The Arizona Wildcats (3-5, 1-4 Big 12) continued their streak of tough losses in a 31-26 defeat against the West Virginia University Mountaineers (4-4, 3-2 Big 12) on Oct. 26 at Arizona Stadium. The Wildcats dropped their fourth straight game and third straight home game of the season in a nail-biting loss on Family Weekend.

This is the worst losing streak for Arizona since their 0-8 start in the 2021 season. Despite a turn that looked like Arizona would pull through with a comeback, the Mountaineers were able to hold onto the ball in the final minutes which kept Arizona from securing a victory. 

The normal guarantee of Tyler Loop changed as he missed his first career extra point after making 119 straight in his four years with the Wildcats. 

Offense:

Arizona’s offense started out rolling despite a costly red zone fumble by Quali Conley. The Wildcat offense turned around after the fumble with several successful Tetairoa McMillan and Noah Fifita connections, including an 11-yard reception by Fifita, the first of his career, from a McMillan pass. Conley redeemed himself by scoring his seventh rushing touchdown of the season to open the scoring for the Wildcats in the first half. 

“We just kind of mess around with [Fifita receiving] in practice, but that’s just T-Mac making plays,” Fifita said.

The McMillan/Fifita connection continued as it seemed Fifita kept his eyes on McMillan for most of the game; McMillan caught almost half of Fifita’s completed passes. McMillan hauled in four passes for over 20 yards, including his 34-yard touchdown catch and a 49-yard catch near the end of the fourth quarter.

Fifita also found tight end Sam Olson late in the third quarter for the tight end’s first ever touchdown catch as a Wildcat.

McMillan would have his largest outing with 202 receiving yards and his first with a receiving touchdown since the season-opening game against the University of New Mexico. This was his third career 200-yard receiving game and his second of the season.

McMillan also reached 3,000 career receiving yards, keeping him at fourth all-time for Arizona football.

Fifita started the game electric, throwing eight for 11 with 86 yards to end the first half. He performed even better in the second half, ending the game with 21 for 32 passes with 294 yards and 2 touchdowns. Fifita scored in the air and on the ground, earning a late-game touchdown in which Fifita scrambled and scored despite the horde of defenders around him. This was also Fifita’s first game of the season without an interception and the first rushing touchdown of his career.

“[It was] probably the best rhythm we’ve felt in a while,” Fifita said.

Arizona leaned into the run game showcased by Conley, with him having 10 rushing attempts in just the first half. Conley neared his season high of 17 touches with 16 this game and rushed for 72 yards. 

Defense:

Arizona held the Mountaineers early, leaving them with a field goal for their first possession. However, the defensive presence faded at the end of the first after West Virginia successfully faked a field goal.

“They got us on that, they schemed us,” said head coach Brent Brennan. “We were short on that side of the formation and they knew it.”

Arizona would have a hard time handling the Mountaineers, who made massive plays like an early 55-yard rush and a 54-yard passing touchdown. The Wildcats’ second half looked better, holding the Mountaineers scoreless on two of their four possessions compared to the first half, where they allowed three of four scoring possessions. 

The defensive struggle was also seen in Arizona’s inability to stop fourth down conversions, which the Mountaineers went four for four on. Three of the four fourth down conversions resulted in a West Virginia touchdown as well. 

Jack Luttrell showed himself as being a crucial part of the defense, however, with a forced fumble on West Virginia’s quarterback, Garrett Greene. Luttrell also was second on the team in tackles with 11, behind Dalton Johnson’s 13. 

“These young guys have to continue to accelerate, hopefully some of those tough lessons they learned today will pay off next week,” Brennan said.

Looking Ahead:

The Wildcats look to break their four-game losing streak in their first program matchup against the University of Central Florida on Nov. 2 at 12:30 p.m. in Orlando, Fla.

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