The University of Arizona football team (8-3, 5-3 in Big 12) crushed Baylor University 41-17 on Saturday, Nov. 22. The Wildcats extended their win streak to four games and improved their home record to 6-1, the most home wins in a season since 2014.
Wide receiver Kris Hutson, one of the 28 seniors honored Saturday morning, led the Arizona offense with a career day, hauling in nine receptions for 133 yards and a touchdown, marking his fifth career game over 100 yards. Senior running back Ismail Mahdi led the ground game with 14 carries for 93 yards and a touchdown. Kedrick Reescano sprinted for 3 touchdowns on just 13 attempts to put the Bears away.
Defensively, redshirt senior Dalton Johnson led with 18 total tackles, which marks the third-highest total tackles in a game in Arizona history and the most since 2014.
Defensive back Genesis Smith followed with 16 tackles. Linebacker Taye Brown had two sacks and a forced fumble, going hand-in-hand with Chase Kennedy, who had 2.5 tackles for loss.
“Anyone that’s followed Arizona football knows that Dalton Johnson is a household name around here […]. We know that’s no surprise, he’s one of the best tackling safeties I’ve ever met in my life,” redshirt senior Treydan Stukes said.
Offense
Quarterback Noah Fifita went 14-for-25, 183 yards and threw for 1 touchdown and one interception while running for 33 yards. More than half of Fifita’s passing attempts were to Chris Hunter, who was targeted a career high 14 times.
One of the standout plays between the dynamic duo was an explosive 36-yard grab early in the fourth quarter, where Hunter went up and moss’d Baylor defensive back LeVar Thornton Jr. of the nine catches for Hutson, six of the receptions resulted in first downs and four were at least 15 yards.
The two-headed backfield of Reescano and Mahdi came to fruition, yet again, with both tailbacks finding the endzone untouched. Following the Baylor turnover, Arizona capitalized on the first play of the drive from the Bears’ 28-yard line, handing the ball off to Mahdi, who ran into the endzone with no defender in sight to push Arizona’s lead to 28-17.
On the ensuing drive, Reescano followed Fifita’s 17-yard scramble with a 19-yard sprint to the endzone to put the Wildcats up 35-17, marking the junior running back’s third touchdown of the game.
Defense
The Arizona defense, led by first-year defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales, forced the three turnovers from the Baylor offense. Coming into Saturday’s matchup, the Bears had the number one passing offense in the Big 12 and averaged 7.5 yards per pass attempt. The Wildcats held Baylor to under five yards per attempt, which was the lowest yards per pass attempt for Baylor since 2023.
Despite a rough first half for Arizona, trailing 17-14, the Baylor offense went three-and-out in all of its drives in the third quarter. Additionally, the Bears threw two interceptions, fumbled and turned the ball over on downs twice, all in the final quarter.
At the start of the fourth, Baylor was driving down the field and kept their offense on the field on fourth-and-three at the Arizona 12-yard line down 21-17. Bears quarterback Sawyer Robertson dropped back and threw an interception in the end zone to Stukes.
“Wouldn’t have wanted it to end any other way and with any other group of guys. This was a fantastic game and a fantastic day for sure,” Stukes said.
On the next Baylor possession, running back Bryson Washington fumbled the ball after a big hit from Brown on the first play of the drive. The one-play turnover led to a one-play touchdown for the Wildcats.
Later in the quarter, Baylor turned the ball over on the first play of the drive yet again; this time, linebacker Jabari Mann returned a 36-yard pick-six to put the Bears to bed. The pick-six was the third touchdown in a 4-minute and 4-second span.
“The big message in the locker room at halftime was that we needed to elevate our collective physicality. It had to show up in all three phases, and I felt like it did,” Arizona head coach Brent Brennan said.
Looking ahead
Arizona will go on the road and face ASU in the 99th Territorial Cup on Friday, Nov. 28, at 7 p.m. at Mountain America Stadium. The Wildcats will look to extend their win streak to five games and get to 10 wins on the season for the first time since 2023.
“We take it very seriously here; it’s a one-game season for us. We’re gonna dive into the preparation and make sure we can come out and play our best stuff,” Stukes said.
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