With a plethora of events happening in Tucson, the Arizona football team took the stage for Friday night lights as it hosted Houston in a must win game for the Wildcats.
A near-perfect performance defensively helped Arizona earn a 27-3 victory over the Cougars to keep chances at a bowl berth alive.
Here are our grades for the offense, defense, special teams, and coaching:
Offense: B+
After a quick three and out on the first drive, Arizona’s offense would find the end zone early as Noah Fifita connected with Tetairoa McMillan on a 33 yard touchdown pass.
Fifita was sacked three times in the first quarter.
The following three drives would produce no points, as they would all end in three and outs. The next two drives would end in field goal attempts, where only one was made.
Fifita would connect with tight end Sam Olson on a 31 yard pass to convert on third down. The offense would take a seven point lead into the half.
Coming out of the half, the offense found a rhythm and marched down the field. Running back Quali Conley would take a checkdown pass from Fifita into the end zone from 13 yards out.
Two drives later, Conley would bust through the middle of the Houston defense and take it to the house for a 50 yard touchdown run.
“It’s great to see him, you know, see that counter play pop and see him house it,” head coach Brent Brennan said on Conley’s touchdown run.
For Conley, it was his second 100 yard game on the season as he finished 107 yards on 11 carries.
“Ball security was the main focus on this game, and getting my confidence back, and I felt like it was a good game,” Conley said.
Fifita finished 20-35 for 224 yards and two touchdown passes. He did throw an interception late in the fourth quarter.
McMillan finished with six catches for 70 yards and a touchdown.
Defense: A+
The defense had an ideal start to the game as they pitched a shutout in the first quarter. Not only did it shutout Houston, it forced an early turnover.
Stanley Ta’ufo’ou forced a fumble which was recovered by Genesis Smith.
“All week, coach Akina was saying the ball was gonna start bouncing our way,” Smith said.
A fourth down stop at the one yard line would be just the start Arizona needed going into the second quarter.
Smith would create the second turnover of the game, as pressure from Tacario Davis would force a bad pass and Smith would take it away from Houston.
“I think we all just continue to see Genesis grow and develop as, you know, a really good player,” said Brennan on Smith’s performance.
Holding the Cougars to only three points in the first half, Arizona would come into the second half with the mindset of “get to the quarterback.”
For a majority of the second half, the defense would have eight players in the box and it became hard for Houston to figure if pressure was coming or not.
This led to success when Arizona did decide to bring the house. Tre Smith and Marquis Groves-Killebrew would register sacks.
In the fourth quarter, Dominic Lolesio would force a fumble which was recovered by Owen Goss. He led the Wildcats in tackles with nine.
Taye Brown would also force a fumble but that one was not recovered by the Wildcats.
“They just change the game,” Brennan said on creating turnovers. “They might just change it temporarily, but it’s a huge moment in the game.”
Arizona would hold Houston to be 0-4 on fourth down as well as 2-13 on third down.
Special teams: A
In the second quarter, holder Michael Salgado-Medina would be unable to hold the snap, and the field goal attempt would not be successful.
However, Tyler Loop hit a program record 62 yard field goal to end the first half which gave Arizona a huge boost in momentum.
“Well, none of it is surprising to anybody that’s ever around Tyler,” Brennan said on Loop’s record breaking kick. “He’s an incredibly hard working young man.”
He would also connect from 51 yards in the third quarter.
Smith was also a factor as a gunner for punt coverage. He made solid tackles to minimize punt returns for Houston.
Coaching: A
With their backs up against the wall and on a five game losing streak, Brennan had his guys fired up tonight.
Solid tackling, great effort, and overall playmaking on all phases helped spur confidence back into the Wildcats.
“That was the only standard I gave the team for tonight, like we need to play harder than our opponent,” Brennan said.
Arizona had a lot of success on third down offensively, as they went 10-17 on third down conversions.
“I think Coach Adkins and the staff had some really good calls, and then I thought when we had run the ball on some of those third and shorts, we found a way, you know, we had some hard runs there,” Brennan said.
Credit to defensive coordinator Duane Akina who called a near perfect game. For one of the few times this season, the defense found a way to contain a mobile quarterback.
For Arizona, the next challenge comes when they travel to Fort Worth as they take on TCU next Saturday.