Michael Lev: 5 takeaways from Arizona’s 38-24 victory over Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl

If this is what #Big12AfterDark is going to be like, sign me up.

Big play after big play. Turnovers galore. Massive momentum swings.

And a Powerade bath for Jedd Fisch and the victorious Arizona Wildcats.

What a night in San Antonio. What a season for the Cats.

No. 14 Arizona defeated No. 12 Oklahoma 38-24 in a heart-stopping, breathtaking Valero Alamo Bowl on Thursday night.

The Wildcats finished with a 10-3 record in Year 3 under Fisch — just the fourth 10-plus-win season in program history — and won a bowl game for the first time since 2015.

Here are my top five takeaways from an epic comeback in the Alamodome:

1. Perfectly imperfect

In certain respects, this was Arizona’s sloppiest game of the season. But the Wildcats won anyway. And that makes it the ideal way to end the season.

Coaches love nothing more than a flawed victory. They make for the best teaching tape.

Arizona showed resilience, grit and fortitude. But the Wildcats also got manhandled up front for most of the second and third quarters.

Arizona proved it could hang with, and overcome, one of college football’s true blueblood programs. But the Sooners showed that the Wildcats still have work to do to compete at the highest levels of the sport.

That’s the goal now, right? Arizona could be a preseason Top 10 team next year — Top 15 at worst. The College Football Playoff is expanding to 12 teams.

The Wildcats have a legitimate chance to contend for the Playoff. But they must continue to invest in their offensive and defensive lines. Whether that’s developing in-house talent, adding players through the transfer portal or both, it’s a mandate.

I’m not sure Arizona would have beaten Oklahoma if the Sooners had been at full strength. That’s the caliber of competition the Wildcats will be up against should they make it to the postseason in 2024.

Fisch and his staff will bask in the glory of this victory, as they should. But he’s a pragmatist. He won’t be content with what Arizona has done. He’ll do everything in his power to maximize what the Wildcats still can do.

2. Missing Morgan

Arizona was without the services of All-Pac-12 left tackle Jordan Morgan, who opted out to begin his NFL Draft prep, and boy, did the Wildcats miss him.

Quarterback Noah Fifita was under siege for much of the night. Oklahoma sacked him five times — a season high for a UA opponent — hit him on at least five other occasions and pressured him relentlessly.

As many pointed out on social media during the game, Morgan’s NFL stock went up Thursday night even though he didn’t play. His absence was that noticeable.

We knew Joseph Borjon would replace Morgan in the starting lineup, and the assumption was that Borjon would slot in at left tackle. Instead, offensive coordinator/O-line coach Brennan Carroll elected to move freshman Raymond Pulido from right guard to left tackle; shifted Jonah Savaiinaea from right tackle to right guard; and inserted Borjon at right tackle.

Too many changes? It sure looked that way.

Pulido and Borjon both struggled. Pulido got flagged for a false start and for holding, and Pro Football Focus charged him with three sacks allowed. Borjon committed a holding foul, surrendered a sack and yielded four pressures.

Pulido’s issues weren’t surprising; he’s a true freshman, and this was the first time he’s played left tackle in a game. He’s a big-time talent, and he’ll benefit from this experience in the long run.

Carroll finally made a change in the fourth quarter, removing Borjon, moving Savaiinaea back to right tackle and putting Leif Magnuson at right guard. After nine straight possessions without a touchdown — including seven without a score at all — Arizona scored a pair of TDs to put the game away.

3. Fearless Fifita

We saw something new from Fifita in the Alamo Bowl.

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Never before during his UA career had he been hit this much. The Sooners whacked his arm. They smacked his ribs. They body-slammed him into the Alamodome turf.

The pressure affected Fifita at times. He backpedaled into sacks. He hurried throws. He missed the mark on passes he typically completes.

But every time he came to the sideline to talk to Fisch, Fifita appeared calm and level-headed. He stuck with it. And eventually, he struck back.

After Fifita got sacked on third-and-5 from the OU 6 following Martell Irby’s interception — Arizona’s fifth takeaway of the game — the Wildcats had to settle for a field goal to make it 24-24 with 12:49 to play.

After a defensive stop near midfield, Arizona got the ball back at its 5-yard line. On the ensuring drive, Fifita scrambled for 5 yards; connected with Tanner McLachlan for 7 yards and a first down; hit Tetairoa McMillan for 15, 16, and 5 yards on back-to-back-to-back plays; and threw a scrambling strike to Jacob Cowing for a catch-and-run, go-ahead, 57-yard touchdown.

Fifita completed the last six passes he attempted. He started 8 for 10. In between, he was just 10 for 22.

Fifita didn’t have his best stuff. But he figured out a way to get it done when it mattered most.

4. Turnover turnaround

So. Many. Takeaways.

Arizona’s six forced turnovers matched its season total from 2021. The Wildcats last had that many in a game in the 2019 season opener at Hawaii — a game they somehow lost.

Over the final three games of this season, Arizona took the ball away 11 times. They forced only eight turnovers in the first 10 games.

The turning point Thursday came late in the third quarter. The Wildcats were in serious trouble at that point. They were down 24-13, and the Sooners were driving.

But just as Jalil Farooq clasped a slant pass from Jackson Arnold, UA safety Dalton Johnson popped him, sending the ball airborne. It landed in the arms of fellow safety Gunner Maldonado, who followed a convoy of Wildcats down the left sideline for an 87-yard touchdown.

So began a run of 25 consecutive points to close the game by the Wildcats — who earlier had yielded 24 straight points after taking a 13-0 lead. It was that kind of night.

Major kudos to Johnny Nansen and his entire crew of defenders, who never stopped competing and buckled down in the fourth quarter after uncharacteristically surrendering multiple big plays and touchdowns on three of five OU drives in the second and third stanzas.

Oklahoma had 447 of its 562 total yards in the middle periods. The Wildcats held the Sooners to 79 yards over the final 15 minutes.

5. What lies ahead

The first order of business for the administration has to be a contract extension and raise for Fisch, along with a corresponding pay bump for his staff.

Unless something unexpected happens — it’s college football, so you never know — there are no other college jobs for Fisch to consider this offseason. If the NFL comes calling, there’s not much Arizona can do to compete financially. Regardless, the right thing to do is to give him the deal he deserves.

As far as personnel goes, as Fisch recently noted, you can never have enough big bodies. Some additional help in the back seven would be welcome too. It’ll be hard to replace the spark and energy Irby provided as a roving linebacker/safety, and the secondary had some shaky moments after cornerback Tacario Davis got hurt in the first quarter.

Fisch and his staff will continue to coach up the returning players, of course, and that’ll be as much about psychology and motivation as X’s and O’s.

Arizona faces a new challenge in 2024: the burden of expectations.

Most of the team will be back. The talented sophomores from the class of 2022 will become juniors. Fifita, McMillan and others will appear on preseason award watch lists. After never winning the Pac-12, the Wildcats might be the betting favorites to win the Big 12.

That’s a lot to deal with, especially for a program that isn’t used to winning like this. Sustaining success can be harder than achieving it in the first place.

But knowing where UA football was just a short time ago, I feel confident in saying it beats the alternative.

Photos: No. 14 Arizona gets offensive late to drop No. 12 Oklahoma 38-24 in the Alamo Bowl