The good, the bad and the ugly from Arizona's win over the Colorado Buffaloes

BOULDER, Colo. — After dropping the last two games in nail-biting fashion, the Arizona Wildcats got back on the winning track with a 52-17 win over the Colorado Buffaloes at Folsom Field this past Saturday.

Arizona ended its road skid at five games dating back to last season — the Wildcats hadn’t won a road contest in 403 days.

With four games remaining, Arizona (5-3) is on the cusp of qualifying for a bowl appearance for the third time in the last decade.

As the Wildcats turn their attention to a potential bowl-clinching game against the Kansas Jayhawks for homecoming, here’s a look back on the good, the bad and the ugly from Arizona’s dominant victory over the Buffaloes.

The good

It wasn’t perfect every step of the way, but Arizona played complementary football on all three phases.

The Wildcats set the tone by receiving the opening kickoff and jumping on the Buffaloes early with a highlight touchdown by wide receiver Tre Spivey, who caught a screen pass and avoided five tackles for a 57-yard touchdown run. Spivey has found the end zone seven times on just 12 touches this season.

Arizona’s defense forced a three-and-out on Colorado’s first possession and then went up 10-0 after a 49-yard field goal by kicker Michael Salgado-Medina.

Arizona’s defense forced its first takeaway of the night after linebacker Chase Kennedy strip-sacked Colorado quarterback Kaidon Salter, which was recovered by defensive tackle Leroy Palu on the Colorado 12-yard line. On the ensuing play, Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita completed a 12-yard pass in the corner of the end zone to wide receiver Kris Hutson, who has become one of Fifita’s top targets recently with 18 catches for 199 yards and two touchdowns in the last three games.

“Any takeaway in a football game is a momentum-changer,” said Arizona head coach Brent Brennan.

Added Brennan: “Just really exciting to get that momentum and capitalize on it.”

Arizona cornerback Jay’Vion Cole, who had a forced fumble and interception in the second half, said Kennedy and Palu’s takeaway “set the tone for us.”

“A big play in the first quarter of the game, it sets the tone for the team,” Cole said.

Arizona excelling at every facet of the game snowballed into the Wildcats grabbing a 45-7 lead and never looking back.

Fifita “operated at a really high level” and completed 11 of 19 passes for 213 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. Fifita is one of six FBS quarterbacks to pass for four-plus touchdowns in three games this season.

With Fifita at quarterback, the Wildcats scored 52 points in 39 plays and had six drives of five or fewer plays. Arizona also had second-half rushing touchdowns from Ismail Mahdi and Kedrick Reescano, who both combined for eight carries for 107 yards and two touchdowns on Saturday.

“Shoot, that’s what I hope to see. I think (offensive coordinator Seth Doege) has done a great job — and our offensive staff — just preparing those guys,” Brennan said. “But those players gotta be able to make the plays when given the opportunity to do so. That was really exciting and really fun.”

In Big 12 play this season, Fifita has passed for 1,330 yards, 15 touchdowns and four interceptions. Fifita is currently third in the Big 12 in passing yards (2,042) and touchdowns (21). He passed his touchdown total from last season (18).

Fifita’s four touchdown passes against Colorado were to different receivers in Spivey, Hutson, Javin Whatley and freshman Gio Richardson.

In Fifita’s first season without longtime teammate and best friend Tetairoa McMillan, who’s arguably the best receiver in UA history and is now in his rookie season with the Carolina Panthers, the Arizona quarterback is distributing the football.

Nine different receivers have caught touchdown passes this season, which is two more than Arizona had all of last season. Fifita needs three more touchdown passes to pass Nick Foles and Willie Tuitama for the most career touchdown passes in school history.

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“More guys are making plays now, which is exciting,” Brennan said. “Any time we can be that explosive in the pass game, we become incredibly hard to defend. ... And Noah Fifita, just brilliant.”

Arizona’s offense benefited from the efforts of its defense. The Wildcats had three interceptions from Cole, safety Dalton Johnson and cornerback Ayden Garnes, who recorded his first interception since his last season at Duquesne in 2023. Johnson entered this season with just one interception in his career and now has two this season.

With just under four minutes left in the third quarter, Cole forced Colorado wide receiver Sincere Brown to fumble, which was scooped up by free safety Genesis Smith and returned 44 yards to the Colorado 4-yard line.

“As far as the defensive side, I felt like we got back to doing what we do originally and what got us to the four wins that we had in the past, which is running to the ball, playing physical and details in everything that we do,” Cole said.

Arizona had seven drives start inside Colorado territory, with four of them starting inside the red zone. The average drive for Arizona started at its own 49-yard line, while Colorado’s average drive start was at the CU 29-yard line.

Arizona scored 21 points off five turnovers, which could’ve been 24 if Salgado-Medina had made his 30-yard field goal attempt in the third quarter. The Wildcats also forced two turnovers on downs. Arizona has the fourth-best fourth-down defense in the Big 12, allowing nine conversions on 19 attempts (47.4%).

“Any time you get positive field position from a turnover or a big punt return or just any of that stuff, it definitely changes the game,” Brennan said. “Shorter fields are better than long fields, so I thought that was great.”

The bad

Once Arizona pulled its starters in the third quarter, the Wildcats didn’t score and had two turnovers on downs and a fumble by freshman running back Cornelius Warren.

Backup quarterback Braedyn Locke was 0-for-6 passing against Colorado. The Wisconsin transfer has struggled in his three appearances this season. Locke is 5-for-15 passing (33%) for 68 yards, no touchdowns and an interception this season.

Locke’s first pass attempt was slightly behind Richardson for an incompletion, and he was nearly intercepted by CU defensive back Ivan Yates. Colorado defensive end Keaten Wade forced Locke to fumble, which was returned by linebacker Reginald Hughes for a touchdown, but officials ruled it an incomplete pass after review.

Colorado cycled through four different quarterbacks and found a spark in freshman Julian Lewis, who passed for 121 yards and a touchdown in the second half. The Buffaloes’ only two big passing plays (15-plus yards) were in the second half.

“Our biggest thing, especially going up big on the road in the Big 12, is finishing,” Cole said. “We didn’t do a great job of that today. They’re a great football team that gave us a challenge, honestly. We just need to work on finishing in the future.”

The ugly

The Buffaloes had plenty of opportunities to strike back on Saturday, but penalties plagued Colorado, especially in the first half.

An ineligible receiver penalty nixed a 75-yard touchdown pass from Salter to Brown in the second quarter; Colorado also had an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for “brandishing a weapon” on the same play.

Fifita threw what would’ve been his fifth interception of the season — first since the double-overtime loss to BYU — but a roughing-the-passer penalty on CU defensive end Arden Walker gave the Wildcats another life, but Arizona ended up punting.

CU safety Tawfiq Byard was ejected in the fourth quarter for targeting after tackling UA wide receiver Devin Hyatt.

Colorado had 14 penalties for 110 yards on Saturday.

“It’s probably a record since I’ve been here,” said Colorado third-year head coach Deion Sanders. “It don’t make sense, especially when I think we’ve been rated in the Top 25 or whatever in penalties this season. We’ve been doing good. Today was just horrible penalty-wise. No discipline.”