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

Arizona cruised to a 40-6 victory over the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors Saturday and started head coach Brent Brennan’s second season on a positive note.

The Wildcats were limited and weren’t flawless, but they thumped the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors in the Dick Tomey Bowl — doing so in a way that would make the late Tomey proud: swarming defense and effectively running the football — and “redline,” Arizona’s rally cry and mantra for relentless effort.

With Arizona greats like Tetairoa McMillan, Randy Robbins, Jonah Savaiinaea, Tyler Loop and former UA basketball standout Carter Bryant in attendance — and Hannah Fields from Season 7 of “Love Island” (apparently it’s a big deal) — Saturday was a “really special night in Arizona Stadium,” Brennan said.

“We’re excited about the start, we’re excited about where we’re going,” said Arizona’s head coach. “We’ve got work to do and we know that. It was a good win for our fans, good win for our team and we’re looking forward to what’s next.”

Considering Arizona hired three new coordinators in Danny Gonzales (defense), Craig Naivar (special teams) and Seth Doege (offense), who called the game from the coach’s booth in the press box, we’ll examine how all three phases of the game went for the Wildcats on Saturday.

Turnovers galore

If Martin Brody (played by Roy Scheider) from “Jaws” watched Arizona-Hawaii on Saturday, he’d probably recommend the Wildcats needing a bigger turnover sword.

Arizona stacked five footballs on its turnover prop to celebrate five takeaways — three interceptions and two fumble recoveries.

It’s the most takeaways in a game for Arizona since the Alamo Bowl in 2023, when it tallied six.

Former defensive end Chase Kennedy, now at linebacker, strip-sacked Hawaii quarterback Micah Alejado, which was converted into a 54-yard rushing touchdown by Portland State transfer running back Quincy Craig, who rushed for a game-high 125 yards and a touchdown on seven carries. Kennedy’s takeaway, followed by Craig’s touchdown, sparked the Wildcats to out-score Hawaii 33-3 to end the game.

Hawaii’s second-half possessions resulted in back-to-back punts, an interception, turnover on downs, a fumble recovery by defensive lineman Julian Savaiinaea and interceptions by linebacker Taye Brown, nickel back Gavin Hunter — making his first-career start over the recovering Treydan Stukes — and backup safety Jack Luttrell.

“Any time you go 5-0 in the turnover battle, you’re going to be in great shape in that football game,” Brennan said. “That was outstanding. I loved the way our defensive backs were triggering and showing up physically. That moment of recognition and exploding to the football and getting there with bad intentions, I thought we saw some of that, which is fun.”

Arizona’s defense consistently corralled Alejado and Hawaii’s rushers and held the Rainbow Warriors to 2.3 yards per rush — 3.8 yards per play — after having one of the worst rushing defenses in the Big 12 last season.

Hawaii had moments where it chipped away at Arizona’s defense and the Rainbow Warriors dominated time of possession (35:44-24:16) and ran 20 more plays than the Wildcats, but Arizona’s defense made plays in crucial moments and played its first five-sack, five-takeaway performance since the Grambling State game in 2016. Seven Wildcats contributed to the sack total on Saturday. The Wildcats had 23 points off Hawaii’s five turnovers.

“It’s huge,” Arizona defensive end Tre Smith said of the Wildcats’ five-takeaway game. “It’s not something people think about in the game of football, the battle of momentum. That can change the game. It’s really about stacking positive responses.”

For Arizona, it’s about stacking footballs on a sword, too.

Pounding the rock

The conversation of Arizona’s offense starts with quarterback Noah Fifita, but the Wildcats’ rushing attack was the catalyst to the offense against Hawaii.

Led by Craig, starter Kedrick Reescano and Texas State transfer Ismail Mahdi, the Wildcats had 183 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns, the most since the season opener against New Mexico last season.

Reescano’s 13-yard touchdown in the first quarter set the tone for the Doege era. Craig, Mahdi and Fifita also scored rushing touchdowns, which was Fifita’s first since the West Virginia contest last season.

“I think the running backs performed great,” Craig said. “We all found our way into the end zone, which is absolutely exciting. ... Establishing the run game is a big part of football. If you’re able to do that, it opens up some passes. It opens up a lot of things. We have a great running back room and we always come ready to play.”

It’s the most yards for Craig since he rushed for 137 yards against Northern Colorado last season. During training camp, Craig emerged as a do-everything running back and is arguably that position group’s best pass-blocker and receiver. On Saturday, he was their best rusher.

“I don’t think Quincy’s success surprised any of us,” said Brennan. “Even for you guys who have been at practice with some frequency, you’ve seen him be really, really dynamic running the football. He had an incredible week of practice and it showed up on game day. I think it’s one of those examples where preparation meets opportunity, and he made the most of it.”

Brennan said “all three backs ran hard” against Hawaii’s defense that “is always plus-one in the run game and they’re always trying to out-number you in the run game.”

“We knew some of those runs our backs were going to be one-on-one with a linebacker or a safety and he was going to have to make him miss or break a tackle, so I thought there was good physicality,” Brennan said. “I’m encouraged. It’s not perfect, but that’s OK, it’s Game 1. We came away with a win and I feel great about that.”

Special teams standouts

For the first time in 1,386 days, someone not named Tyler Loop made a field goal for Arizona.

In his first start at placekicker, sophomore Michael Salgado-Medina made both of his field-goal attempts, including a game-high 52-yard field goal.

