Arizona Wildcats Get Rolled by Kansas State in Eye-Opening Loss
Entering Friday's contest, Arizona had plenty of reason for optimism.
Despite coming off an win against Northern Arizona that was too close for comfort, they knew their offense had the capability of putting up points based on their body of work, and their defense looked to have figured some things out.
With Kansas State coming out of a contest against Tulane they very easily could have lost, there was some thought Arizona would be able to leave this road matchup with an upset under their belt based on their explosive offense taking advantage of a supposedly leaky defense.
Instead, the Wildcats are leaving town having been absolutely embarrassed.
Arizona lost, 31-7, in a contest that didn't feel that close.
Their defense was dominated, giving up 391 total yards and 235 on the ground that was a major cause for concern coming into this game.
But the real story is just how bad Arizona's offense was.
It looked like the Wildcats might have figured some things out on the offensive side of the ball when they capped off their 14-play, 73-yard opening drive that took 7:28 with a touchdown rush from Quali Conley.
That scripted possession saw quarterback Noah Fifita find their star playmaker Tetairoa McMillan and other weapons throughout the drive, showing an ability to balance the pass with the run.
Unfortunately, those were the only points Arizona scored the rest of the game.
Don't fall for the final box score. This offense was really bad, failing to sustain drives because of their nine penalties and 6-for-18 effort on third and fourth down.
Fifita threw a terrible interception on their third possession of the game when the Wildcats were trailing 14-7 after they gave up a punt return following going three-and-out the series prior. With the ball on Kansas State's 30-yard line, the redshirt sophomore floated one in the middle of the field that was picked off.
That was the last time they were threatening for the rest of the contest.
In their next six possessions, they punted three times in a row before turning the ball over on downs three times in a row, signaling the struggles they had on offense against Northern Arizona might have been closer to the reality than the firework show against New Mexico.
Fifita finished the game 26-of-42 for 268 yards, no touchdowns, and an interception, but the majority of that output was empty yardage as they couldn't get anything going when it really mattered.
Tetairoa McMillan caught 11 balls for 138 yards and Montana Lemonious-Craig was much more involved with six catches for 75 yards, but those were really the only two featured in the passing game.
Outside of Arizona's opening drive, Conley was completely shut down, finishing with 48 rushing yards on 14 attempts after he totaled 27 on the opening drive.
There are a lot of questions to answer for this team as they head into their bye week.
BRAD WAKAI