Arizona offense makes 'some progress' late against West Virginia; UCF shakes up coaching staff

In Arizona’s 31-26 loss to the West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday, the Wildcats accomplished something they haven’t done since the season opener in August: score three straight touchdowns.

Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita said it “was probably the best rhythm we felt in a while,” albeit the Wildcats did their best Dallas Cowboys impression by getting behind big (18 points) before making a valiant effort to come back in the fourth quarter and losing a one-possession game.

“Still lots to learn from it,” Fifita said on Saturday. “Gotta be able to start faster and help our defense out. I’ll continue to take responsibility for it.”

Arizona helped out its quarterback with a different protection plan, which was “better last week than the previous week,” said UA coach Brent Brennan.

The Wildcats moved standout right tackle and likely NFL Draft pick Jonah Savaiinaea over to left tackle following redshirt freshman Rhino Tapa’atoutai’s season-ending leg injury. Redshirt sophomore Michael Wooten, who initially played left tackle for Tapa’atoutai, started at right tackle against West Virginia. Wooten is “a young player and an inexperienced player, but he did some really good things on Saturday.”

“But taking big Jonah to protect Noah’s blindside makes sense to me. ... We felt like that was the best configuration for us,” said Brennan.

To balance the experience on the line, Arizona moved veteran guard Wendell Moe to right guard and redshirt freshman Alexander Doost to left guard. Additionally, Arizona chip-blocking from tight end Roberto Miranda and running back Quali Conley. After allowing a season-high seven sacks against Colorado, Arizona only surrendered two against West Virginia.

Although the Wildcats had their fewest rushing yards (78) since their loss to Kansas State, “I think there was some progress in the offense,” Brennan said.

Arizona star wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan attempted two passes on Saturday: a 14-yard completion to Fifita, who bobbled the second one near the goal line, which would’ve been the quarterback’s first touchdown reception as a Wildcat. It would’ve been McMillan’s second touchdown pass; he threw a touchdown pass to wide receiver Montana Lemonious-Craig against Utah last season.

“I think a couple of those plays were things we wanted to call earlier in the season, we just didn’t get to them,” Brennan said. “I think any time you put the ball into a special player’s hand, you have a chance for something special to happen.”

In the two weeks prior to the West Virginia loss, McMillan was targeted a combined 13 times. He had 14 targets against WVU and finished with 10 catches for 202 yards and a touchdown, ending his six-game touchdown drought. It’s the third game in McMillan’s UA career with over 200 yards.

According to Pro Football Focus, McMillan lined up 11 times as a slot receiver and 28 times wide. He occasionally motioned before the snap, a tactic to help get the ball to the ultimate playmaker in Arizona’s offense.

“When you put the ball into the hands of a special player, you have a chance for something special to happen,” Brennan said. “I thought T-Mac played his tail off the other night. It was really, really impressive. He’s been outstanding all year that way. When your best players play as hard as they do and care as much as he does, I think that’s really inspiring for your football team.”

UCF makes a change in coaching staff

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UCF head coach Gus Malzahn spent his 59th birthday on Monday making changes to his coaching staff at UCF. Ahead of the Knights’ “Space Game” matchup with Arizona in Orlando, UCF fired defensive coordinator Ted Roof and first-year offensive coordinator Tim Harris Jr. will now take over offensive play-calling duties from Malzahn, the UCF coach announced on Monday.

Malzahn said, “These decisions were 100% my decision.”

“What’s best for our team. As a leader, as a head coach, that’s what you’ve got to be thinking,” Malzahn said. “That’s what I did. Looking forward to going through this process the last four games with that.”

UCF made the coaching change following its five-game losing streak. UCF co-defensive coordinator and associate head coach Addison Williams will take over for Roof, who was hired in January after two seasons at Oklahoma. Roof’s last game at OU was the Sooners’ loss to Arizona in the Alamo Bowl last season. Roof and Malzahn were coordinators together under Gene Chizik from 2009-11 at Auburn, where they won a national championship.

“I’m a football coach first, but as a leader and as a head coach, you’ve got to do what’s best for your team,” Malzahn said. “This is what’s best for our team. This is what’s best for me as a head coach.”

In the last two weeks, UCF gave up 38 points to Iowa State and 37 points to BYU — with a combined 1,010 yards allowed The Knights are 12th in the Big 12 in total defense, allowing just over 379 yards per game.

Preparing for a team amid coaching changes is “always a tricky one,” Brennan said.

“I think it’s hard to make a wholesale change in season, so I would think pieces of what they’ve done schematically are still going to be a part of them,” said the Arizona head coach. “It is a challenge, because it’s something indifferent than what you’re seeing on the film considering all of your breakdowns are done and that type of stuff.”

Brennan’s early impressions of UCF’s defense is “it looks like they have a really active front on defense.”

“Obviously Coach Malzahn has been doing a great job coaching football teams for a really long time,” Brennan said. “We’re going to play a team on the road, (and) it’s going to be a tough game in this conference. They have really good personnel, and it’s one of things where both of us have struggled at times this year, so this is going to be a hard-fought battle.”

Extra points

• Brennan, on Lemonious-Craig playing 11 offensive snaps, the lowest of his Arizona career: “Continuing to evaluate all parts of our football team, and we felt like Chris Hunter has been doing some good things, so he’s getting a little bit more live-game reps. Montana is still an important player for us. He’s still going to play a lot, but you’re going to continue to see Chris Hunter play a lot, too.”

• The FS1 broadcasters for the Arizona-UCF game are Dan Hellie (play-by-play) and Robert Smith (analyst).

• Brennan said his favorite Halloween candy is 100 Grand, “which is an incredibly underrated candy bar,” along with Sour Patch Watermelons and Starburst. Brennan said his favorite costume since he was 4 years old has been Spider-Man. Said Brennan: “I’ve been dressing like Spider-Man like 20-something times. It’s my go-to even before all the movies came out.”