Hard knocks in Ames: Arizona Wildcats, QB Noah Fifita learn from loss to No. 14 Iowa State

Last season, a loss for the Arizona Wildcats had a sky-is-falling vibe in the locker room and around the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility in the days after.

The Wildcats were “outcome-focused” instead of “process-focused,” according to Arizona head coach Brent Brennan. Even the wins last season didn’t leave the Wildcats with an encouraging feeling.

“This is a much different team,” Brennan said during his weekly news conference on Monday following Arizona’s 39-14 loss to No. 14 Iowa State in Ames.

“I’m excited to see how we respond in practice (on Tuesday),” added Brennan, as the Wildcats prepare to host Oklahoma State for their Big 12 home opener. “That’s what I want to see.”

Arizona defensive back Treydan Stukes said Arizona’s loss 25-point loss — the Wildcats’ first setback of the season — “is the best thing we could’ve asked for.”

“It’s easy to be out in front when things are going good, but when you get your butt kicked, we’ll see how the team is going to respond,” Stukes said. “We’ll see how we go about our work this week and get back out there next Saturday to get it done.”

Added Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita: “It’s one game. Obviously, you want to win them all, but that’s one game in a 12-game season, so we gotta be able to bounce back and see how fast we can get back to redline.”

Fifita takes pride in accountability. It’s why the quarterback only talks to the media after losses and defers to his teammates to speak to reporters after wins. Even when offensive coordinator Seth Doege took the blame for Arizona’s performance against Iowa State, Fifita pushed back.

“Respectfully, I disagree,” Fifita said of Doege taking the blame. “I didn’t make him right in any situations. I gotta be a lot better for him and a lot better for the offense.”

Fifita completed 32 of 48 passes (67%) for 253 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions against Iowa State. His two interceptions were the first thrown this season — and his first multi-interception game since the BYU game last October. Coupled with two turnover on downs, the Wildcats had four turnovers against Iowa State. The Wildcats were a combined 5-for-16 on third- and fourth-down conversions.

Fifita’s first interception was a pass to wide receiver Tre Spivey on a post route, but ISU cornerback Jontez Williams, in cover two defense, peeled off and read Fifita to make the interception — a case of good offense, better defense.

“It’s a play that Noah has been able to complete with high percentages over time this season,” Brennan said.

Brennan said Fifita was “moved off his spot and I think he missed a couple of throws” against the Cyclones, and was “moving around a little bit too much.”

“That was frustrating and disappointing,” Brennan said. “Knowing Noah Fifita, he’s going to dive into the process that’s going to give him a chance to make those throws, because no one cares about this football team and football program than he does.”

Several throws to Chris Hunter and Javin Whatley, who lead the Wildcats in receiving this season, were behind or overthrown, albeit Saturday was the second time this season that Arizona had a full deck at receiver.

Kris Hutson, who had six catches for 67 yards and a touchdown against Iowa State, only played in the win over Weber State prior to Saturday. Hunter, Arizona’s second-leading receiver on Saturday, missed the season opener against Hawaii.

Fifita’s timing and “chemistry is an ongoing thing” with Arizona’s receivers, Brennan said.

“Those guys invested a ton of time in the offseason in terms of throwing and catching and doing a lot of that work on their own,” Brennan said. “There’s nothing that simulates the speed of the game. ... When you’re playing a Top 15 team on the road, you can’t turn the ball over four times. You can’t not execute on third down on either side of the ball at a level that’s good enough to give you a chance to win. You have to play clean and we didn’t do that.”

Arizona, which entered Saturday as one of the most penalized teams in the Big 12, only had two penalties at Iowa State, “but it still wasn’t good enough,” said Brennan.

“In that game, there were huge momentum swings and opportunities for us to respond collectively in the right way,” Brennan said. “We didn’t support each other. That part of it was really frustrating.”

The silver lining to Arizona’s loss is the play from its offensive and defensive lines. Arizona’s offensive line only surrendered two sacks and wasn’t flagged for holding like the previous three games. Tristan Bounds, who started at right tackle over Rhino Tapa’atoutai, “played with the most physicality he’s played all year, and I was excited about,” Brennan said.

Arizona’s defensive line helped the UA defense limit Iowa State to 111 yards on 47 rushes — 2.4 yards per attempt.

“There’s some good stuff from this game up front,” Brennan said. “No false starts, we were disciplined in a hard place to play. I was excited about that. I thought that was positive. ... I thought our effort was good on the O- and D-Line. When they run the ball 47 times and average 2.4 (yards) a carry, that’s a hell of a day against a good football team on the road.

“It’s the other stuff that I mentioned: it’s the turnovers, it’s the big plays, it’s us not responding to those momentum swings where we had to answer and we didn’t. That’s what we’re all so pissed off about.”

