Arizona fought. The Wildcats had a lead at halftime. But in the end, Arizona suffered its first loss of the season, falling to the 15th-ranked BYU Cougars, 28-17, for the Big 12 opener Saturday afternoon at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Arizona’s (1-1) losing streak to BYU (2-0) is now at six games dating back to 2016. BYU head coach Kalani Sitake is 6-0 against the Wildcats.
The Wildcats have dropped their conference-opening road games in back-to-back seasons.
“When I look at how that thing went for us late in that game, to me, we just have to finish,” said Arizona head coach Brent 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 attacked first with a methodical, 12-play drive, with quarterback Noah Fifita completing 6 of 7 passes for 52 yards. Fifita capped the first scoring drive by scrambling to his right before tucking the ball in and powering his way through the goal line for an 11-yard rushing touchdown. Fifita has five rushing touchdowns in his career, including three last season.
The Wildcats almost captured a two-touchdown lead, but cornerback Jay’Vion Cole — who had a clear path to the end zone — dropped the ball on BYU’s opening drive.
Even though BYU went three-and-out on its first drive, the Wildcats were unable to capitalize on taking a two-possession lead. Third-year left tackle Matthew Lado committed a holding penalty that nullified a first-down run by running back Kedrick Reescano. Two plays later, Fifita, who was pressured by BYU linebacker Isaiah Glasker, threw an interception over the middle to linebacker Cade Uluave — the first pick for Fifita this season and the seventh dating back to last season.
BYU, with its second drive starting on the Arizona 9-yard line, scored courtesy of a 6-yard rushing touchdown by BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier, who had two rushing touchdowns against the Wildcats last season.
Bachmeier’s first passing touchdown of the game was a 25-yard slant to wide receiver Reggie Frischknecht, the first touchdown of Frischknecht’s career. On an RPO pass, Arizona safety Quinn Olson jumped the pass early and fell to the ground, allowing Frischknecht to break free for a touchdown. After Arizona kicker Michael Salgado-Medina made a 37-yard field goal, the first field goal of the season, BYU’s first passing touchdown put the Cougars ahead, 14-10.
Arizona took a 17-14 lead at halftime following Fifita’s 16-yard throw to Southern Miss transfer tight end Shane King, the first touchdown of his UA career. Fifita threaded the pass through the arms of BYU defensive tackle Keanu Tanuvasa for the touchdown.
It would be the last time Arizona scored. Arizona second-year wide receiver Giovanni Richardson left the game with an undisclosed injury in the second quarter. Richardson was tackled by Uluave out of bounds on the Arizona sideline. Richardson exited the game and didn’t return.
“He was pretty hot, so the impact was significant,” Brennan said of Richardson.
Richardson led the Wildcats in receiving with five catches for 48 yards.
Turning point
In Arizona’s first drive of the fourth quarter with just over eight minutes remaining, down 21-17, the Wildcats went for it on fourth-and-4 on the BYU 21-yard line, but West Virginia transfer receiver Rodney Gallagher III — who replaced the injured Richardson — was tackled a yard short.
Brennan said the decision to not kick the field goal and take the points was because “time was short in the game and 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,” Brennan said.
Bachmeier threw a 61-yard bomb to BYU freshman receiver Legend Glasker, which set up a 12-yard touchdown for Bachmeier to wide receiver Kyler Kasper, who also caught a touchdown in the third quarter. Kasper, a Chandler native and Oregon transfer, caught his first touchdowns as a collegiate player on Saturday.
Kasper’s first touchdown was a go-ahead score. The second one was the knockout blow for the Wildcats.
Offensive MVP
Fifita completed 23 of 31 passes for 230 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Fifita also had 38 rushing yards, the second-most by a Wildcat on Saturday.
Arizona finished with 327 yards of total offense to BYU’s 365, albeit the Wildcats were outgained 233-87 in the second half — 141-33 in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats were held to -9 rushing yards in the fourth quarter. Arizona was 4 for 7 on third-down conversions in the first half, but was held to 1 for 6 on third- and fourth-down conversions in the second half.
“I think we’re a really good team, but you have to play a complete game and we haven’t done that offensively, so I’ll take the blame for that,” Fifita said. “I gotta be more consistent in the second half to give us opportunities to score points.”
Defensive MVP
Arizona defensive lineman Mays Pese had six tackles and a quarterback hurry.
Unsung hero
Leading up to BYU’s fourth-down stop in the fourth quarter, Arizona tight end Cole Rusk’s 32-yard catch on third-and-12 put the Wildcats into BYU territory.
What’s next
Arizona returns to nonconference play to Northern Illinois at Casino Del Sol Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 19, at 7:30 p.m. on Fox. The Wildcats will conclude nonconference play against the Huskies, followed by a road trip to former Pac-12 foe Washington State on Sept. 26.
“I’m disappointed we didn’t get the win,” Brennan said. “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.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Wildcats fall to No. 15 BYU to start Big 12 play
