Arizona Aftermath: Stats, storylines and quotes from the Wildcats' loss to Kansas State

MANHATTAN, Kan. — In its first major test of the season, the 20th-ranked Arizona Wildcats had a nightmarish performance in their 31-7 loss to No. 14 Kansas State on Friday the 13th at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

Arizona's loss to Kansas State is the first defeat under head coach Brent Brennan, which also snaps the UA's nine-game winning streak that dates back to last October. 

As Arizona prepares to do some soul-searching during the first bye week of the season, here are notable storylines, statistics and quotes from the UA's setback against KSU: 

Running mild while opponents run wild

Arizona's running backs and defensive line, the two position groups with the most substantial turnover in the offseason, are Jekyll and Hyde through three games. 

After losing its top three rushers from last season in Jonah Coleman, Michael Wiley and DJ Williams, the Wildcats added Quali Conley, Jacory Croskey-Merritt and Kedrick Reescano in the transfer portal with hopes of junior Rayshon "Speedy" Luke having a breakout season. 

With Croskey-Merritt out for the Northern Arizona and Kansas State games due to eligibility concerns, Reescano developing and Luke finding a role in the offense, Conley has been the workhorse running back with 250 of Arizona's 449 total rushing yards this season. 

Against Kansas State, Arizona was outrushed 235-56 — 124-12 in the second half. Luke flashed his receiving potential with two catches for 19 yards. 

"Hopefully we can find some space to get Speedy more involved in the game," Brennan said. "That's a constant conversation for us."

On the other side, Arizona replaced nine defensive linemen the year after the UA had a top-30 rushing defense. Through the first three games of the season, Arizona has surrendered 518 rushing yards combined, which ranked 101st in FBS as of Saturday evening; last season, Arizona only allowed 272 rushing yards in the first three contests. 

Two dual-threat quarterbacks Arizona faced this year, Devon Dampier (New Mexico) and Avery Johnson (Kansas State), rushed for career highs. Johnson had 110 rushing yards and averaged 6.5 yards per attempt.  

"I don't think we're the first team to have an issue with an athletic quarterback, but this guy is something different," Brennan said of Johnson.

Arizona defensive end Tre Smith said Johnson was "just doing a great job" running the football against Arizona. UA had a season-worst 17 missed tackles on Friday, according to Pro Football Focus. Arizona had a 31.7 tackling grade on PFF, the lowest grade since the Grambling State game in 2016.

"We've got to do a better job up front collectively — and myself as an individual especially," Smith said.

Added Smith: "It all comes down to little details to keep it short and simple. It's execution and it starts with the littlest details. For me specifically, it starts with my keys. I need to be looking exactly where I need to go, look at the point of attack and see if I gotta close. We just need to work on all the basic fundamentals."  

Running the football and stopping the run are two areas of concern for Arizona this season. 

"In any big-time football game, you have to be able to run the football and you have to be able to stop the run," Brennan said. "We got work to do in both of those departments." 

UA 'trying to distribute the ball more evenly'

Arizona conducted a masterful and well-balanced 14-play, 73-yard drive to start Friday night's contest, but was blanked the rest of the way.

"Credit to their defensive coordinator and their defense," said Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita, who completed 26 of 42 passes for 268 yards and an interception. "They did a fantastic job playing. They played better than us defensively than we played offensively. For me, it's controlling what I can control. I knew what I was seeing, but I have to get better in every situation. That's what this bye week is for me."

For the second time this season, Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan had the lion's share of the UA targets (40) with 14, hauling in 11 passes for 138 yards. Second-year starter Montana Lemonious-Craig had six catches for 75 yards on Friday, but the UA's other seven pass-catchers combined for nine receptions and 55 yards.   

"I take the blame," Fifita said. "I gotta play better. I gotta get the ball to my playmakers and let them play. ... This bye week, for me, is to get individually better and get more comfortable."

During training camp, when McMillan rehabbed a leg injury, Arizona slot receiver and junior college transfer Jeremiah Patterson and junior tight end Keyan Burnett emerged as productive successors to Jacob Cowing and Tanner McLachlan, but both Patterson and Burnett combined for eight catches, 86 yards and a touchdown in the nonconference schedule. 

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Brennan said Arizona is "trying to distribute the ball more evenly."

"I think that was a little bit better tonight, but I still think we can grow there," Brennan said. "Offensively, we have a lot of work to do. But if you look at the game tonight, I think we can get better in all three phases."

'Self-inflicted' penalties hindering Cats

As of Saturday, Arizona has the most penalty yards (269) in college football to go along with 28 total penalties. 

