Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch pleads with the officials after the Wildcats narrowly missed a fourth-quarter field goal in Saturday's loss to BYU. Arizona made mistakes, but the optimistic Fisch said he was happy with his team's effort.

 Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star

LAS VEGAS — At the 2016 Arizona Bowl, Nevada coach Jay Norvell showed up at a day-before-the-game press conference wearing a filthy hat, a mechanic-type blue work shirt with his name, not a Nike or Adidas logo, on a patch above the shirt pocket.

"I’m a working man," he said. "If you come to Nevada, you come to work."

After spreading a much-needed heavy layer of positivity on Arizona’s football program the last eight months, with $6 million of facility upgrades, new uniforms, a smile and clever slogan for every occasion, UA coach Jedd Fisch now moves to the Jay Norvell stage of building a winning program.

Changing tires, fixing spark plugs, getting your hands and shirt dirty.

When Fisch and his coaching staff labor through the video of Arizona’s sometimes encouraging, sometimes humbling 24-16 loss to BYU Saturday night, it will be time to shift to Stage II. What’s Stage II? Reality.

That 12-game Arizona losing streak wasn’t just some scary bedtime story, yet even after Saturday’s loss, Fisch was ever-optimistic.

"I can’t wait for Saturday’s game against San Diego State," he said. "I love our guys, I love our team. You should’ve heard our guys in the locker room. They could not wait to practice Monday."

Unlike previous UA teams, this one didn’t quit when it was down 21-3. That won’t count in the record book, but it counts in the club's belief system and its effort to rebuild from ashes.

"There was no flinching," said Fisch. "No flinch at all."

Previous UA teams would’ve surrendered. This one fought back.

Said BYU coach Kalani Sitake: "We bent a lot. Our guys were a little tired."

BYU won the game in the first half, which neutralized Arizona’s edge in total offense, 426 to 370, and the promising but far-from-perfect debut of redshirt freshman quarterback Gunner Cruz.

How did BYU win? It controlled the line of scrimmage for three quarters and took advantage of scoring opportunities. The Cougars did not make the big mistake.

The Wildcats don’t yet have enough talented players to beat BYU, not over 60 minutes, but the Cougars struggled to finish Saturday's game because the Wildcats didn't back off when others might've.

The UA’s manpower issues became so apparent early in the third quarter, trailing 14-3 with BYU driving to the Arizona 6-yard line that Wildcat defensive coordinator Don Brown called a timeout.

Have you ever seen that before? An assistant coach so torked off that he, not the head coach, stopped the game?

BYU scored on the next play anyway.

Time to change the oil and add some air pressure to the tires.

About eight years ago, as the Wildcats were building toward a 2014 Pac-12 South championship, former Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne reached a deal to add BYU to the UA’s non-conference schedules of 2016, 2018 and 2021.

Few paid much attention. Arizona had a better football program than the Cougars seven years ago. But when the series ended Saturday night in Las Vegas, the Cougars had swept all three games, which now serves as an example of how far Arizona has fallen since 2014.

Fisch deserves none of the blame for Saturday’s loss. On the UA’s first offensive possession, he was bold enough to order the Wildcats to go for a first-down on a fourth-and-1 play at Arizona’s 24-yard line.

It worked.

Arizona wide receiver Tayvian Cunningham hurdles over BYU linebacker Isaac Matua on a kick return during Saturday's third quarter.

As did another risky fourth-and-1 gamble on the opening play of the second quarter, at Arizona’s 31. Again, the Wildcats got the first down. But in retrospect, those were Arizona’s two best plays of the game. Two one-yard gains that led to nothing.

Fisch’s positivity served a purpose. It put attention on the future instead of the past. But on Saturday it was the present that prevailed.

With six minutes remaining before half, the UA’s Cruz dropped back to pass on first down from BYU’s 22. He locked in on a receiver running a crossing pattern, a receiver who was double-covered. Cruz did not see tight end Bryce Wolma wide open on the right side, near the end zone. He didn’t even look at him.

When Cruz and Fisch watch that play in Monday’s film review, they both might get sick. If you’re Arizona in 2021, you don’t get many second chances.

A few seconds later the Wildcats missed a 32-yard field goal attempt.

Was all of this inevitable? I think so.

Yet Fisch seemed to find good in the bad. "I feel really really good about the way Gunner played tonight," he said. "I want to tell you, this isn't easy. This guy's got four years of (college) football left."

Some of this could’ve been avoided had Byrne scheduled the BYU game for mid-September and opened with NAU. Fisch’s Wildcats could’ve used some break-in mileage before playing BYU on ESPN’s national platform.

Arizona quarterback Gunner Cruz shot-puts a pass out of a collapsing pocket to running back Michael Wiley. The redshirt freshman quarterback threw for 336 yards and a touchdown in his first start vs. BYU.

By Game 3, when NAU plays at Arizona Stadium, the Wildcats will have a much clearer idea of what tires need changing and if they need new shock absorbers.

For better or worse, Kansas broke its 13-game losing streak this week against South Dakota. That means Arizona’s 13-game losing streak is now the longest in Power 5 college football.

It won’t last much longer.

"I love where we’re headed," said Fisch.

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Contact sports columnist Greg Hansen at 520-573-4362 or ghansen@tucson.com. On Twitter: @ghansen711