5 takeaways from the Arizona Wildcats’ 41-19 loss at No. 14 BYU | Michael Lev

It was looking promising, wasn’t it?

Arizona got a fourth-down stop on the opening possession, just like the last time the Wildcats visited the state of Utah.

Arizona scored a touchdown on its first drive, just like the Wildcats did at Kansas State.

Saturday’s game at No. 14 BYU could have gone either way. Then it took a sharp turn for the worse.

Back-to-back turnovers to start the second half. Continuing struggles on offense. Mounting injuries on defense.

Just like that, a one-score game turned into a 41-19 blowout. And a once-promising UA campaign now feels like a season on the brink.

Ranked in the Top 25 on Aug. 12, Arizona fell to 3-3 on Oct. 12 after suffering its second consecutive defeat. It’s hard to envision the Wildcats turning it around as things currently stand.

What lies ahead is a topic for another time. Here are my top five takeaways from a poor performance in Provo:

1. Same old, same old

If you thought the offense’s issues looked familiar, it wasn’t your imagination. Aside from improving on third down — Arizona’s 11 conversions were one shy of their total from the previous four games — the Wildcats made many of the same mistakes that have plagued them since the opener.

Noah Fifita’s second-quarter interception — the first of a career-high three picks — looked like a carbon copy of the ones he threw the previous two weeks. The only difference was the intended receiver was Montana Lemonious-Craig, not Tetairoa McMillan.

In all three instances, Fifita tried for a home run by throwing the ball to a well-covered receiver in the end zone. All three times, a lurking middle safety read his eyes and intercepted the pass.

Later in the quarter, another flashback: The Wildcats had three chances to gain 1 yard from the BYU 24 and couldn’t get the first down. The exact same thing happened the previous week against Texas Tech — a game Arizona really should have won.

The offense continues to lack rhythm and purpose. If you can figure out what its identity is, you’re smarter than I.

Fifita’s regression is alarming. He completed less than 60% of his passes (26 of 52, 50%) for the second straight week; his season mark of 58.9% is almost 14 percentage points lower than last season (72.4).

Even more worrying, Fifita has thrown five interceptions in the past two games, giving him nine at the midway point of the season. He threw six in 12 games last year.

Fifita isn’t seeing the field well. He was under constant pressure Saturday. The coaching staff isn’t putting him in a position to succeed.

That’s a bad combination.

2. An offense adrift

A sequence in the fourth quarter illustrated the offense’s ongoing woes.

Arizona faced second-and-goal from the 3-yard line. The score was 27-10 at the time. But with more than nine minutes to play, the Wildcats still had a chance.

The next two plays were passes. On the first, Fifita retreated to the 15-yard line before overshooting Devin Hyatt as he crossed from left to right along the back of the end zone. It was a slow-developing, low-percentage play.

On third down, Fifita, under pressure, retreated past the 20 before throwing the ball away. Arizona had motioned McMillan to create a bunch formation, a tactic that worked earlier in the game. Not this time. The Wildcats came away with three points instead of the seven they desperately needed.

Fifita has developed a bad habit of drifting backward in the pocket. It might be a way to compensate for his lack of height. It might be that he’s “seeing ghosts” — anticipating pressure that’s more perception than reality. Whatever the case, it’s not something he did regularly, if at all, last year, when he was much more decisive.

My biggest issue with the two goal-to-go plays was that neither was set up for McMillan.

He’s always going to receive extra attention from defenses. Fifita has thrown the ball his way plenty of times when he’s been covered.

Other teams find a way to isolate their best players — especially in goal-to-go scenarios. A jump ball for T-Mac isn’t a 50/50 proposition. He’s going to win that battle more often than not.

It’s coaching malpractice to not give him a chance.

3. Decimated but defiant

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If you just glanced at the score, you might think the UA defense played poorly.

That would be an unfair assessment.

BYU scored 24 points off four Arizona turnovers, including drives in the third quarter that began at the UA 9- and 15-yard lines. The Cougars punctuated their victory with a pick-six.

The Wildcats came into the game without injured defensive backs Gunner Maldonado and Treydan Stukes. Arizona then lost linebacker Jacob Manu to a targeting disqualification on the fourth play from scrimmage. Cornerback Tacario Davis missed the second half because of an undisclosed injury.

If you were to rank all of the Wildcats’ defensive players, those four unquestionably would land in the top six. Maldonado, Stukes and Manu are the heart and soul of the defense. Davis is a potential first-round draft pick.

Despite those absences, the UA defense basically gave up 24 points. That ought to be enough to win most games. But the way the UA offense is playing, it’s clearly not.

4. Missed opportunities

The defense wasn’t without fault. The unit had opportunities to change the tenor of the game and failed to capitalize on them.

The first came early in the second quarter. BYU faced third-and-3 from the UA 35. Jake Retzlaff threw a play-action pass that deflected off the hand of tight end Mason Fakahua. It caromed directly to Davis, who dropped the ball.

Davis has 21 career pass breakups. He has only one interception. If he had better, surer hands, he could have half-a-dozen.

If Davis had made the pick, the Wildcats would have had the ball with a 7-0 lead. Instead, two plays later, the Cougars scored a touchdown to tie the score.

BYU took the lead on a trick play. Retzlaff threw a backward pass to Parker Kingston, who heaved a 33-yard touchdown to LJ Martin.

Four Wildcats were in Martin’s vicinity, including cornerback Marquis Groves-Killebrew, who had a bead on the ball. It looked for a moment like he might intercept it. But Groves-Killebrew misjudged the trajectory and came up empty.

That play concluded a 99-yard drive. BYU faced second-and-9 from its 2 when UA defensive lineman Ta’ita’i Uiagalelei jumped offside. That gave the Cougars breathing room and a more manageable down-and-distance to negotiate.

Uiagalelei jumped offside again in the third quarter on a third-and-8. BYU converted the ensuing third-and-3 and drove for a field goal to bump its lead to 27-10.

Those are the details Brent Brennan has been harping on. The message doesn’t seem to be getting through.

5. Brennan under fire

Brennan isn’t going to be fired halfway into his first season. I highly doubt it would happen at the end of Year One, no matter how the rest of the season plays out.

But fans are completely justified in being unhappy with the way it’s gone so far.

While it’s true that Arizona has the same record it had at the same point last season, the arrow was pointing up then; it’s veering down now.

The offense is a mess. Since scoring 61 points in the opener, the Wildcats have averaged 18.6.

Fifita has regressed. He doesn’t look at all like the quarterback who played with such efficiency and poise last season.

Brennan inherited a team that went 10-3 and had a ton of experience returning. Arizona lost several key players, and it didn’t have the same crack at the transfer portal as most others. But with the talent on hand — especially on offense, where injuries have been minimal — the product shouldn’t look like this.

I was bullish on the Brennan hire. But the way it’s going, I can’t help but think of a scene from the Apple TV+ drama “The Morning Show.”

Early in Season One, Reese Witherspoon’s character, Bradley Jackson, unexpectedly inherits the co-host chair. The move was engineered by the incumbent co-host, Alex Levy, played by Jennifer Aniston.

Right before they go on set for their first show together, Alex whispers to Bradley, “Don’t screw it up.”

Except she didn’t say “screw.”

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

The Arizona Wildcats fell to 3-3 on the year after a 41-19 rout by the BYU Cougars Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in a Big 12 college football match…