Arizona Aftermath: Storylines, stats and quotes from the Wildcats' win over Oklahoma State

After suffering its first loss of the season, the Arizona Wildcats bounced back and throttled a struggling Oklahoma State team, 41-13, in their Big 12 home opener.

The Wildcats never trailed on Saturday and scored the most points by an Arizona team in Big 12 play since it joined the league last season. Arizona’s 41 points are the most scored against a Power 4 team since the 2023 Territorial Cup.

“There’s a lot of really good stuff in that game,” said Arizona head coach Brent Brennan. “It’s a Big 12 win and I’m proud of how we came to work this week and how we battled through that thing and closed the door on it at the end. When I think about this team, I’m just proud of these guys. I’m proud of our coaches and players and how they continue to work, how they continue to play for each other, how they play for the community and how they play for this university.”

Approaching the halfway point of the season, the Wildcats are 4-1, which matches their win total from last season — and it’s their best start since the 2019 season (we advise Arizona fans to not look at what happened after the Wildcats’ 4-1 start in ‘19).

As the Wildcats turn the page to a highly anticipated game in Tucson, here are notable storylines, statistics and quotes from Arizona’s blowout win over Oklahoma State.

Adversity knocks, Arizona answers

If we had a nickel for every time Brennan and the Wildcats preach their redline mantra in press conferences, the Arizona Daily Star could purchase the naming rights to Arizona Stadium.

One of the components to redline is “owning it and fixing it” with relentless effort. After the Wildcats’ 25-point loss to Iowa State last week, Arizona’s team captains “did a great job of continuing to harp on responding and being ready for the moment and not getting too high and too low,” said Arizona wide receiver Tre Spivey.

“All week, we talked about being accountable for last week’s game,” Brennan said. “When I think about this week and how we practiced and how we attacked the work, that part of the accountability ... everyone was all-in on how we were going to get that done this weekend against a unique opponent.”

Arizona’s defense, especially the secondary, took a step back against Iowa State and allowed five touchdowns, but the UA defense responded with its third touchdown-less game of the season on Saturday. The Wildcats are the only team in college football to not allow a passing touchdown. Arizona hasn’t allowed a touchdown in 16 of 20 quarters this season. The only touchdown scored by Oklahoma State was a pick-six in the fourth quarter.

Arizona linebacker Max Harris is “not too surprised” by the Wildcats’ ability to keep teams out of the end zone this season.

“I have so much faith in our secondary,” Harris said. “Big plays may happen, but the main thing is to keep them out of the end zone. I’m glad our secondary can do that. We take a lot of pride in that. ... Between the whistles is the most important play of the game. After the whistle, it’s done. As a defense, we just wanted to focus.”

Arizona ranks first in the Big 12 in passing defense, and after giving up six passes for 189 yards to Iowa State, the Wildcats held Oklahoma State to 69 passing yards for the entire game. Arizona cornerback Jay’Vion Cole, who did not play last week, started in place of the injured Michael Dansby and intercepted OSU quarterback Zane Flores. Cole, who leads the team in interceptions this season, also had a pass breakup and a tackle for loss.

“I have a lot of faith in that cornerback room,” Brennan said.

Arizona also overcame in-game adversity on Saturday after kicker Michael Salgado-Medina sailed a 46-yard field goal wide left to extend his struggles. He’s 3-for-8 on field goals longer than 40 yards this season, but he’s 2-for-3 on field goals longer than 50 yards — and that miss was from over 60 yards.

Salgado-Medina made a 34-yard field goal just before halftime to give the Wildcats a 24-6 lead. With just over four minutes remaining, the Wildcats turned to Salgado-Medina — nicknamed “Money Mike” — to “go out there and rip it and he did,” Brennan said.

“That thing was good from 65 (yards),” Brennan said of Salgado-Medina’s career-long field goal. “We’ve got faith in that kid. It’s hard, because any time you’re going through a struggle like that, it’s frustrating and you gotta deal with it. To his credit, talk about responding. We’ve been talking about responding this season. The next kick, he goes out and nails a (57-yarder)? Let’s go.”

Responding to adversity didn’t stop there for Arizona...

Spreading the wealth

Arizona’s passing attack was stagnant last week. The timing was off between quarterback Noah Fifita and Arizona’s wide receivers.

