This summer, each member of the Star sports team will assemble a list of the five most memorable Arizona games they’ve covered since joining the beat. This week, Justin Spears is reflecting on five football and men’s basketball games:
Spears’ No. 2:
Northern Arizona upsets Arizona in Jedd Fisch’s inaugural season as head coach
What went down: NAU took down Arizona 21-19 in Tucson for the first time in nearly nine decades on Sept. 18, 2021.
What we wrote at the time: Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse for Arizona football, this happened:
The Wildcats lost to NAU. The FCS school the UA pays to come to Tucson to play. The school the UA hadn’t lost to since 1932.
If the 70-7 Territorial Cup blowout against Arizona State in 2020 was rock bottom for the program, this was a close second.
The final score was NAU 21, Arizona 19. That is not a typo.
Arizona wide receiver BJ Casteel (5) reacts as his apparent two-point conversion catch is called incomplete late in the fourth quarter against NAU in 2021.
“Very disappointing,” said first-year UA coach Jedd Fisch, whose team fell to 0-2. “Credit to NAU. They came in here, they battled, they had a good plan. They did a lot of good things. They stayed with it.
“Our players are hurting right now. We’ve got a very upset locker room.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us, and we’ve got to get back to work immediately.”
At least not that many people bore witness to one of the worst losses in the history of UA athletics. Saturday’s game was televised by Pac-12 Networks, and the announced attendance was 33,481 — the first crowd under 35,000 for a UA home game since Arizona Stadium’s capacity increased to 50,000 in 1976 (not including 2020, when fans weren’t allowed to attend games because of the pandemic).
The defeat extended Arizona’s school-record losing streak to 15 games. It’s the longest losing streak in the nation, and it’s hard to find any likely victories on the horizon. The Wildcats open Pac-12 play next week at No. 4 Oregon.
Northern Arizona head coach Chris Ball, soaking wet from a water dump, jumps for joy as the Lumberjacks upset instate rivals Arizona 21-19, in September 2021.
“We don’t accept losing,” Fisch said. “We are not in this, working as hard as we work, to lose. We have to be better, and we’re working to be better.
“We need to come up with some wins. We need to compete. We need to keep battling.
“But we also have to stay the course. We also have to understand that we’re in a situation here where we’re trying to build something special for the long haul. ... But doing that, we’re going to go through some bumps and bruises early on.”
Like Arizona, NAU entered Saturday night 0-2. The Lumberjacks had been outscored 76-23 by Sam Houston and South Dakota.
“It’s embarrassing,” said veteran receiver Stanley Berryhill III, who had a game-high 11 catches for 94 yards. “You don’t want to lose to what most people consider your little brother up north. NAU is an FCS school, and they’re a great school. But it’s been 15-1, now 15-2, in the last 17 (meetings).”
The last time NAU beat Arizona — on Oct. 29, 1932 — the school in Flagstaff was known as the Northern Arizona State Teachers College. The final that day was 7-6.
Since then, the Wildcats had won 14 consecutive meetings. They scored 62-plus points in each of the previous three matchups.
— Michael Lev
Player of the game: Ironwood Ridge High School graduate and NAU linebacker Harrison Beemiller led the Lumberjacks with 10 tackles and 4.5 stops for loss. The Tucson native gets the nod over Brady Shough, who had a 28-yard pick-six to cut UA”s lead to 13-7 at halftime, which NAU head coach Chris Ball said, “really changed the momentum of the game and really set off to our players that they can win the game.”
By the numbers: 363, yards of total offense Arizona had to NAU’s 240. Arizona quarterbacks Will Plummer and Jordan McCloud passed for 257 yards, while NAU backup freshman quarterback RJ Martinez completed 11 of 16 passes for 88 yards, one touchdown and an interception.
The aftermath: The Wildcats lost five additional games before ending their losing streak at 20 games when Arizona beat Cal 10-3 in Tucson. Cal was short-handed with a plethora of starters sidelined with COVID-19, including starting quarterback Chase Garbers, but the Wildcats dealt with several injuries, including Plummer, who went to the locker room twice for injury but still finished the game. Arizona ended the first year of the Fisch campaign with a 1-11 record. After an influx of talent that elevated the Wildcats’ passing offense to sixth in the nation, Arizona went 5-7 in 2022.
Northern Arizona defensive back Devontae Ingram (15) gets ahold of Arizona wide receiver Stanley Berryhill III (1) by his face mask while dragging him down after a catch in the second quarter of NAU's eventual win over the Wildcats two years ago.
Personal reflections: At the end of the game, the press box was muted until the NAU assistant coaches jumped out of the coach’s room and celebrated with profanity-laced cheers, yelling, “It’s (expletive) personal” and “We own this (expletive) state.” That’s when it set in: The honeymoon is over. Fisch spent the entire offseason generating positive buzz for the program and selling hope at Arizona to current players, recruits, fans and boosters. Former UA superstar and future gold jacket recipient Rob Gronkowski returned to campus for the first time in a decade for the spring game — and set a world record for catching a football dropped over 600 feet from a helicopter. All was good until it wasn’t. You. Don’t. Lose. To. NAU. No matter how much the previous regime gutted the program. Top-shelf high school recruits, coupled with talented transfer portal additions, changed the trajectory of the program this past season. Over a year after losing to its in-state counterpart, Arizona went on the road to beat a top-15 opponent. And not just any opponent, but an FBS one.
Cover 5: Relive the entire list of Justin Spears most memorable games on the Arizona beat
This summer, each member of the Star’s sports team will count down the five most memorable Arizona games they’ve covered since joining the beat. Here's Nos. 1-5 from Justin Spears.
This summer, each member of the Star sports team will count down the five most memorable Arizona games they’ve covered since joining the beat. Here's Justin Spears' No. 1. — Arizona State drubs Arizona 70-7 for Territorial Cup, ends Kevin Sumlin’s tenure as head coach
This summer, each member of the Star sports team will assemble a list of the five most memorable Arizona games they’ve covered since joining the beat. This week, Justin Spears is reflecting on five football and men’s basketball games. Here's No. 2 — Northern Arizona upsets Arizona in Jedd Fisch’s inaugural season as head coach
This summer, each member of the Arizona Daily Star sports team will assemble a list of the five most memorable Arizona Wildcats games they've covered since joining the beat. This week, Justin Spears will reflect on five football and men's basketball games. Here's No. 3 — Buffalo upsets Deandre Ayton-led Arizona in first round of NCAA Tournament
This summer, each member of the Arizona Daily Star sports team will assemble a list of the five most memorable Arizona Wildcats games they've covered since joining the beat. This week, Justin Spears will reflect on five football and men's basketball games. Here's No. 4 — Arizona ends six-year Territorial Cup drought, beats Arizona State
This summer, each member of the Star sports team will assemble a list of the five most memorable Arizona games they've covered since joining the beat. This week, Justin Spears will reflect on five football and men's basketball games. Here's No. 5 — Arizona outlasts Washington in Pac-12 Tournament before pandemic shuts down season
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