Mistake-prone Arizona falls to Mississippi State; Wildcats drop third straight home opener

The rebuilding Arizona Wildcats weren’t quite ready for prime time.

They weren’t quite ready to defeat a solid SEC opponent.

But they still have a chance to be 2-1 entering conference play.

After a rousing victory in Week 1, Arizona didn’t play its best ball in the home opener against Mississippi State on Saturday night. The Wildcats made too many mistakes, and the Bulldogs made them pay. MSU prevailed 39-17 in front of an announced crowd of 46,275 at Arizona Stadium.

After earning Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week honors, Jayden de Laura threw three interceptions. Arizona couldn’t run the ball after the opening drive. The defense took the ball away three times but still surrendered 39 points.

"As we continue on with this build, we’re gonna have some ebbs and flows," UA coach Jedd Fisch said. "We have a lot of young. We have a lot of new."

The UA will host North Dakota State next week. The defending FCS champions are 2-0 after defeating North Carolina A&T 43-3 earlier Saturday.

Despite dropping their third straight home opener, the Wildcats (1-1) are in a better place than a year ago. They were feisty and competitive throughout against the Bulldogs (2-0). Arizona just couldn’t find a rhythm on offense after the first drive.

"Down and distance," Fisch said. "When we were ahead of the chains we were OK. We'd have a good drive, or a good four or five plays, and then we would get a negative. Or we would try to run the ball on second down and we’d lose a couple. We’d throw an incompletion on second-and-10, now it's third-and-10.

"We took two sacks on two different drives. Those things can hurt you. We took a delay of game, which is very frustrating."

De Laura completed just 23 of 45 passes for 220 yards with one touchdown. Counterpart Will Rogers was efficient, precise and patient. Rogers finished 39 of 49 for 313 yards with four TDs and one pick.

"Some ups and downs," Fisch said of de Laura's performance. "There were some good plays that he made, drove us down a bunch of times. But there were just too many critical areas that we need to improve upon. I can help him out there."

On a handful of occasions, it appeared that de Laura had room to run. He instead chose to pass, and the results weren't favorable.

"It's something we talked about," Fisch said. "I think we'll get better there. I need to do a better job in practice making sure that he recognizes that those running opportunities, when they do present themselves, to take advantage of them in a game.

"That’s on me. I think he'll continue to improve. Jayden is special player, and he will continue to lead us."

Arizona finished with 40 net rushing yards. Thirty-four came on Michael Wiley’s first-quarter touchdown run, which gave the Wildcats a 7-0 lead.

The game appeared to be slipping away in the third quarter. Mississippi State scored a touchdown on the opening possession of the half, expanding its lead to 25-10. De Laura then threw his second interception, giving the ball back to the Bulldogs.

On the next play, Rogers completed a pass to Jamire Calvin. But just as Calvin neared midfield, Jaxen Turner stripped him. Turner then scooped the ball off the turf and returned it 47 yards to the MSU 4. Two plays later, de Laura threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Cowing to make it 25-17.

"That was a great play, great hustle," UA defensive end Jalen Harris said of Turner's thievery. "At practice we preach getting the ball out. It was great to see that in the game."

The UA defense got a stop on the next possession, as Harris and Paris Shand combined for a sack of Rogers on third down. Arizona drove from its 6 to the MSU 30. But de Laura threw his third pick. Tyrus Wheat tipped the ball at the line. Nathaniel Watson grabbed it and returned it 51 yards to the UA 11. Only Jonah Coleman’s hustle kept Watson out of the end zone.

MSU turned the turnover into points on Rogers’ 4-yard pass to Austin Williams, their second TD connection of the half. That made it 32-17 with 14:17 to play.

The Wildcats took the ball away for a third time two possessions later, taking over at the MSU 31. But the offense failed to gain a first down and turned the ball over on downs.

Rogers threw his fourth touchdown pass with 3:18 remaining, making it 39-17.

Mississippi State led 18-10 at halftime. The Wildcats struggled after a hot start, but their defense did just enough to keep them within one possession heading into the locker room.

After playing a relatively clean game against San Diego State in Week 1, Arizona was plagued by mistakes in the first quarter.

With the UA holding a 7-6 lead, de Laura tried to turn a negative play into a positive one. He escaped pressure to his left, scrambled right, avoided two defenders, came back to his left and fired the ball for Cowing. Cowing leaped for the pass, but it deflected off his fingertips.

Jalen Green intercepted the ball and returned it to the Arizona 37. A penalty on de Laura for a blind-side block moved the ball to the 22. Three plays later, Rogers hit Caleb Ducking for a 9-yard touchdown. Mississippi State missed its second straight point-after attempt, making the score 12-7.

A three-and-out – which began with a high snap that led to a sack – and a poor punt again gave the Bulldogs excellent field position at the UA 40. Arizona held this time. Ben Raybon’s 39-yard field goal made it 15-7 with 40 seconds left in the opening period.

The tide began to turn in the second. UA cornerback Treydan Stukes, making his 2022 debut after sitting out the opener because of an injury, intercepted Rogers in MSU territory. Ducking couldn’t come down with Rogers’ pass, which caromed right to Stukes for his first career pick.

Arizona’s offense moved the ball only 2 yards, from the 28 to the 26, but the Wildcats caught a break when Emmanuel Forbes’ would-be interception in the end zone was reversed by replay. Tyler Loop’s 43-yard field goal, a career long, trimmed the deficit to 15-10.

The Bulldogs drove to the 2-yard line late in the first half, but the Wildcats held them to a field goal. Arizona had just enough time to get into field-goal range on the final possession, but de Laura took a 15-yard loss to push the ball back to the 47. A half-ending Hail Mary attempt fell incomplete.

"As we're building this, there's gonna be a lot of growing pains," Fisch said. "Every single day you'll see our football team improve. As long as we keep doing that, we'll be OK."

Extra points

Freshman quarterback Noah Fifita made his college debut late in the fourth quarter. He went 4 of 8 for 56 yards.
UA defensive tackle Tiaoalii Savea got banged up in the first quarter and did not return.
UA edge rusher Hunter Echols started and played the majority of the defensive snaps after missing most of the second half last week because of an upper-body injury. Echols had nine tackles, 1.5 stops for losses, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup.
MSU tailback Jo'quavious Marks suffered a lower-leg injury in the third quarter. He came back in the fourth and was charged with a lost fumble.