Arizona Aftermath: Stats, storylines and quotes from the Wildcats' blowout loss to UCF

ORLANDO — The Arizona Wildcats dropped their fifth straight game on Saturday, falling to UCF 56-12 in the Knights’ “Space Game” at FBC Mortgage Stadium.

Here are notable storylines, statistics and quotes from UCF’s thumping of Arizona — and where the Wildcats go from here.

Offense goes dark ... again

Just when Arizona’s offensive found a rhythm in the fourth quarter of a too-little, too-late loss to West Virginia last week, the Wildcats reverted back to their mercurial ways.

Arizona scored just twice in 10 drives on Saturday in Orlando, and had just one trip to the red zone after two trips last week. The Wildcats didn’t score until just before the end of the second quarter, when tight end Sam Olson caught a 23-yard touchdown with 46 seconds left until halftime.

Arizona is averaging 15.3 points in road games this season. Excluding the Alamo Bowl, the Wildcats averaged 37.2 points on the road last season.

“It goes back to the little details,” said quarterback Noah Fifita. “I know it’s getting repetitive for everyone to listen to that every week, but it’s also repetitive for us. Just the little details, penalties, taking unnecessary sacks and not being productive on first downs. I think there’s some struggles.”

Fifita had one of his best games of the season, completing 24 of 33 passes for 256 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions — his second straight game without a takeaway. Saturday was the second time Fifita had a completion rate over 70% in a UA loss; the first was last season’s triple-overtime setback to USC.

Fifita’s top two targets against UCF were wide receivers Chris Hunter, who recorded a career-high seven catches for 102 yards, and Tetairoa McMillan, who had six catches for 84 yards and a touchdown.

“Those three kids were warriors,” Brennan said of Fifita, McMillan and Hunter. “Noah stands in there and battles every game. Every game, he gives us a chance. I have so much respect for all three of those guys. It’s awesome to see Chris Hunter start to elevate. That’s something that we’ve been talking about and waiting for. We’re encouraged by that, and I think T-Mac is just a fantastic player.”

But the Wildcats were a one-dimensional offense. Arizona finished with 261 yards of total offense, but had just 5 net rushing yards against UCF, the fewest rushing yards since it had minus-13 yards against UCLA in 2006.

“It’s unacceptable across the board,” said Brennan. “We have to really dig into that and see what we’re doing schematically. Are we giving our players the best chance to effectively run the football? That’s personnel, that’s scheme, that’s coaching, that’s all of it. It starts with us as coaches and we have to give ourselves a chance to be more effective running the football.”

For the second straight game, UA senior running back Quali Conley fumbled deep in UA territory on the second drive of the game. The transfer from San Jose State “has played for us for two years and last week was his first fumble, so I trust Quali,” Brennan said.

“He’s been a good player for us all season,” said Brennan. “He knows he needs to hold on to the darn ball.”

The fumble, which happened after a rainstorm rolled in, led to UCF’s second touchdown of the day, which was a part of the Knights’ seven-touchdown streak.

Knights trample UA defense

UCF had 602 yards of total offense on Saturday, the most yards Arizona allowed since it gave up 621 to USC in 2022. Eight of UCF’s 10 drives resulted in touchdowns. The 56 points Arizona surrendered on Saturday are the most since the 70-7 loss to Arizona State in 2020.

“Any time that kind of number shows up on the scoreboard (and) in total yards, that’s a negative for your football team,” Brennan said. “That’s the harsh reality that we have to deal with. Obviously they were balanced and the quarterback played really well.”

After a five-game losing streak, the Knights changed play-callers, delegating the duties from head coach Gus Malzahn to offensive coordinator Tim Harris Jr., and quarterbacks with redshirt freshman Dylan Rizk, who became the fourth starter for UCF this season. Rizk was 20 for 25 passing for 294 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 55 yards.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

After the rain, UCF, the third-best rushing team in college football and top rushing unit in the Big 12, flexed its ground game with running back RJ Harvey, who led the Knights with 22 carries for 184 yards and three touchdowns. Dual-threat quarterback Jacurri Brown was in the mix to start this week, but the Miami transfer was mostly used as a rusher in the red zone.

