After 'feeling-out process,' Arizona's defense thriving in the second half this season

If Arizona's defense was, let's just say, a boxer, the Wildcats wouldn't have many first-round knockouts on their résumé.

Sometimes they'll take a jab or two to the face before settling into the fight. 

It doesn't change how effective the Wildcats have been on that side of the ball and how many wins they've accrued in the boxing ring — err, the football field. 

In the last three games of Arizona's four-game winning streak, the Wildcats were on the ropes in the early stages of the game, but pieced together masterclasses in the second half of each contest. 

Like Saturday, Arizona trailed Kansas 17-14 at halftime, but kept the Jayhawks to just six points in the second half — despite the Jayhawks dominating time of possession 19:39-10:21 in the second half — and won 24-20 to officially clinch a bowl berth. 

In Arizona's upset win over 25th-ranked Cincinnati on the road last week, the Bearcats were on pace for 560 rushing yards after the first quarter and had 140 rushing yards on just eight carries. However, Arizona's defense held the balanced Bearcats to 41 rushing yards in the second half. After trailing 14-10 at halftime against Cincinnati, the Wildcats outscored the Bearcats 20-10 to win on the road. 

Once again, Arizona found itself losing at halftime for the third consecutive game, when the Wildcats were trailing Baylor 17-14 after the Bears' elite passing attack picked up 14 first downs in the first half.

Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson, who entered Saturday with the most passing yards in college football, set the tone with a passing touchdown to Baylor's leading receiver, Josh Cameron, and a rushing touchdown.

After a pair of touchdowns by Robertson, the Bears only scored three points the rest of the way, and Robertson had 40 passing yards in the second half. Sparked by senior defensive back Treydan Stukes' interception in the end zone, Arizona scored 27 unanswered points and forced three takeaways and two fourth-down stops in the fourth quarter en route to a 41-17 win over a desperate Baylor team that's fighting for bowl eligibility.  

"For us, it was about getting back to 'redline,' our motto," said Stukes. "(Defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales) came in at half and we made some good adjustments. ... Those 50-50 plays we weren't getting in the first half, they started going our way in the second half and we started capitalizing on the momentum." 

Just four of Arizona's 11 opponents this season have more yards in the second half than the first half — two of them (Weber State and Colorado) were blowout wins that had reserves playing in the fourth quarter. 

Arizona's defense has allowed a combined 35 points in the first quarter of the Wildcats' last three wins against Kansas, Cincinnati and Baylor. After the first quarter of those games, the Wildcats have only surrendered 23 points in a combined nine total quarters — an average of 2.5 points per quarter. 

In the last three games, Arizona has forced more takeaways (3) in the fourth quarter than touchdowns allowed (1).  

Whether it's a balanced attack of Kansas or Cincinnati with big-bodied mobile quarterbacks or a high-level passing game of Baylor, which has the best passing offense in the Big 12, "there's always a little bit of a feeling-out process, but I also think coming out of halftime, the big message in the locker room at halftime was we needed to elevate our collective physicality," said Arizona head coach Brent Brennan. 

"It had to show up in all three phases," Brennan added. "When we play with that kind of physicality, it's a lot of fun to watch. I think that was the biggest difference." 

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The last three games are a microcosm of Arizona's defensive turnaround under Gonzales, who could be in serious consideration for the Broyles Award, which is given to the top assistant coach in college football.  

"I feel like it's been all year," Brennan said. "And they're in the first year of it, so there's still a learning curve for our players. They've been running this defense for less than a year, so I'm excited what the future holds with that. I'm excited what that looks like when we recruit to the scheme and we continue to develop to the scheme with Coach Gonzales' leadership and the other coaches that are on that side of the ball." 

Arizona has allowed just 84 points in the second half of 11 games this season — 36 points in the fourth quarter. Last season, Arizona gave up 159 points in the second half of 12 games — 87 points just in the fourth quarter. 

The Wildcats are allowing 3.3 points per fourth quarter and have pitched 15 scoreless quarters this season. Arizona's defense pitched 11 shutout quarters the entire season in 2024 — six of them were from two games. 

Arizona now has the sixth-best passing defense in college football after ranking 103rd in the same category last season. The Wildcats lead the Big 12 in interceptions (16) and have 23 takeaways this season.

Sometimes Gonzales' defense can be unorthodox, like his "amoeba" defense with every defensive lineman standing up like a blitzing linebacker or the 2-4-5 defense with two defensive linemen, four linebackers and five defensive backs.  

Just before Arizona linebacker Jabari Mann's 34-yard pick-six to cap the Wildcats' 27-point run in the second half, Mann and linebackers Chase Kennedy, Taye Brown and Riley Wilson stood shoulder-to-shoulder and held hands prior to the snap, simultaneously walked up to the line of scrimmage and just before the ball was snapped, Mann and Brown dropped back in coverage while Wilson and Kennedy blitzed Robertson.

The second-half adjustments and unusual lineups and blitzes have made Arizona's defense unpredictable. They'll face one of their toughest challenges of the season on Friday, when they face an Arizona State team that has the third-most rushing yards in the Big 12 this season.

The Sun Devils rushed for 355 yards and three touchdowns in their 42-17 win over Colorado on Saturday. ASU running back Raleek Brown had 22 carries for 255 yards against the Buffaloes. ASU lost star quarterback Sam Leavitt to a season-ending foot injury in October, but the Sun Devils have won the last three games since dual-threat quarterback Jeff Sims took over as the starter.

Stopping an elite rushing attack with multiple starters out on the defensive line — defensive end Tre Smith and defensive tackle Tiaoalii Savea (and potentially more) — will be Gonzales' next challenge, especially after allowing Baylor running back Caden Knighten to rush for 100 yards on Saturday, as the Wildcats round out the regular season and look to potentially become the fifth team in UA history to win at least 10 games.  

Wildcats, Devils unranked in AP Top 25

Despite a four-game winning streak and an 8-3 record, the Arizona Wildcats weren't worthy of entering the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since September of last season.

In the latest AP Top 25 Poll, the Wildcats received the 29th-most votes (20) for Week 14 of the college football season. Arizona's upcoming opponent, rival Arizona State, received the 26th-most votes for this week.

Arizona Daily Star columnist and senior writer Michael Lev had Arizona at No. 20 in his latest AP ballot, the highest among voters. No other voter had Arizona higher than No. 23.  

The College Football Playoff rankings will be announced on Tuesday at 5 p.m. on ESPN. If the Sun Devils and Wildcats are ranked in the CFP rankings, Friday will be the first Territorial Cup matchup with both teams ranked since 2014.