Turnovers, missing defensive starters plague Wildcats as BYU pounces on Wildcats in Provo

PROVO, Utah — Arizona’s return visit to the Beehive State to take on BYU Saturday had early shades of the program’s statement win over Utah two weeks earlier. But a potential UA upset completely turned upside down and evolved into a nightmare akin to the early-season beatdown the Wildcats took against Kansas State.

Arizona dropped its second straight game and fell to .500 on the year via a 41-19 loss to the 14th-ranked BYU Cougars Saturday afternoon in front of a sellout crowd at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

The Wildcats (3-3) have now lost four straight to BYU since 2016.

While Arizona is now 1-2 on the road this season, BYU (6-0, 3-0) is bowl eligible and atop the Big 12 standings.

A four-turnover and mild offensive performance by Arizona, coupled with multiple defensive starters missing, contributed to the romp in Provo.

"Coming in here, we knew the turnover thing was going to be a big deal," Arizona head coach Brent Brennan said. "That was something that we didn't handle great.

"There were spurts where we played good football, but just not enough, and you're not going to come in and beat a time like that when you don't play clean and protect the football," he added.

Arizona’s defense, already shorthanded with the loss of defensive backs Gunner Maldonado and Treydan Stukes, lost its ringleader on the opening drive after linebacker Jacob Manu was ejected for targeting following his tackle on BYU running back Hinckley Ropati near the Cougars’ sideline.

Without Manu, Stukes, Maldonado and nose tackle Chubba Ma’ae — Ma’ae was missing his third straight game with a leg injury — the Wildcats were down four starters on defense for the rest of the afternoon.

"I think injuries are making things a little tough on us right now," Brennan said.  

Losing Manu was "impactful, because Jacob Manu is one of the absolute leaders of this football team," Brennan said. 

"He's an emotional leader, but also an excellent football player, so I think that was impactful," added Brennan. 

Arizona was in it though, leading 7-0 early and trailing 14-7 at the half. But that quickly became a 24-7 BYU lead just two minutes into the third quarter.

To start the second half, BYU cornerback Jakob Robinson blitzed Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita, jumped and intercepted Fifita's pass attempt to set the Cougars up on the UA 9-yard line.

"With a look like that, you'd hope (Fifita would) dirt the ball to the screen player," Brennan said. "But normally he's so crafty with his arm angle, he's able to get the ball around people."

BYU's first play after that Fifita's interception — it was his second of three on the day — was a touchdown pass from quarterback Jake Retzlaff to wide receiver Chase Roberts.

Arizona's offensive breakdowns continued on the following possession, when BYU linebacker Isaiah Glasker blitzed and forced Fifita to fumble for a strip-sack at the Arizona 15-yard line. Arizona’s defense forced BYU to settle for a field goal, but the Cougars took a 24-7 lead before UA kicker Tyler Loop’s first field goal of the game. Glasker’s pick-six in the final minute was the final knockout punch for BYU’s 22-point victory.

Loop’s two field goals and running back Quali Conley’s fourth-quarter touchdown with just under three minutes to play were the only points for the Wildcats in the second half. 

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The Wildcats have eight total touchdowns in their last five games. In those five outings, Arizona has finished 30 drives inside its opponents' side of the field. Of those 30 drives, the Wildcats have scored eight touchdowns, made 12 field goals, committed four interceptions and turned the ball over on downs four times.

"When we're getting to that fringe or high red (zone), we have not effectively kicked the door down there," Brennan said. "That's where we tend to stall out. Because Tyler Loop has been so effective lots of times, we've opted to swing field goals from there. We all know you're not going to win in this league kicking field goals. We have to find a way to put ourselves in position to get first downs and score touchdowns."

Arizona has given up 42 points off six turnovers in the last two games, while Fifita now has more interceptions (9) than touchdowns (8) this season.

Fifita "is just trying to force a few things," he said.

“I gotta fix a lot of things," Fifita said. "I gotta get better individually. Not even close to where I want to be individually, and we’re not even close to where we want to be offensively and that’s because of me." 

Two weeks after forcing Utah to go 0 for 4 on fourth down, including two inside the red zone, the Wildcats had another fourth-down stop to start the game at the UA 5-yard line. BYU entered Saturday as the second-best Big 12 team — 20th nationally — in red-zone offense.

Arizona turned its first offensive possession into an 11-play, 95-yard touchdown drive that had two impactful third-down conversions, including a 39-yard completion from Fifita to star wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, which set up a 14-yard touchdown for wide receiver Montana Lemonious-Craig. The touchdown was Lemonious-Craig’s first touchdown of the season and the first since Arizona’s win over Utah last season.

After Arizona scored on its opening drive, Fifita launched a pass on possessionNo. 2 toward Lemonious-Craig at the goal line, but BYU safety Tanner Wall recovered and jumped to intercept the pass.

On the Wildcats' third drive of the day, Arizona again got inside BYU territory, but a fourth-and-1 run by Quali Conley at the Cougars’ 24-yard line was ruled short; it was initially ruled a first down following measure, but the officials reviewed the play, and Conley was barely shy of the first down.

Fifita committed four turnovers in all, including two on those first two second half possessions. Fifita ended Saturday completing 26 of 52 passes for 262 yards, a touchdown and the three interceptions. Fifita’s 50% completion rate is a career-low for the defensive starter.

McMillan caught five balls for 78 yards, and Lemonious-Craig had five catches for 43 yards. Kedrick Reescano led the UA with 48 yards rushing on nine carries, while Conley had 39 yards and one touchdown on the ground on 13 carries.

Retzlaff completed 18 of 32 pass attempts for 218 yards and two touchdowns; he also ran 28 yards on six carries. Parker Kingston both caught a 20-yard touchdown from Retzlaff and threw a 33-yard throwback touchdown pass to LJ Martin. Martin also scored once on the ground while carrying the ball 11 times for 49 yards.

To make matters more difficult amid the Wildcats' defensive lineup shuffle, Manu and Maldonado had been the UA’s designated players this season for the coach-to-player communication in helmets. Arizona signaled its play-calls to defensive end Tre Smith throughout the game.

"Obviously he's a very important player for us," Smith said of Manu. "He's a great vocal guy; he's a great leader. But at the end of the day, we all know as individuals, no matter who goes out or what happens, we all gotta step in." 

Second-year linebacker Kamuela Ka’aihue took over “Mike” linebacker duties for Manu. Arizona cornerbacks Tacario Davis and Marquis Groves-Killebrew also left the game in the second half with injuries.

Sophomore Genesis Smith started in place of Maldonado at free safety, while senior Owen Goss made his first start at Arizona at nickel back.

The only defensive starter from Arizona’s defense last season to finish the game was strong safety Dalton Johnson.

Up next for Arizona: The Wildcats host Colorado on Saturday afternoon at Arizona Stadium at 1 p.m. on Fox. The game is the UA's annual homecoming matchup.

"We're halfway through the football season and we have a ton of football left to play. We have a choice to make. We have so much football left to play," Brennan said. "My dad is not around anymore, but one of his old (sayings) was, 'Nothing is less important than the score at halftime,' but we're at halftime of the football season.

"What are we going to do with it? What are we going to do with these six opportunities?" he added. "And our teams needs to make a strong, firm choice in which direction we're going to move." 

Photos: Arizona Wildcats fall to .500 after 41-19 rout at BYU, Big 12 college football