Arizona's comeback bid falls short, Wildcats drop fourth straight game after losing to West Virginia

The Arizona Wildcats fought.

They clawed.

They nearly overcame an 18-point deficit, but the UA dropped its fourth straight game, falling to the West Virginia Mountaineers 31-26 on Saturday. 

Although the Wildcats (3-5) scored the most points since their season-opening win, Arizona fell just short. West Virginia (4-4) snapped its two-game losing skid to move to .500. 

"I was really proud of the fight," said first-year Arizona head coach Brent Brennan. "I loved how we battled in the fourth quarter. ... Everyone is devastated, as you can imagine they would be, because we feel like we had an opportunity to get that done and we didn't get it done."

The Wildcats lost their previous two games by a combined 75-26. Even though the Wildcats lost by one possession on Saturday, Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita doesn't look at moral victories. 

"Every loss hits the same for the most part. It hurts," said Fifita. "But the only thing we can do now is come back (Sunday), come back on (Monday) and get ready for the next one."

Arizona's defense — with three starters out due to season-ending injuries in linebacker Jacob Manu and defensive backs Treydan Stukes and safety Gunner Maldonado — held West Virginia to field-goal attempts on its first two drives, but the Mountaineers' second try was a fake field goal, resulting in holder Leighton Bechdel running for a 14-yard touchdown. Fellow Big 12 foes Texas Tech and BYU ran successful fake field goals earlier on Saturday. The Mountaineers led 10-0 after the first quarter.

"They got us on that," Brennan said of the fake field goal. "They schemed us. We were going for the heavy block look there and we were short on that side of the formation, so credit to them and their coaching staff."

Arizona cut into West Virginia's lead with a 14-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that chewed up nearly eight minutes of game play. Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, who was only targeted five times against Colorado last week, ended Saturday with 10 catches for 202 yards and a touchdown. McMillan is the only player in UA history with three games with over 200 receiving yards. 

In Arizona's first-half scoring drive, McMillan caught a screen pass from quarterback Noah Fifita, cut across the field and before passing the line of scrimmage, connected with Fifita near the WVU sideline for a 14-yard gain. 

After fumbling on the opening drive at the WVU 19-yard line, UA senior running back Quali Conley capped the scoring drive with a 1-yard touchdown, his seventh touchdown of the season.

Arizona displayed creativity and balance in its touchdown drive with eight runs and six passes.

Then, like most of the season, the Wildcats stalled on offense and punted on three of their following four drives (the other drive ended the first half). Arizona had four straight drives end on its own side of the field. 

The Mountaineers extended their lead to 24-7 after quarterback and former Chandler Hamilton star Nicco Marchiol, who started in place of the injured Garrett Greene, threw a 3-yard touchdown in the back of the end zone to Hudson Clement. On fourth-and-1 on Arizona's 20-yard line, West Virginia running back C.J. Donaldson bursted his way for a touchdown.

West Virginia converted all four of its fourth-down conversions on Saturday. The Mountaineers were 7 for 15 on third-down plays — and one of them was kneel-down to end the game. On two third-and-9 plays, including one on the final drive, WVU had a 15-yard and 17-yard completion to extend drives. 

Three of West Virginia's touchdowns were on fourth-down plays. 

"We just gotta get off the field," said senior defensive back Owen Goss, who finished with six tackles. "Coach always preaches getting off the field and we didn't do that tonight. Back to the drawing board."

Brennan said Arizona's struggles to get off the field "is a combination of can we get to the quarterback and can we hold up on the back end?" Also, the Wildcats are utilizing developing underclassmen who have been thrusted into leadership roles, like redshirt freshman free safety Jack Luttrell, sophomore linebacker Taye Brown and sophomore defensive back Genesis Smith. It's "a bunch of guys that are playing are in this race to maturity," Brennan said.

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"Some of those pieces we've counted on for so long here for so long ... aren't available to us," Brennan said. "Those young guys have to continue to accelerate that. Hopefully some of those tough lessons they learned will pay off next weekend."

The Wildcats had three offsides penalties after West Virginia "was really creative with their cadence, and did a heck of a job with poise in their offensive front," Brennan said. 

“That’s still not OK," Brennan said. "That’s still crazy. We need to be better than that. We can’t have three offsides penalties in the same game.”

Arizona stopped the bleeding with just under four minutes left of the third quarter with a 23-yard touchdown pass from Fifita over the middle to tight end Sam Olson, his first touchdown as a Wildcat since transferring from San Jose State. Kicker Tyler Loop missed his first-career PAT. Loop was 119 for 119 in three-plus seasons. 

"I know he was frustrated with it, so I'll find out," Brennan said.

West Virginia took another three-possession lead after Marchiol's 54-yard touchdown pass to Traylon Ray, who ran a post route past safety Dalton Johnson with Luttrell missing the tackle. 

The Wildcats answered with a 34-yard touchdown from Fifita to McMillan, a drive that put McMillan over 3,000 career receiving yards. McMillan is just one of four Wildcats all-time to have over 3,000 receiving yards. 

Trailing 31-19, McMillan snagged a 49-yard bomb over the middle to the WVU 12-yard line, then nearly made his second-career touchdown pass after catching a screen and throwing the ball back to a wide-open Fifita, who dropped the pass.

"That was T-Mac being instinctive," Brennan said.

On the following play, Fifita scrambled and ran in for his first rushing touchdown as a Wildcat.

"When you see Noah make that play and get in, it tells you what type of competitor he is," Brennan said. "That's one of those things that makes him really special."

Arizona scored touchdowns on its final three drives of the game, which Fifita said "was probably the best rhythm we felt in a while."

"Just trying to carry that on. Still lots to learn from it," said Fifita. "Gotta be able to start faster and help our defense out. I'll continue to take responsibility for it."

With 4:35 remaining, ahead 31-26, West Virginia converted on two third-down plays and ran out the clock to win. The Mountaineers had a 35:04-24:56 advantage in time of possession and had 203 rushing yards. It's the first time Arizona allowed over 200 rushing yards since the loss to Kansas State in September.

"I think we have a chance to have a good football team. We just can't prove it yet," Brennan said. "That's the hardest pill to swallow." 

Extra points:

• With left tackle Rhino Tapa'atoutai out for the season, Arizona shuffled its offensive line Jonah Savaiinaea started at left tackle, with left guard Alexander Doost, center Josh Baker, right guard Wendell Moe Jr. and right tackle Michael Wooten making his first collegiate start.  
• Arizona defensive tackle Isaiah Johnson, who injured his leg during pregame warmups last week, was held out on Saturday. Offensive lineman Ryan Stewart also missed Saturday. Nose tackle Chubba Ma'ae missed his fifth straight game with a leg injury.  
• Scouts from the New Orleans Saints, Las Vegas Raiders and Denver Broncos were in attendance. 
• Honorary captains for Saturday were former Wildcats Scooter Sprotte and Jake Sprotte. The Sprotte brothers were standout linebackers for the Wildcats in the 1990s under head coach Dick Tomey. 
• Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark attended the Arizona-West Virginia game at Arizona Stadium.

Photos: University of Arizona Wildcats get edged by West Virginia 31-26, Big 12 football