It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Then there were times that had “a lot of penalties and mental mistakes,” which caused Arizona’s offense to stall, especially in the Wildcats’ road-opening loss to Kansas State on Sept. 13.
Arizona offensive coordinator Dino Babers assessed the UA offense so far this season as “good, bad and in the middle.” Arizona recorded the eighth-most yards in a game, courtesy of wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan setting a school record with 304 receiving yards and four touchdowns. Then Arizona’s point total dropped from 61 to 22 to seven in three games.
The UA offense masterfully conducted a 14-play touchdown drive — perfectly divided between run and pass plays — to begin the Kansas State game. Arizona “opened up extremely efficient and then it went downhill from there,” Babers said, and the UA offense was blanked the rest of the game.
“We’re looking forward to seeing what is going to come out this week (against No. 10 Utah),” Babers said. “The kids have been working hard during the break and working on some of the things we thought are important for us to be consistent.”
Arizona tight end Sam Olson falls out of bounds after getting a first down during the first half of the loss to Kansas State on Sept. 13.
Arizona firmly established quarterback Noah Fifita and McMillan as arguably the best quarterback-receiver tandem in college football to start the season. While that remains true, the Fifita-T-Mac show has been the driving force of Arizona’s offense, with running back Quali Conley contributing 41 carries for 450 yards and four touchdowns.
McMillan has 33 targets this season, according to Pro Football Focus. The Wildcat with the second-most targets is Montana Lemonious-Craig (10), followed by Conley (nine), slot receiver Jeremiah Patterson (nine) and wide receiver Chris Hunter (six).
Fifita shouldered “the blame for the offensive struggles the last two weeks.”
“It all starts with my position, so I’ll take the blame for that, for sure. ... We’re trying to make these little improvements to do what we want to do,” said the Arizona quarterback.
Tight end Keyan Burnett snares a throw with a fingertip catch, running routes with receivers during spring practice.
A surprising and perhaps head-scratching development has been the tight ends seldomly used in the passing game. In training camp, junior tight end Keyan Burnett, after understudying Cincinnati Bengals rookie Tanner McLachlan for two years, looked like a matchup advantage with his 6-6, 248-pound frame.
Burnett consistently made highlight catches through traffic in the end zone and “Mossed” defenders during training camp. Burnett was trending towards a breakout season in what will most likely be the last season he shares the field with Fifita and McMillan, his two childhood friends, who signed with the UA’s culture-shifting 2022 recruiting class.
Coupled with blocking specialist and veteran tight end Roberto Miranda and San Jose State transfer Sam Olson, the Wildcats were fully prepared to rely on their tight ends.
So far this season, Arizona’s tight ends have combined for seven catches for 79 yards. Olson had one catch for 5 yards in the loss to Kansas State, while Burnett was targeted once in 24 pass plays, per PFF.
“We want Keyan and Sam and all of those guys to be more involved,” Arizona head coach Brent Brennan said. “That’s one of those deals where every game is a different game. Depending on how you’re playing or who you’re playing, sometimes those opportunities present themselves more than others. In our previous life, we’ve always been a heavy tight end-pass game football team. We definitely want to get those guys more involved.”
Burnett “had some ‘owies’ in the first two games,” Babers said, and after a bye week, “hopefully that fresh guy we saw in the spring and in August is going to show up on Saturday.”
Arizona tight end Sam Olson catches a pass for a first down during the first half of the game at Kansas State on Sept. 13.
“Those bigger bodies, you don’t have to separate horizontally, because you can separate vertically and I think that’s really important,” Babers said.
Burnett is “healthy now so that’s all that matters,” he said.
“I’m ready to go,” Burnett said. “I’m focusing on making sure I’m in the right spot and doing what the offense and Noah needs from me to get open and get more separation.”
Brennan said Arizona’s mercurial passing attack is a “combination of guys covered or if they have good coverage for it or if we’re not winning against the person we’re playing against or Noah is going somewhere else in his progression, because the guy isn’t open on time or isn’t there.”
“We’ve been diving hard into our pass game and scheme over the last 10 days,” he added. “I’m excited to see what it looks like as we keep going throughout the week.”
Arizona Wildcats tight end Keyan Burnett was supposed to be a bigger part of the offense this year, but he has only three catches for 49 yards while battling injuries. Getting him more involved could open up the entire offense.
In addition to tight ends having a role in the passing game, “we gotta get our running backs involved,” Babers said.
“If they’re going to play that much man (defense), then those linebackers need to cover our running backs as well,” said Babers.
Added Babers: “We’re going to have to play more guys. That bye week really cleaned up some of those guys so maybe we can get into a rotation.”
That could mean an elevated role for junior running back Rayshon Luke, who has four catches for 47 yards this season and lives up to the nickname “Speedy” as one of the fastest players on the team. Brennan said Arizona is hopeful to “find some space to get Speedy more involved in the game.”
“That’s a constant conversation for us,” he said after the loss to Kansas State.
Whether it’s Luke, Arizona’s tight ends or other receivers, Arizona continues its quest to distribute the ball against one of the top defenses in college football in a rowdy environment at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.
Arizona will likely need other playmakers to step up on Saturday if the Wildcats want a chance at upsetting the Utes in Salt Lake City for the first time in a decade.
Extra points
- Babers said Arizona “needed the bye week to get healthy.” Said Babers: “We’ve had some guys carrying some lumps and we needed them to get healthy. We’re healthier than we were going into the K-State game, which is good.”
- Babers, on preparing for Utah to make major changes on defense: “We have the plan and then we have the plan that no one anticipates people doing. We prepare for both of those. We can either do side A on the album or we can flip it over and do side B on the album. For all the young people out there, you’re going to have to Google what an album is.”
- Babers, on the creativity of Arizona’s offense through three games: “The biggest thing is, everyone would like to be creative, but it’s the execution part that decides whether the chains are moving or not moving. Our philosophy is we want the chains to keep moving as you go into a drive. The more plays you get, the more opportunities you have to score, the more first and second downs you have, the more downs you have to go for touchdowns. ... The big thing is execution, but we like creativity. I like icing on my cake every once in a while.”
Arizona tight end Keyan Burnett had six career catches coming to this season.
