Kansas State's rushing attack smothers Arizona, UA suffers first loss under Brent Brennan

MANHATTAN, Kan. — The Wildcats won. It just wasn't the ones visiting from Tucson. 

No. 20 Arizona fell to 14th-ranked Kansas State 31-7 Friday night at Bill Snyder Family Stadium — the loss snapping the UA's nine-game winning streak dating back to October of last season. 

The setback is Arizona's first loss under first-year head coach Brent Brennan. Although Friday night was a matchup between two Big 12 teams, it was a previously-scheduled nonconference game, so the loss won't count towards the UA's record in the Big 12 standings.

Arizona's 24-point loss is the largest margin of defeat since its 45-20 loss to Utah in 2022. Last season, Arizona lost its three games by a combined 16 points. 

"At the end of the day, I need to coach this team better," Brennan said. "It all starts with me. The good news is, we have a bye, which gives us a chance to get some guys healthy and get to work on fixing the things that weren't right tonight."  

Arizona scored on the first drive of the game — a 14-play, 73-yard series that took 7:28 off the clock in the first quarter and gave Southern Arizona's Wildcats a 7-0 lead.

But Arizona wouldn't find the end zone again — or put up any other points, for that matter — again all night. Kansas State (3-0) scored on the next offensive series to knot the game up before finished the night with 31 unanswered points to drop Arizona to 2-1 on the season heading into an early bye week.

After not playing at full strength and allowing pressure on quarterback Noah Fifita last week against Northern Arizona, the UA offensive line used its starting lineup from its season-opening win over New Mexico.

Left tackle Rhino Tapa'toutai, who suffered a leg injury in the opener, returned alongside left guard Wendell Moe, center Josh Baker, right guard Ryan Stewart and right tackle Jonah Savaiinaea; Baker missed last week after starting the previous 28 games.  

Protection for Fifita on Friday was cleaner and run-blocking for the UA was effective early. Arizona set the tone, balancing seven passes and seven runs on that opening drive, with running back Quali Conley punching in the score for his fourth touchdown of the season.

Arizona receiver Tetairoa McMillan had more yards on the UA's opening drive than he did all of last week (11). McMillan finished Friday night with 11 catches for 138 yards, moving past Theopolis "T" Bell for fifth all-time in UA receiving yards. 

But Arizona's drives after that game-opening touchdown: 

• Punt
• Interception
• Punt
• Punt
• Punt
• Turnover on downs
• Turnover on downs
• Turnover on downs

Kansas State, which entered Friday as a Top 20 rushing team in college football, ran for 235 yards and was led by its triple-threat rushing attack of DJ Giddens, dual-threat quarterback Avery Johnson, who Brennan called "ridiculously explosive" coming in, and Dylan Edwards, who returned a punt 71 yards for a touchdown, the first punt return the UA allowed for a touchdown since the Colorado game in 2021. Johnson ended the night with a career-high 110 rushing yards. 

"He was just doing a great job," Arizona defensive end Tre Smith said of Johnson. "We've got to do a better job up front collectively — and myself as an individual especially. We gotta do a better job containing him." 

KSU out-rushed Arizona 235-56, the host Wildcats carrying the ball 40 times to the UA's 19. While Arizona senior running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt was held out for the second straight game for eligibility concerns, Conley led the way with 14 of those 19 UA rush attempts for 48 yards. In the second half, Kansas State out-rushed Arizona 124 yards to 12. 

"In any big-time football game, you have to be able to run the football and you have to be able to stop the run," Brennan said. "We got work to do in both of those departments." 

A week after Arizona went 0-for-10 on third-down conversions, it went 5-for-14 on Friday, but was 1-for-4 on fourth-down plays.

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Arizona entered Friday as the seventh-most penalized team in FBS. Brennan said last week that Arizona has "to play football the right way or it’s going to cost us an opportunity or cost us a game."

Arizona didn't commit a penalty in first quarter. Then came an avalanche with the UA called for penalties for 59 yards in the second quarter, finishing with nine for 74 yards in all. Arizona has 28 penalties for 269 yards through three games this season.

"Those wounds are self-inflicted," Brennan said. "That's the hardest part about it, because we're doing some good stuff moving the football. ... That part of it is frustrating."

With a chance to tie the game in the second quarter, Fifita threw his third interception of the season. Fifita attempted a deep pass over the middle to sophomore receiver Malachi Riley on a seam route, but a trailing Kansas State cornerback Keenan Garber leapt in the end zone to pick off the Arizona quarterback. Fifita chalked up the interception to a "great play by the corner falling off."

"That's really all there is to it," Fifita said. "Fantastic job by him." 

Despite the excess of second-quarter penalties and the turnover, Arizona caught a break with a missed 48-yard field goal by Kansas State kicker Chris Tennant and poor clock management by KSU. Kansas State had a chance to go up by two possessions at halftime — three at the start of the second half — but Johnson scrambled on the final play of the first half and ran out the final 11 seconds for an empty drive.

"Totally on me," said Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman. "Terrible gaffe, and I'm not accustomed to making those mistakes. I'll learn from it and it won't happen again."

Trailing 14-7, Arizona forced a three-and-out to start the second half, but the UA offense stalled.

Kansas State after its first-half debacle scored on its next three second-half possessions: two touchdowns and a 35-yard field goal. 

Arizona enters a bye week before facing No. 12 Utah in Salt Lake City for the Big 12 opener.

"I think the biggest thing is we have a lot of football left to play and we can't lose sight of that because we lost one game," Brennan said. "No one is more pissed off than I am. What do we do about it? How do we respond to the disappointment of this loss?

"To me, we have to turn to each other. As a coaching staff, we have to everything we can to put together a great game plan for Utah, and then we have to practice. ... These guys want to be good and play good football. I think they believe — and I know I believe — that we're capable and better than what we showed tonight."

Extra points: 

• Arizona starting strong safety Dalton Johnson was held out on Friday. Free safety Gunner Maldonado, who was held out last week, started in place of Johnson with sophomore Genesis Smith starting at free safety. 
• Arizona donned candy-red helmets with the "Cats" script logo. Friday marked the first time in four seasons the UA wore red helmets. Arizona is 18-18 since 2013 when it wears red helmets.
• Announced attendance for Friday night's game was 51,290.  

Photos: No. 14 Kansas State runs over No. 20 Arizona 31-7, college football