Arizona has had the BYU game circled on its calendar since last October, hoping to snap the five game losing streak against the Cougars. But Kalani Sitake’s squad had other plans, shutting out the UA in the second half while leaning on its methodical offensive approach to emerge victorious. Here are five takeaways from the Arizona Wildcats’ 28-17 loss at No. 15 BYU.
1) A year later, run defense is still a concern
BYU’s 258 rushing yards were the key to its double-overtime victory in 2025. A year later, Arizona’s defense once again struggled to contain running back and reigning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year LJ Martin and quarterback Bear Bachmeier on the ground. Martin rushed for 98 yards on 20 carries, averaging 4.9 yards per tote, while Bachmeier finished with 37 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
Arizona’s inability to neutralize the run allowed BYU to be balanced down the stretch of the game. The Cougars finished with 365 yards of total offense, including 217 passing yards and 148 rushing yards. 107 of those yards on the ground came in the second half, as BYU wore down Arizona with its physicality. The Cougars kept in on the ground on third down twice on their final possession of the game, including a five-yard gain by Bachmeier on third and four with three minutes left to play.
After replacing five defensive backs from a season ago, the Wildcats are very green in the secondary, meaning they need stronger play from their front seven. Defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales said repeatedly throughout the offseason that the defensive line would be able to hold its own against Big 12 competition, but the 54.7 run defense and 53.5 pass rush grades from PFF suggest otherwise.
The defensive front will no doubt be better against Northern Illinois, but need to use this game to address concerns up front if it wants to avoid another another game slipping away in the second half like this one did.
2) A tale of two halves for the offense
Arizona’s offense was about as good as it gets in the first half. The Wildcats out-gained the Cougars 240 to 132 to take a 17-14 lead into the locker room. Noah Fifita completed 16-of-20 passes for 141 yards and a touchdown, while scoring another with his legs on the opening drive. Outside of his first interception of the season, the half was flawless.
But the offense got sloppy in the second half and was held scoreless with just 89 yards to show for it. The difference? “Mental mistakes” according to Noah Fifita.
“I didn’t do a good enough job communicating, which caused some of the pre-snap penalties that we can’t have that threw us off rhythm, so that’s another part that we got to be better.”
The Wildcats had two penalties for 15 yards in the first half. In the second, Arizona committed five penalties for 40 yards.
After converting 4-of-7 third down attempts in the first half, Arizona converted just 1-of-5 after halftime and also failed its lone fourth down conversion attempt (more thoughts on that below). The Wildcats average distance to go on third down in the first half was 4.4 yards. In the second half, those penalties were costly, with the average distance to go on third down sitting at 13.8 yards.
Arizona did a great job staying ahead of the chains in the first half, but got sloppy and paid the price in the second. If that kind of sloppy play continues when Big 12 play resumes in October, the Wildcats will find themselves in some tighter contests than they should be in.
3) The offensive line was supposed to be anchor this fall. Now, we’re not so sure…
Arizona’s offensive line has five experienced starters on its offensive line in Matthew Lado, Rhino Tapa’atoutai, Zach Henning, Alexander Doost, and Tristan Bounds. But on Saturday, the five looked like they were making their first career starts at times.
Bounds, Tapa’atoutai, and Lado were the Wildcats’ lowest graded players on PFF, finishing with 46.0, 44.4, and 42.2 grades, respectively. Henning, who has played just two games in an Arizona uniform, had the top mark among offensive linemen with a 65.3 grade.
They struggled to protect Noah Fifita at times, giving up three sacks for 20 yards, after allowing just one in the season-opener. Five of the Wildcats’ six offensive penalties were on the offensive line. Lado had a holding call and a pair of false starts, while Tapa’atoutai committed a hold and a personal foul, costing the UA 45 of its 50 penalty yards on offense.
If Arizona wants to be in the race for a Big 12 title down the stretch of the season, the offensive line needs to take better care of their signal-caller, and has to clean up the mental mistakes and penalties that had a huge impact on the offense’s sluggishness in the second half.
4) Head-scratching game management decisions in the 4th quarter
Playing the “what-if game” is dangerous because the final score is what it is. Head coaches make the salaries they do because they have to make tough decisions in big moments. But sometimes those decisions leave us scratching our head. In the case of Saturday, there were two decisions, both in the second half, that had us scratching ours.
The first was the decision to punt from the BYU 36 yard line, which netted just 16 yards after bouncing into the end zone for a touchback. BYU didn’t capitalize on the punt after its drive stalled, but Arizona should have attempted a field goal, especially given how little the punt actually netted. It would have been roughly a 53-yard attempt for Michael Salgado-Medina, so not a chip shot, but certainly doable, especially after drilling a 37-yarder earlier in the game. The score would have also been 21-20 with a field goal, which would have certainly changed the dynamic of the game with 15 minutes left to play.
The second was the failed fourth down conversion attempt deep in BYU territory mid way through the fourth quater. After marching down to the Cougars’ 21 yard line, Arizona failed to convert on fourth-and-four with 8:16 left to play. Had Arizona kicked a field goal at the end of the third quarter, a field goal here would have given the Wildcats a 23-21 lead over the Cougars. Arizona would have likely need to just get one more stop and defensive and could have played the game out for a top-15 road win.
The turnover on downs also gave way to BYU’s insurance touchdown, effectively ending the game. Bear Bachmeier needed just four plays and a little over two minutes to go 82 yards and find Kyler Kasper for his second touchdown of the day, giving BYU a 28-17 lead.
Brent Brennan can’t go back and change his decisions, but those are two where he certainly raised some eyebrows on Saturday.
5) Will Noah Fifita’s emotional response light a fire under the Wildcats?
Noah Fifita only makes himself available for postgame media following a loss. When he sat down on Saturday following another heartbreaker to BYU, the fifth year signal-caller was visibly emotional.
“There’s a lot of plays I wish I could have back, some decisions, some throws. So yeah, I thought we’re going to come out victorious, but God doesn’t make mistakes, and I’m gonna learn. I’m gonna take the blame for this one, especially offensively.”
Fifita’s emotional response was unlike any we have since he took over as the Wildcats’ quarterback in 2023. He is passionate and energetic, but always composed through both the wins and the losses. We’ll never know what Noah said in the locker room after the game, but maybe that emotion is exactly what this Arizona team needs from its fearless leader on the field.
As Arizona looks to get back on track next week against Northern Illinois, don’t be surprised if it comes out with a different level of energy and focus. Sorry Huskies, but y’all might be Noah Fifita’s metaphoric punching bag on Saturday. Noah’s not one to wear his heart on his sleeve, but the extra showing of emotion from QB1 could be the spark Arizona needs to not just get back into the win column, but start a win streak that extends deep in October and November.
“To be completely honest, I hope I don’t have to talk to media for the rest of the year, because that means we’re doing something right.”