It was a combination of Fifita underthrowing and overthrowing Arizona’s pass catchers and receivers dropping passes. Saturday was a different case.

Fifita completed 28 of 38 passes (74%) for 376 yards, five touchdowns and an interception. More notably, Fifita found receivers in stride on routes. Fifita’s 7,296 career passing yards ranks fourth in program history behind Nick Foles, Willie Tuitama and Tom Tunnicliffe. Fifita’s 57 career passing touchdowns is tied with Khalil Tate for the third-most in program history.

“Everyone knows Noah is a dog and is extremely focused and is hard on himself,” said Arizona wide receiver Tre Spivey. “He’s hard on himself more than anybody — more than any critic, more than any fan. That was tough for him. But when it comes to mentality and being locked in, he’s big on that. He’s super tedious about his process and he trusts himself, he trusts the team and we all trust him. We knew he was going to bounce back and put some points on the board.”

Arizona’s receivers, collectively, played arguably their best game of the season. The Wildcats had 10 different players catch a pass against Oklahoma State.

“I think the week of practice for us as receivers, we were all just hungry,” Spivey said. “It wasn’t just me who made plays. ... Every single one of us was out there hungry, ready to make plays. Losing leaves a bad taste in anyone’s mouth.”

Spivey had three catches for 80 yards and two touchdowns. Spivey had 50 yards after catch and scored both of his touchdowns — one of them resulting in his helmet getting ripped off at the goal line — in the first quarter.

“My mindset, whenever I get the ball, is to be violent, be violent with the ball,” Spivey said. “Get into the end zone by any means necessary. Whenever I catch the ball, I’m locked into the end zone, fighting my way through contact, through physicality or agility — find some type of way to get into the end zone. That’s the most important thing.”

In addition to Spivey, Fifita completed touchdown passes to Chris Hunter, Javin Whatley and Luke Wysong, who led the Wildcats with 139 all-purpose yards.

On the touchdown pass to Wysong in the second quarter, Fifita avoided two pressuring defenders, rolled to his right on a scramble drill and connected with Wysong, who caught the pass on the 28-yard line and ran for a touchdown — the first touchdown of Wysong’s UA career.

Despite the two turnovers, including a fumble on the goal line, Fifita’s performance “was awesome,” Brennan said.

“Being a Division I quarterback at this level is hard,” Brennan said. “It’s really challenging. You get way too much credit and way too much blame. Noah Fifita handles it with incredible class, with incredible dignity.

“He’s a great leader, he’s a great teammate and he loves Tucson and the University of Arizona. ... Everyone in the world has tried to recruit him away from here. They offered him money and all kinds of stuff. He chose to stay, because he loves it here and he’s going to leave his mark on the program. I thought today was a good step in that direction.”

Ground-game struggles

Arizona had a season-low 45 rushing yards against Oklahoma State, the fewest rushing yards by the Wildcats since rushing for 38 yards against TCU last year.

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The Wildcats averaged 1.4 yards per carry and had minus-24 rushing yards in the second half after rushing for 69 yards in the first first half.

Arizona left tackle Ty Buchanan and left guard Chubba Maae both exited the game with injuries. The left side of Arizona’s offensive line became left tackle Rhino Tapa’atoutai and Georgia Tech transfer Jordan Brown, who made his season debut on Saturday.

Brown was Arizona’s starting left guard in the spring, but suffered an upper-body injury that sidelined him for the spring and training camp. Michael Wooten, who started the first two games at left guard, played the second half at left guard.

Brennan said the injuries on the offensive line were “part of” why Arizona struggled to run the football, but Oklahoma State also put “eight and a half people in the box,” which opened up Arizona’s passing attack.

“Take what they give you,” Brennan said. “If they’re going to play us with no safety and play a bunch of man coverage and we feel great about our receivers and our quarterback and his ability to deliver the football accurately, we’ll live with that.”

By the numbers

2.65: Average yards per rush for Arizona’s opponents the last two games.

5: Arizona had a season-high in five categories on Pro Football Focus: pass-blocking (87.7), overall defense (87.1), rushing defense (90.9), pass coverage (90.2) and special teams (78.9).

10: Arizona ranks 10th nationally in total defense.

