After a promising first half, Arizona was held scoreless in the second half against No. 15 BYU and first-year coordinator Kelly Poppinga.
The Wildcats eventually fell 28-17 to the Cougars Saturday afternoon at LaVell Edwards Stadium, their sixth consecutive loss against BYU in Provo. They haven't won a game here since 1975.
Arizona was held to just 87 yards of total offense in the second half. Despite delivering a strong first half, quarterback Noah Fifita took the blame for the loss.
“You gotta be able to play a complete game and we haven't done that offensively. So I take the blame for that. I gotta be more consistent in the second half,” Fifita said.
Fifita was visibly upset in the postgame press conference. “There’s a lot of plays I wish I could have back, some decisions, some throws,” he said.
Despite the loss, there were some bright spots from Fifita, who finished the game 23-of-31 for 230 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Arizona got on the board early with a 12-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off by an 11-yard scramble by Fifita. Fifita got the ball out of his hands quickly and the Wildcat’s fast tempo overwhelmed Poppinga’s defense.
On Arizona’s second drive, BYU’s defense responded with a Cade Uluave interception. Fifita was hit by Isaiah Glasker as he was throwing on third down. Two plays later, Bear Bachmeier answered with a touchdown rush of his own.
Arizona’s offensive game plan continued to pay off, dominating time of possession and taking a 10-7 lead to the end of the first quarter. That lead didn’t last long after a 25-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Bear Bachmeier to Reggie Frischknecht, Frischknecht’s third catch and first touchdown of his BYU career.
With two minutes left in the half, Arizona tight end Shane King got behind BYU’s secondary for a 16-yard touchdown, the Wildcats final score of the game. Arizona went to the locker room up 17-14 at halftime. Fifita finished the first half with 187 yards, while BYU’s offense only accumulated 132 yards. But it was a tale of two halves, and BYU’s defense made adjustments to make it difficult for the Wildcats.
“I think execution on our part. Um, kind of mental mistakes,” Fifita said.
BYU took the opening drive of the second half 75 yards and got Kyler Kasper his first touchdown on a six yard pass from Bachmeier. The touchdown was set up by a 23-yard pass to LJ Martin. Arizona had opportunities to move the ball, but they were held back by a lot of negative yards and penalties.
“I got to be a better communicator. We knew this environment was going to be great," Fifita said. "We knew it was going to be loud. So, uh, I didn’t do a good enough job communicating, which caused some pre-snap penalties."
The third quarter was riddled with penalties, both teams combining for nine penalties in that quarter alone. But, the turning point came in the fourth quarter. Brent Brennan decided to roll the dice on fourth and four at the BYU 21-yard line with just over eight minutes left.
After bringing out the chains, the officials originally called it a first down. That call was then overturned after replay review. After that play, the Wildcats went flat. But coach Brent Brennan stood by his call.
“I just have a lot of faith in Noah,” he said. “And he delivered a strike, but BYU made a great play, a great tackle in space, and stopped us short of the sticks.”
Two plays later, a 61-yard pass to speedy freshman Legend Glasker set up another Kyler Kasper touchdown and Arizona couldn’t recover.
While BYU will likely move up a couple of spots in the AP poll on Monday, the Wildcats fell to 1-1 on the season.
But they still have a lot to play for — and they know it.
“We have so much football left to play and what’s more important is not looking back at this. It’s what we do next … with our next opportunity to improve and get better,” Brennan said.
As for Fifita, he knows his team can learn from this setback and still play for a Big 12 championship.
“I thought we were gonna come out victorious, but God doesn’t make mistakes and I’m gonna learn,” he said. “We’re 0-1 in Big 12 play, but we got eight more opportunities, ten more to go in total.”
The Wildcats continue their season next Saturday against Northern Illinois.