” Brennan said. “They played great in the NAU game, and they played great last weekend. They played great tonight.”
Things won’t be getting easier for Arizona, as they now focus on their road trip matchup with the undefeated BYU Cougars next Saturday in Provo.