Due to season-ending injuries to linebacker Jacob Manu, safety Gunner Maldonado and nickel back Treydan Stukes, the Wildcats have mostly used a dime defense with strong safety Dalton Johnson aligned in the box as a linebacker, which invited the UA’s last two opponents to run. In the last two games, Arizona has a combined 30 missed tackles, per Pro Football Focus, and allowed 511 rushing yards, including 308 on Saturday.

“I do think we had a chance with some missed tackles, so that’s something we need to evaluate as a football team,” Brennan said. “That showed up. We lost the edge a couple of times there and we missed tackles in space, and that’s something we need to do better.”

Hail Mary ‘a crushing blow’ to Cats

Even though Arizona dug itself a 28-0 hole, Olson’s touchdown and a touchdown to begin the second half would’ve pulled the Wildcats within two scores, but UCF took a 35-6 lead at halftime with a Hail Mary from Rizk to tight end Randy Pittman Jr.

“We had it executed, but that’s one of those where you gotta get the ball to the ground,” said Johnson. “That shouldn’t have been caught. We practice that each week. We practice that, but I guess we gotta practice it more. Kudos to them, they had a good plan for it. We gotta execute. A couple of us were out of assignment, including myself. I gotta be better than that.”

Brennan called the Hail Mary “a crushing blow at that moment.”

“We’re going to look at that and everyone is going to agree that we could’ve played it better,” said the Arizona coach. “That was obviously a huge play in the game — and a huge play for how the game felt.”

By the numbers

405-159: Point differential for UCF in its Space Game since starting the space-themed game. The Knights are 8-0 in the Space Game.

2: Combined missed PATs by kicker Tyler Loop in the last two games after making his first 119 attempts.

42.9: Arizona’s tackling grade for the UCF game on PFF, the lowest since the loss to Kansas State. 10: UA had 10 penalties for 100 yards.

They said it

Johnson, on leading the team despite Arizona’s struggles entering the final quarter of the season: “Our part as leaders is making sure this team stays together no matter what. We would win the next three, lose the next three, but we’re a family and it’s why we came back. Obviously this isn’t going the way we pictured it, but we’re still brothers at the end of the day. It’s family. Just making sure we all stay together as a unit.”

Brennan, on how UCF “got after us in all three phases”: “It’s totally unacceptable and we need to coach better and go through everything and get back to finding how we can execute in all three phases and play some clean football, because we did not do that tonight in any way. I think we have great coaches, I think we have great kids on this team and I think they’ll be diligent in the process of getting it right.”

Brennan, on Arizona’s defensive struggles: “I don’t know if I have a great answer for that. Not having Jacob Manu impacts the game. He’s just such a great player, but also an emotional leader. But also, at the end of the day, it’s our job as coaches to put our players in a position to where they can make plays and execute the defense or execute the offense. It doesn’t matter what phase we’re in. It’s our job to make sure they’re in the right spot.”

Looking ahead

Arizona (3-6), now one loss away from a bowl-less season, enters a bye week before facing Houston at Arizona Stadium on Nov. 15, then a road game at TCU prior to the final regular-season game against Arizona State in Tucson for the Territorial Cup.

“We feel confident,” Fifita said. “That’s been our mindset, win every game we go into. Naturally it goes up a notch, understanding that from here on out, it’s win or go home. Just continue to enjoy playing with each other, get back to work and then it’s a one-week Super Bowl from here on out.”Said Brennan: “I love this team, because they come to work every day. The hardest part is that I feel like I’m letting them down, because I love how they show up to work every week. They’re great kids and I believe in our coaching staff and I believe in our players. We have to really dig into the next two weeks to give us a chance to play better football.”

Photos: Arizona Wildcats fall 56-12 to UCF Knights, Big 12 college football

Contact Justin Spears, the Star’s Arizona football beat reporter, at jspears@tucson.com. On X(Twitter): @JustinESports