Arizona Wildcats Break Losing Streak in Dominant Win Over Houston Cougars
The Arizona Wildcats finally got back into the win column on Friday night as they took down the Houston Cougars by a score of 27-3.
It had felt like years since the Wildcats had won a game, but in reality, it was just a stretch of five grueling conference games.
After a big win against the Utah Utes, it felt like they were ripe to make a run. Instead, the Brent Brennan era hit a quick road bump.
While they aren't in Big 12 contention, picking up some wins the rest of the way could be huge for the future of the program with them making a bowl game.
Noah Fifita's night wasn't as great as it had started out, with a bomb to Tetairoa McMillan to open up scoring, but it was a solid night.
He went 20 of 35 through the air for 224 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw an interception, but it was fairly inconsequential as it was late into the fourth quarter when the game had already been decided on a circus tipped pass.
The junior had a lot of hype around him entering the year, and even some dark horse Heisman trophy hopes, but he found himself throwing more interceptions and completing less passes than expected.
He's turned things around in the last few weeks, with it finally translating to a win on Friday.
McMillan had a nice night with six catches for 70 yards and his big touchdown. That would be a stellar game for most receivers, but was actually a little underwhelming for a player of his stature.
Quali Conley broke off a huge 50-yard touchdown run near the end of the third quarter that truly felt like the dagger. He finished the night with 107 yards on 11 carries to go along with that score.
It was a much better outing for Conley than last week when he finished with negative yardage.
Defensively, it is always going to feel like a successful night when the opponent is held to just three points.
The Cougars were able to pick up some yardage on explosive plays throughout the night, but they ran into some issues that kept them from cashing in.
They had two fumbles, an interception and were 0-for-4 on 4th downs. They were also just 2-13 on third downs.
Freshman defensive back Owen Goss led the team with nine tackles. He had 1.5 that were for a loss, while he also broke up a pass and created pressures when rushing the quarterback.
As a team, Arizona had five sacks.
The Wildcats will hope for this to translate into next week as they try to pick up two wins to end the season.