11: Tackles for loss for Arizona on Saturday, which is the most since its win at Stanford in 2023. The Wildcats are also 11th in college football in passing defense.

85: Official temperature at kickoff, according to the Big 12. The on-field temperature exceeded 100 degrees.

478: Arizona’s total yards against Oklahoma State, which is the most since the Territorial Cup in 2023.

40,685: Announced attendance at Arizona Stadium on Saturday, albeit the stadium was half-full at best.

They said it

Brennan, on Arizona’s offensive issues to start the third quarter this season: “We need to fix this. This is a crisis. ... That’s obviously something we need to work on — and we’ll work on it fast.”

Spivey, on Wysong’s production at receiver and special teams: “Wysong is a dog. You see it every day in practice. ... He had the opportunity to go back there and return punts and you see what happens, he makes plays. If you look across the board, our receivers — especially Luke — are just hungry. I love that about our receivers, we’re just hungry.”

Brennan, on Wysong: “I think Luke Wysong is one of those players that will continue to make plays and impress people as he continues to get more comfortable in the scheme and continues make plays and play more. We’re all excited for Luke. He’s an awesome young man. He’s a fantastic team guy. He’s just a baller.”

Harris, on his forced fumble in the third quarter: “My process and my thoughts during this game was ‘I gotta get the ball out, I gotta get the ball out.’ The running back came through, I saw the ball, put my helmet on the ball and gave it my all.”

Harris, on Arizona’s four-linebacker lineup: “When all the linebackers can play, we gotta get them on the field. Having all the things and the versatility in the room, it just makes us better as a defense and I’m glad we got it. ... I’ve been around a bunch of different defense and philosophies, and I think Coach G is probably the most unique that I’ve had.”

Harris, on Arizona’s training camp practices preparing the Wildcats for Saturday afternoon: “It helped a lot. We have an indoor facility, but we practiced outside most of the time. (Arizona defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales’) whole thing for the defense is it’s not just embracing the heat or dealing with the heat, we love the heat. Coach G always says, ‘I wish it was hotter.’ Today, I didn’t feel anything crazy, so it helped a lot.”

Injury report

Arizona running back Kedrick Reescano played for the first time since the season-opening win over Hawaii. Reescano had two carries for 4 yards.

Dansby entered Saturday as a game-time decision for an undisclosed injury, but did not play. Cole started at cornerback opposite of cornerback Ayden Garnes.

Brennan said the replacements for Buchanan and Maae on the offensive line “did an admirable job, but the guys that got beat up today, we need them back.”

“They need to live in the training room,” Brennan said. “We’re going to get them rollout beds and we’ll get them in there and they’ll live in there full-time, because we need them back.”

What’s next

The Wildcats are 2.5-point underdogs for its upcoming home test against the 18th-ranked BYU Cougars.

BYU opened up as a 1.5-point favorite, but the line moved to 2.5 as of Sunday, according to Action Network. The over/under for total points is 50.5 points.

Saturday will be BYU’s first trip to Tucson since the 2018 season, when the Cougars beat the Wildcats in former head coach Kevin Sumlin’s first game at Arizona.

Arizona lost to BYU, 41-19, last season in Provo in the first conference matchup between the two teams.

“Last year is last year,” Harris said. “Heading towards BYU, it’s a faceless opponent. The next opponent on the schedule is whoever it is. We’re just going to play and give it 100% every time.”

The Wildcats are 12-13-1 all-time against BYU dating back to 1936. Arizona and BYU have matched up as non-conference opponents in recent years. Arizona kicked off the 2016 season against BYU in Glendale, then opened up the Sumlin era in 2018 with a loss in Tucson. Arizona also started the Jedd Fisch era against BYU in Las Vegas, with the Cougars winning 24-16.

Since Arizona beat BYU in the 2008 Las Vegas Bowl, the Wildcats have lost four straight games to the Cougars.

“We know these guys really well and they have a great program,” Arizona head coach Brent Brennan said of BYU. “Any time you have a chance to play a great program coming off a win, let’s go. It’s going to be a big-time football game. I’m excited to see the city of Tucson show out. ... We’re looking for Arizona Stadium to be the number one game-day venue in college football in the whole country next Saturday.”

Photos: Arizona overwhelms Oklahoma State 41-13, Big 12 football