Arizona Aftermath: Stats, storylines and quotes from the Wildcats' loss to Texas Tech

Arizona stormed back from a 15-point deficit and nearly pulled off a gritty win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders, but the Wildcats dropped their Big 12 home opener 28-22 on Saturday at Arizona Stadium. 

Here are notable storylines, statistics and quotes from the UA’s first loss in Big 12 play:

Offense fails to complement defense, Loop

Arizona potentially has an identity crisis on offense — and it's overshadowing the UA defense and kicker Tyler Loop's efforts. 

The Wildcats' defense, once again, forced takeaways — this time, with forced fumbles by defensive backs Dalton Johnson and Owen Goss — and held Texas Tech to two third-down conversions on 11 attempts. In the last two games, Arizona held Utah and Texas Tech to a combined eight third- and fourth-down conversions on 30 tries. 

Arizona's defense held the highest-scoring team in the Big 12, which averaged around 41 points per game entering Saturday, to under 30 points for the first time this season. Arizona's defense surrendered four total touchdowns in the last two games. 

“I think our defense has been actually playing a lot of good football," Brennan said. "They played great in the NAU game, they played great last weekend, they played great tonight.”

Additionally, senior kicker Tyler Loop made a program-record five field goals on Saturday, after nailing three against Utah. With the help of running back Quali Conley's only touchdown of the night for Arizona, Loop gave the Wildcats its first and only lead against Texas Tech in the fourth quarter after trailing 18-3 at halftime. 

“I’m grateful Tyler Loop’s on our team, and he definitely kept us alive tonight and then gave us a chance to stay within striking distance and eventually take the lead," Brennan said.

Arizona's offense didn't fully hold up its end of the bargain to beat the Red Raiders. 

Ten of Arizona's 14 drives ended in Texas Tech territory, but the Wildcats only produced one touchdown and had three turnovers and a turnover on downs. Even though Arizona out-gained Texas Tech 422 yards to 332, had a season-high 25 first downs to TTU's 14, had 21 more plays and dominated time of possession (36:21-23:39), struggling to find the end zone profoundly affected the outcome for the Wildcats. The Red Raiders also converted three turnovers by the Wildcats into 18 points. 

“We need to score touchdowns in the red zone and not field goals in those situations," Brennan said. "I loved the way we rallied. If we could have answered with touchdowns in the red zone, I think we could have kicked the door down on the game, but we didn’t. And that’s the truth. That’s the hard truth, is we just did not. I just have to coach them better.”

Between "a couple missed throws," an "issue with protection" and a mercurial rushing attack, Arizona's offense wasn't in sync throughout most of the night. The Wildcats changed play-callers last week, moving tight ends coach Matt Adkins as the lead conductor of the offense, but Arizona couldn't generate rhythm. Although Arizona star wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan had eight catches for 161 yards, he consumed 16 of Arizona's 46 targets. The UA's next-leading receiver was tight end Keyan Burnett, who had five catches for 46 yards on seven targets. 

Brennan suggested the Wildcats "carrying too much scheme" and overcomplicating its play-calling. 

"Are the details where they need to be for us to get the things we want to get done, because it didn’t look like it tonight," Brennan said. "I think we had some guys go the wrong way on some of those calls. That’s coaching. That’s my fault. And so we gotta take a long, hard look at that and just figure it out."

Added Brennan: “I don’t think that’s the case, but I think it’s going to be something that we’re going to have to look at and just say, 'Hey, how come we’re not executing? Like, why is this guy going the wrong way?'

"It’s crazy, the amount of times we’ve run that play. So we either need to not call that play or we need put a new player into the play.”

Fifita 'thinking too much at times'

Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita had arguably his worst performance as the Wildcats' starter, completing 28 of 49 passes (57%) for 301 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. Saturday marked Fifita's first multi-interception game of his career; he's thrown interceptions in seven straight games.

In his first five games as the starter last season, Fifita completed 136 of 181 passes (75%) for 1,452 yards, 14 touchdowns and four interceptions. This season, Fifita is 110 for 179 (61.5%) for 1,361 yards, seven touchdowns and six interceptions. All of Fifita's worst completion-percentage rates as a starter are from this season.

Even though not every incomplete pass or interception is Fifita's fault, “I continue to take responsibility for that."

"It’s my job to get our offense going, to get us in the rhythm and keep us in rhythm," Fifita said. "I feel like every time we got something going, I would make a mistake or two that stalled the drives. I think I’m thinking too much at times. I need to make better decisions.”

Fifita started efficiently, completing 10 of 14 passes (71%), but went 18 for 35 (51%) the rest of the game. 

“No one works harder or studies more film, or is more individually prepared for the game than Noah Fifita," Brennan said of the Arizona quarterback. "Like with all of our guys, I still believe in every player on this team.”

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Welcome to the Big 12

From top to bottom, the Big 12 has a strong case as the best conference in college football. Eleven teams have winning records — only three have losing records. 

Texas Tech was voted to finish ninth in the preseason Big 12 media poll; the Red Raiders are currently first with their first 3-0 start in league play since 2012. No. 14 BYU was voted 12th in the media poll and tied with 11th-ranked Iowa State for second in the Big 12.

The remaining teams on Arizona's schedule have a combined 24-13 record. 

By the numbers

45,773: Announced attendance for the game. 

13: Total tackles for Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, who also had a pass breakup that led to Fifita's first interception and a forced fumble.

74: Total points scored by Arizona in the last four games since recording 61 in the season opener against New Mexico.

584: Yards needed for McMillan to set Arizona's all-time receiving record.

15:  Arizona's loss to Texas Tech marked the first loss to an unranked team in 15 games. The Wildcats' last loss to an unranked team was the Mississippi State game last season. Arizona is 12-4 since the loss to MSU.   

They said it

Brennan, on Arizona's loss to Texas Tech: "Those guys played better than us for four quarters. We were in it and we were playing better football for most of the second half, but in the last five minutes the game we didn’t. We didn’t stop them and we fumbled the ball.”

Johnson, on Arizona's preparation for Texas Tech: “I thought we had a great week of practice. Look what we did last week, we beat No. 10 Utah. Anyone can beat anyone." 

Johnson, on Arizona's two takeaways: “It creates (momentum), gets you going. Creates that spark.”

Fifita, on McMillan's fumble late in the fourth quarter: "That's not on him. I made two mistakes. I made way more than two mistakes, but two turnovers that put us in that position. I was just telling him he's the one of the main reasons we were in that position in the first place offensively. He got a lot of drives going for us and obviously the high-caliber player he is, I just continue to tell him to keep his head up and keep the offense going."

Injury report

Arizona senior nickel back Treydan Stukes, who suffered a leg injury at Utah last week, was held out. Sophomore Genesis Smith started in his place and had four tackles with two pass breakups. 

For the second straight game, nose tackle Chubba Ma'ae was held out with a leg injury. Arizona safety Gunner Maldonado suffered an injury in the first half on Saturday, which moved Smith to free safety and Goss to nickel back. 

Looking ahead

Arizona (3-2) will travel to Provo, Utah, to face 14th-ranked BYU, which is the Wildcats' third straight road game against a ranked opponent. BYU (5-0) is coming off a bye. 

Fox's "Big Noon Kickoff" will broadcast from 7-9 a.m. in Provo leading up to the game Saturday afternoon at LaVell Edwards Stadium. It's the first national pregame show to broadcast at BYU since 2009.

Arizona opens as a 2.5-point underdog, according to Action Network. 

Photos: Arizona Wildcats fall to Texas Tech 28-22, Big 12 football