“It was great to see him drill that 52-yarder,” Brennan said. “That was so exciting for him.”

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Salgado-Medina also started at punter and averaged just under 43 yards per attempt, with one punt landing inside the 20-yard line. Salgado-Medina’s only blunder of the night was a 32-yard punt out of bounds in the third quarter. Australian transfer Isaac Lovison had one attempt for 37 yards.

Sierra Vista native and Illinois State transfer Ian Wagner had eight kickoff attempts on Saturday — all of them were touchbacks.

Arizona punt returner Jeremiah Patterson, who averaged 5.6 yards per return last season, returned the opening punt 41 yards to the Hawaii 47-yard line. Following Patterson’s return, the Wildcats put together a four-play touchdown drive over 1:21 that was capped by Reescano’s touchdown run.

“He’s really playing with a lot of confidence,” Brennan said of Patterson. “That position takes a lot of courage. That first punt of the game, to see him explode like that and bring that thing back to midfield, which led to points, was really exciting.”

Arizona’s defense forced a three-and-out to start the game, Patterson set up the offense inside Hawaii territory with his return and the offense scored a touchdown. That’s sequential football.

By the numbers

34: Arizona’s 34-point win marked the first 30-plus-point victory without surrendering a touchdown to an FBS opponent since the Toledo game in 2010.

6: Fifita’s touchdown pass to tight end Sam Olson put him at 45 career touchdowns, tied for the sixth-most in program history. Fifita also has the sixth-most career passing yards (6,166). Arizona safety Dalton Johnson had his sixth double-digit tackling performance. Johnson led the Wildcats with 10 tackles.

5: Fifita’s 161-yard performance marked the fifth start he’s thrown for under 200 yards. Fifita completed 13 of 23 passes (57%), but didn’t throw an interception.

20: Quarterback pressures by Arizona’s defense, according to Pro Football Focus. Arizona’s offensive line allowed 10 pressures.

1,023: Days since Alejado’s last interception. The last time Hawaii’s quarterback threw an interception was on Nov. 11, 2022, when he was a junior at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas.

8: The Big 12 went 8-0 on Saturday, with an average margin victory of 38.5 points. According to OptaStats, the Big 12 is the last FBS conference in the last 40 years to go undefeated with an average margin of victory of 35-plus points in a single day.

They said it

Tre Smith, on Arizona’s aggressive mindset: “It’s a mentality we’ve been practicing. It didn’t just happen overnight.”

Brennan, on the team’s execution: “The execution piece, I think we have a little bit of work to do. I’m excited to look at this film, go to work and we’ll be accountable for what we want it to be and the level we want it to be at. But at the end of the day, this was a win for our football team, it was a win for our fans and it was a great night at Arizona Stadium.”

Smith, on execution: “You want to suffocate the opponents. Lack of execution allows for hope. ... We just gotta be on top of it and make these areas right.”

Brennan, on Fifita’s distribution: “There was some good distribution there, and I think there’s room to grow. I think we can continue to develop there and continue to move the football effectively throwing it.”

TNT play-by-play broadcaster J.B. Long, to analyst Mike Golic Jr., who ate his first-ever Sonoran hot dog from Sir Veza’s during the broadcast: “I’m sorry you only get one. My M.O. with Sonoran hot dogs, it’s like scoring a touchdown when you’re down eight (points): you gotta go for two.”

Injury Report

Arizona had a CVS receipt-sized list of players who were held out on Saturday.

The most notable absences: Stukes, Washington State transfer wide receiver Kris Hutson, tight end Keyan Burnett, linebacker Riley Wilson and cornerback Marquis Groves-Killebrew. Stukes is still recovering from a knee injury he suffered in Arizona’s Big 12 opener against Utah last September.

In place of Stukes, Hunter made his first-career start for the Wildcats. Hunter’s father, Alfred Hunter, played for the Rainbow Warriors in the 1990s.

Arizona offensive lineman Rhino Tapa’atoutai dressed out and was active, but didn’t play. Tapa’atoutai suffered a knee injury against Colorado in October and missed the second half of the 2024 season. With Tapa’atoutai on the sideline, Arizona’s starting offensive line was Texas Tech transfer left tackle Ty Buchanan, converted tackle Michael Wooten at left guard, Hawaii transfer center Ka’ena Decambra, redshirt sophomore right guard Alexander Doost and Michigan transfer Tristan Bounds at right tackle.

Tight end Tyler Powell limped off the field after the first play and missed the remainder of the game. Powell was seen on the sideline with a leg brace and a crutch. With Powell and Burnett sidelined, Olson and Cameron Barmore played a lion’s share of the snaps at tight end.

“Tyler Powell, we don’t know anything about it yet, but we’re hopeful that we get good news there,” Brennan said.

Brennan is “optimistic Keyan Burnett will be available soon,” he said.

“Hopefully Tyler will be, too, but we’ll see how that plays out,” he added.

Alejado, who suffered an ankle injury last week against Stanford, left in the second half and was replaced by backup Luke Weaver, who threw for 66 yards and two interceptions on Saturday.

Looking ahead

Arizona (1-0) will face the Weber State Wildcats (0-1), which lost to James Madison 45-10 on Saturday. The battle of the Wildcats at Arizona Stadium is on Saturday at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

Photos: Arizona opens at home with a 40-6 win over Hawaii