A week after becoming bowl eligible, Arizona took a long road trip to Cincinnati to try and pull off the top 25 upset. In a 30-24 back and forth game, the Wildcats won their third game in a row to move
to 7-3 (4-3) on the season.
Fifita became the all-team leader in passing touchdowns at Arizona in the win and the defense forced two interceptions against a quarterback who very rarely throws interceptions.
Here are the grades for the offense, defense, special teams, and coaching in the top 25 road upset against the Bearcats:
Offense: B –
Two plays following the interception forced by the Wildcats defense, Ismail Mahdi took it to the house from 27 yards out to add to the insanely hot start for Arizona.
Noah Fifita connected with Kris Hutson for 17 yards to start the second drive but then could not produce anything more, forcing a punt.
On the next drive, Fifita connected with Chris Hunter for 21 yards then with Gio Richardson for 19 yards. However, the drive stalled yet again and the Wildcats settled for a field goal attempt that would be no good.
Penalties helped out Arizona to get inside the red zone, but ended up settling for another field goal attempt that would be blocked. An 11 yard sack on the following drive did not allow the offense to get anything going forcing the Wildcats to punt once again.
A trick play for negative yardage, was then followed up with the second sack by Cincinnati, setting up a very long third down. Fifita saved the drive by connecting with Hutson again for 25 yards to convert a third and 19.
Quincy Craig helped out the offense with some hard nosed running, but it was the story of the first half as the offense could not finish the drive in the end zone.
It was the Hutson show coming out of the half. A 26 yard catch and an eight yard catch on fourth helped get Arizona inside the Bearcats ten. Unfortunately, the red zone woes continued for the offense and it was unable to finish in the end zone.
After being pinned at its own one yard line, Arizona covered 80 yards on back to back plays. Hunter pulled down a one handed 30 yard catch on third down. He was then the lead blocker on a 50 yard Kedrick Reescano touchdown run to give the Wildcats the lead.
The fourth quarter started with a 29 yard connection between Fifita and Hutson. Marching down inside the red zone, the offense finally found the end zone.
On third and seven, Fifita threw a record breaking 15 yard touchdown to Richardson to extend the Arizona lead and became the all-time leader in passing touchdowns in Arizona history.
The offense was able to run off five minutes of game clock to take the game down inside two minutes to play. It also converted two major third downs to help set up a field goal attempt to extend the lead.
Fifita finished the game going 23-31 for 294 yards and a record breaking touchdown. Reescano led Arizona with 94 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown. Hutson had his best day as a Wildcat as he had 123 yards on eight catches.
The Wildcats finished with 475 of total offense. They had 294 through the air and 181 on the ground. It was not a pretty day for the offense and it left a lot out on the field. Nevertheless, Fifita and the offense once again did just enough to get the job done.
Defense: B
On the first play of scrimmage, Jay’Vion Cole picked off Brendan Sorsby after Dalton Johnson was able to tip the ball off into the air. It was by far and away the fastest start to a game this season for the defense.
The second drive was not as successful for the defense as runs of 39 yards and 21 yards allowed Cincinnati to march down the field very quickly. Sorsby finished the drive off with a four yard touchdown run.
The run game struggles continued as the next drive started with a 54 yard run by the Bearcats. A couple plays later, Sorsby threw a seven yard touchdown pass.
Treydan Stukes nearly had the second turnover of the game, but the defense was able to get off the field to prevent the lead from blooming. Johnson eventually got the second turnover of the game picking off Sorsby for the second time on the next drive.
The defense came out of halftime and forced a three and out to get the ball back to the offense quickly. Cincinnati then marched down the field after converting some key third down plays, but the defense was able to bend and not break and held the Bearcats to a field goal.
The Bearcats, down ten, responded with a 12 play 75 yard drive to cut the Arizona lead back down to three. The drive included 2 fourth down conversions.
When it needed one last stop, the defense got it done. With the help of an offensive pass interference, the Wildcats got Cincinnati behind the chains and the Bearcats could not recover.
Stukes led Arizona with nine tackles, and Deshawn McKnight got the lone sack for the Wildcats.
The defense may have let up 344 total yards of offense, but it got the stops when it needed to and did not allow Cincinnati to take control of the game.
Special Teams: C
On his first attempt of the day, Michael Salgado-Medina missed wide left from 50 yards out. His second attempt would be blocked by the Bearcats.
Third time would be the charm for Salgado-Medina as he eventually made a 24 yard field goal. To start the second half, he would hit from 25 yards out.
When his team needed it most, Salgado-Medina came out to hit a 51 yard field goal to extend the Arizona lead to six.
He finished the day going 3-5. May have not been the greatest start, but when he absolutely needed to, he delivered.
Coaching: B
Once again, the culture that Brent Brennan has built showed today. The team never flinched, and even though it never looked pretty today, they stuck with each other.
Even with the fast start, Arizona did allow the control of the game to swing back to Cincinnati. The difference this year from last year is that the Wildcats kept themselves within range of taking the control back.
Danny Gonzales’ squad was able to control the passing game and it took two passes away from Sorsby. Yes, the run game defense is still very questionable, but today it was able to stop the Bearcats enough times and in doing so kept the Cincinnati offense at bay.
It is clear that the defense relies on the experience and maturity of the secondary. This allows for the linebackers and defensive front to focus on stopping the run.
In the last two games, the offense has been able to rack up yardage but has had trouble finding the end zone. It is an issue that Seth Doege will have to figure out because if more drives end in touchdowns than field goals it can allow for the game flow to heavily favor the Wildcats.
This team is the definition of getting it done by committee. It truly does not matter who gets the job done, as long as the job gets done.
The ball is being taken care of by the offense and the defense is taking the ball away. All in all, it has become the winning formula for Arizona.
