There’s strength in numbers. And on a night when Arizona saw three receivers leave the game with injury, the rest of the team stepped up to knock off an unbeaten opponent.
The Wildcats shook off some early inconsistency on offense to roll to a 34-7 win over Cincinnati on Saturday night at Casino Del Sol Stadium in their Big 12 home opener. Arizona (4-1, 1-1) came within 1:56 of recording its first shutout in 13 years and first in a conference game since 1993.
Noah Fifita, working most of the game with
second- and third-string receivers, threw for 284 yards and two TDs on 25-of-37 passing. He also ran for a score.
Receivers Gio Richardson, Chris Hunter and Tre Spivey all left the game after getting hurt in the first half, with Richardson coming out after the first drive. Hunter got hurt late in the first quarter and Spivey went down just before halftime.
In their absence it was Isaiah Mizell, Brandon Phelps, Caleb ‘Jet’ Smith, RJ Mosley and tight end Tyler Powell, among others, serving as Fifita’s top targets and keeping the offense balanced enough to let the run game have its best performance in Big 12 play.
The Wildcats ran for 238 yards, the most in a conference game since the 2022 Territorial Cup.
But it was the defense, more than anything, that set the tone. Arizona held a Cincinnati rushing attack that came in averaging 270 yards to 74. Quarterback JC French IV threw for 153 yards but was just 16 of 29, and his 2-yard TD run with 1:56 left kept the Bearcats from getting shut out.
Arizona outgained Cincinnati 239-106 in the 1st half but only led 10-0. Antwan Roberts Jr. broke off a huge run on the first drive of the second half, finding a hole and scampering 58 yards before having the ball poked out from behind at the Cincinnati 12. It bounced into the end zone where a Bearcats player swatted out the back, a penalty that resulted in the UA getting a 1st and goal from the 6.
Three plays later, Fifita kept it himself for an 8-yard TD and a 17-0 lead. It was his third rushing score of the season.
Arizona got its second turnover on downs on the ensuing possession, replay showing French’s knee was down short of the line on 4th and 5. The UA took over at its 32 and scored six plays later on a 24-yard pass from Fifita toPhelps to make it 24-0 with 3:07 left in the 3rd.
Michael Salgado-Medina’s second field goal of the game, from 35 yards out, upped the margin to 27-0 with 12:11 to go.Powell then capped the UA scoring with a 5-yard TD catch with 5:21 remaining.
Arizona scored on its opening possession, despite Fifita getting sacked on the first play for the third straight game. That was one of only two snaps on the drive that didn’t produce, with Kedrick Reescano scoring on a 10-yard run for a 7-0 lead with 10:21 left in the 1st quarter.
After a 3-and-out by Cincinnati, Fifita was intercepted by MJ Cannon at the UA 35 but the Bearcats went nowhere. A 53-yard field goal attempt by Stephen Rusnak doinked off the right post.
The Wildcats turned it over on downs in the red zone late in the first quarter, with Reescano getting tripped up for a loss on 4th and 2 from the 20.
Cincinnati put together its first sustained drive midway through the second, getting some chunk plays to get down to the UA 10. That’s when the Wildcat defense locked in, forcing a 4th down play from the 2 that saw Gavin Hunter break up a TD pass to tight end Gavin Grover.
The UA drove into Bearcats territory in the final minutes of the half, getting down to the 5 before stalling and settling for a 23-yard Salgado-Medina field goal with one second remaining.
Arizona hits the road again, heading to the Eastern Time Zone to take on West Virginia next Saturday at 9 a.m. PT. The Rich Rodriguez-led Mountaineers (3-2, 0-2) lost 42-38 at Iowa State earlier Saturday.
