Arizona Wildcats Can't Overcome Turnovers, Fall to Texas Tech in Big 12 Showdown
The Arizona Wildcats fell to the Texas Tech Red Raiders 28-22 on Saturday night.
Arizona played in its first home conference game as a member of the Big 12. After defeating the tenth-ranked Utah Utes last week, it struggled to find the endzone this week and couldn’t keep the momentum moving, falling to 3-2 on the season.
Texas Tech entered the game at Arizona Stadium 2-0 in the conference after winning one-possession games the last two weeks against Arizona State and Cincinnati. On Saturday, the 11 p.m. EST kickoff was the latest kickoff they participated in in the program's history.
The teams exchanged punts for the first four drives of the contest until Texas Tech finally put the first points up on the scoreboard. After Raiders quarterback Behren Morton completed a pass to Micah Hudson for 38 yards to get the ball inside the five-yard line, Texas Tech capped off the first scoring drive of the game with a three-yard run by Tahj Brooks.
Arizona was forced to settle for a Field Goal after quarterback Noah Fifita just missed receiver Tetairoa McMillian on a trick play that was slightly overthrown to him in the endzone.
The Wildcats were moving on a drive just before the first half, but a Fifita pass was tipped at the line and was intercepted by defensive lineman Quincy Ledet Jr. They would pay for the mistake as Tahj Brooks would go ten yards for his second rushing touchdown of the night. They converted a two-point conversion to move the lead to 15-3.
Fifira threw his second interception of the game right before the half as the Wildcats were driving down the field once again. Texas Tech once again took advantage of the pick and created points off the turnover with a 30-yard field goal, sending the Wildcats to the locker room trailing 18-3.
It is the first time in the Wildcats quarterback's 20 career games that he has thrown at least two interceptions in a contest.
The Wildcats kicked another field goal to begin the third quarter and immediately got a much-needed break on the next defensive drive. Tahj Brooks fumbled, and the Wildcats recovered it on the 32-yard line. However, they struggled to find the endzone yet again and settled for another field goal.
Brooks fumbled for the second consecutive drive, which Arizona once again recovered. They capitalized once again with a field goal to take the lead for the first time in the game, 19-18.
It was a big day for Quali Conley on the ground, although it didn’t always show on the scoreboard. He finally gave Arizona its first touchdown of the night when he went off tackle for a three-yard rush. The score moved the lead to within two.
The Texas Tech offense remained scoreless in the second half until just over two minutes to go in the game, when they retook the lead on a field goal. Trailing by two, the Wildcats used all three timeouts plus the two-minute timeout to mount a comeback.
However, on the first play of the drive, McMillian fumbled after catching a first down and more in space. Texas Tech would score a few plays later to move the lead to a two-score game.
Arizona hit another field goal to bring the score back to six. Kicker Tyler Loop set a program record as the only kicker to make five field goals in a game. They could not recover the onside kick as they ran out of opportunities to come back.
Noah Fifita finished the day with 301 yards through the air, completing 28 of his 49 passes. Most of his yards went to McMillian, who had eight receptions for 161 yards. It was an excellent night on the stat sheet, but the turnovers were the difference-maker.
In injury news, Senior Gunner Maldonado, the leader of the Wildcats secondary, was injured in the first quarter. He slowly made his way to the locker room after the injury and returned to the sidelines in the second half in street clothes.
The Wildcats will be back in action next Saturday when they travel to Provo to take on the BYU Cougars. The game is currently scheduled to kick off at 1 p.m. ET and air nationally once again on FOX.