Arizona's didn't have any penalties in the first quarter on Friday, but then it accumulated nine penalties for 74 yards, including five on one offensive possession in the second quarter.

"Those wounds are self-inflicted," Brennan said. "That's the hardest part about it, because we're doing some good stuff moving the football. ... The biggest thing about our football team is that we have to be more disciplined. I think the penalty thing — especially Week 1 and tonight — is damaging. As coaches, we can be more demanding for those small technical pieces that hopefully give you a chance to avoid some of those penalties."

Arizona's penalty issue "is something we're going to work on and get it fixed across the board," Smith said.

"We're going to get it fixed," Smith said.  

By the numbers

0: Fifita threw zero touchdown passes in a game for the first time since Arizona's 44-6 win over Washington State last season. Fifita has thrown an interception in five straight games.  

3: Arizona kicker Tyler Loop became the third punter used this season. Freshman Michael Salgado-Medina and walk-on Jordan Forbes started the first two games. Loop's first punt of the night was returned by KSU running back Dylan Edwards for a 71-yard touchdown in the first half.  

24: Arizona's 24-point loss is the largest margin of defeat since its 45-20 loss to Utah in 2022. Last season, Arizona lost its three games by a combined 16 points.

They said it

Brennan, on the state of the team: "I think the biggest thing is we have a lot of football left to play and we can't lose sight of that because we lost one game. No one is more pissed off than I am. What do we do about it? How do we respond to the disappointment of this loss? To me, we have to turn to each other. As a coaching staff, we have to everything we can to put together a great game plan for Utah, and then we have to practice. ... These guys want to be good and play good football. I think they believe — and I know I believe — that we're capable and better than what we showed tonight."

Fifita, on Arizona's morale after the loss: "I think we're good. There's nobody pointing fingers, nobody is turning on each other and that's a great sign. We understand that we have two weeks to prepare for Utah, to talk about this week and especially work on ourselves and get better in every situation. I think we're doing a really good job. At the end of the day, God don't make mistakes. This isn't a mistake. The script is already written, so I'm in store to see what he has in store for this team."

Brennan, on shouldering the blame for Arizona's loss: "At the end of the day, I need to coach this team better. It all starts with me. The good news is, we have a bye, which gives us a chance to get some guys healthy and get to work on fixing the things that weren't right tonight."

Injury report

Arizona's offensive line returned to its season-opening lineup with left tackle Rhino Tapa'atoutai (leg) and center Josh Baker starting after missing the NAU game. Arizona's starting offensive line had Tapa'atoutai, left guard Wendell Moe, Baker, right guard Ryan Stewart and right tackle Jonah Savaiinaea. 

In his first full game at Arizona, Tapa'atoutai allowed six quarterback pressures and a sack, according to PFF; he had a 31.8 pass-blocking grade. Collectively, Arizona's offensive line allowed 13 quarterback pressures. 

Arizona strong safety Dalton Johnson was held out on Friday. Free safety Gunner Maldonado, who was held out last week, started in place of Johnson, with Genesis Smith starting at free safety. Nickel back Treydan Stukes exited the game in the second half and was replaced by Owen Goss, who had the worst defensive grade (31.5) on PFF among UA defenders. In pass coverage, Goss was targeted four times and allowed four receptions for 81 yards, per PFF.

Old Dominion transfer wide receiver Reymello Murphy was also held out with an undisclosed injury.  

Looking ahead 

Arizona enters a bye with a rematch of last season's blowout win over Utah at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Sept. 28. No. 12 Utah, the preseason favorite to win the Big 12, is the highest-ranked Big 12 team in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll. The 20th-ranked Wildcats could potentially fall out of the AP Top 25 for the first time since Week 10 of last season.  

Michael Lev: 5 takeaways from No. 20 Arizona’s 31-7 loss at No. 14 Kansas State

Breaking down the UA’s disappointing performance in the Little Apple, including the defense’s struggles against Avery Johnson, an offense that’s suddenly one-dimensional, Arizona’s penalty problem and more.

Kansas State's rushing attack smothers Arizona, UA suffers first loss under Brent Brennan

No. 20 Arizona suffers its first loss of the Brent Brennan era after 14th-ranked Kansas State runs all over the UA. 

Interactive report card: Check out Arizona Wildcats’ grades vs. Kansas State, then enter yours

The grades are in for the Arizona Wildcats’ 31-7 loss to Kansas State on Friday night. After checking out our grades and comments, try our int…

Photos: No. 14 Kansas State runs over No. 20 Arizona 31-7, college football