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

UA opens up as a three-score favorite to beat OSU

Arizona is a three-score favorite in its Big 12 home opener against the struggling Oklahoma State Cowboys at Arizona Stadium on Saturday.

The Wildcats are 20.5-point favorites to beat the Cowboys, according to Action Network. Arizona initially opened up as 16.5-point favorites.

The over/under for Saturday afternoon is 55.5 points.

Arizona’s (3-1) matchup with Oklahoma State (1-3) will be the 10th all-time matchup between the two schools, dating back to 1931. Arizona is 4-5 against the Cowboys, winning its last matchup, 59-38, in former head coach Rich Rodriguez’s first season in 2012.

Before 2012, Arizona lost the previous two games to Oklahoma State, a 37-14 setback in Stillwater and a 36-10 beatdown in the Alamo Bowl to cap the 2010 season.

Since the start of last season, Oklahoma State is 4-12. The Cowboys recently lost to the Baylor Bears, the game after firing longtime head coach Mike Gundy. Offensive coordinator Doug Meacham is OSU’s interim head coach.

Oklahoma State fired defensive coordinator Todd Grantham on Sunday following the Cowboys’ 45-27 loss to Baylor.

Big 12 announces BYU kickoff time, TV schedule

Arizona’s matchup with No. 23 BYU will kick off on Saturday, Oct. 11, at 5 p.m. on ESPN2, the Big 12 announced on Monday.

The Arizona-BYU game will be the Wildcats’ second contest on ESPN’s family of networks this season. Arizona’s Big 12-opening loss to 14th-ranked Iowa State was on ESPN.

Next Saturday will be BYU’s first trip to Tucson since the 2018 season, when the Cougars beat the Wildcats in former head coach Kevin Sumlin’s first game at Arizona.

Arizona lost to BYU, 41-19, last season in Provo in the first conference matchup between the two teams.

The Wildcats are 12-13-1 all-time against BYU dating back to 1936. Arizona and BYU have matched up as non-conference opponents in recent years. Arizona kicked off the 2016 season against BYU in Glendale, then opened up the Sumlin era in 2018 with a loss in Tucson. Arizona also started the Jedd Fisch era against BYU in Las Vegas, with the Cougars winning 24-16.

Since Arizona beat BYU in the 2008 Las Vegas Bowl, the Wildcats have lost four straight games to the Cougars.

Extra points

— Brennan said even though running back Kedrick Reescano was available, after missing the Weber State and Kansas State games with a leg injury, he was a “just-in-case situation,” which is why we didn’t play against ISU, said Brennan, who added senior Ismail Mahdi “has earned the right to play.” Mahdi, who leads the Wildcats in rushing yards, “has proven to be an effective runner, a really strong pass catcher and an effective pass protector.” Added Brennan: “We can’t wait to get Ked back and we hope that he’s ready to rock and roll Saturday.”

— Brennan, on the decision to punt on the UA 13-yard line with just over 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, trailing 36-14: “I thought Iowa State was incredibly efficient in the red zone, especially in the low red, and I was not gonna give them a free opportunity there. I was going to make them work for it.”

— Brennan, on Iowa State’s “swinging gate” two-point conversion in the first quarter: “We have to be better at that. Plain and simple. That is not OK. We know that, (defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales) knows that and we will get that fixed.”

— Brennan on Arizona’s long-snapping issues, which have contributed to missed field goals and PATs this season: “That’s one of those things we need to clean up. Avery (Salerno) is a great kid and super hard worker and I know he’ll get that fixed. But that’s something we need to clean up.”

— Brennan, on his early assessment of Oklahoma State: “Their quarterback (Zane Flores) is a dual-threat guy and can be a problem with his arms and his legs. They’ve got a really good group of receivers and they’ve done a good job of putting together guys that are explosive and big-bodied guys. Their running back (Trent Howland) is a good player. On defense, they have a lot of experience, especially in the secondary; those guys have a ton of snaps. Their defensive front is big and long. The story and all of the stuff they’re going through, we’re going to get their best shot on Saturday and we know that.”

— The TV broadcasters for Arizona-Oklahoma State are J.B. Long (play-by-play), Mike Golic Jr. (analyst) and Jared Greenburg (reporter). It’s the second time this season the Wildcats are playing on TNT, TruTV and HBO Max.

— Brennan, on his expectations for the atmosphere at Arizona Stadium for a noon kickoff on Saturday: “I hope that 55,000 crazy-ass Arizona fans are in the stands going nuts. That’s what I want. I want the city of Tucson to fall in love with this football team and show up and show out and make it hard for our opponents to come in here and play.”