Arizona Wildcats Lose Fourth Straight Game as Bowl Chances Begin to Fade
The Arizona Wildcats fall for the fourth straight game on Saturday 31-26 against the West Virginia Mountaineers.
Noah Fifita, who has struggled over the past few weeks with turning the ball over, kept it clean against WVU. Heading into Saturday, the Sophmore quarterback has thrown ten interceptions on the season, including six over his last three games. Against West Virginia, he did not throw an interception after going 21 for 32 for 294 yards with two touchdowns.
The Wildcats still lost the turnover battle, however. They gave up a fumble on their first drive of the game, marking the program's 16th turnover of the season.
One of the biggest gripes towards the offense lately was the lack of opportunities sent in the direction of star wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan. The Junior failed to get at least ten targets over the last two games, each in which the team lost. Against the Mountaineers, he got there as the future first-round pick in next year’s NFL Draft and had 10 receptions for 202 yards. He surpassed 100 yards receiving for the first time since the game against Texas Tech in week 5. He reached the milestone for the fourth time this season.
Defensively, Coordinator Duane Akina was forced to make last-minute changes to his scheme after West Virginia announced on Saturday that starting quarterback. Sophomore Nicco Marchiol started the game for only the second time in his collegiate career after Garrett Greene was unavailable due to an upper-body injury.
After comments from the DC this past week comparing the season to the Apollo 13 mission as they look to salvage it, the Wildcats allowed the Mountaineers to score twice on fourth-down conversions on the evening.
The first half wasn’t the best for the Wildcats, who entered the locker room trailing 17-7. The two teams swapped trick plays to each pick up their first touchdowns of the game. West Virginia faked a short field goal for a rushing score, and the Wildcats pulled out a double-reverse for 21 yards between Fifita and McMillian that set up a scoring drive.
They started the second half off just as flat as they punted on the first two drives of the third quarter. They finally got a much-needed score with a 23-yard pass to Sam Olson. Tyler Loop missed the extra point after a bad snap, and the lead was reduced to 24-13 after the drive. It was the first extra-point attempt in 118 tries that Loop missed in his collegiate career.
However, the Arizona defense couldn’t stop the Mountaineers from making a quick response. The injury-riddled unit gave up a 54-yard touchdown pass from Nicco Marchiol to Traylon Ray.
The Wildcats offense attempted to keep it close after Fifita found McMillan in the endzone for the first time since the first week of the season. However, they once again were only able to score six points, as the two-point conversion failed. The Arizona quarterback would later find the endzone himself with a rushing score, but it was not enough to bring the team back.
They fell while the team hosted Big 12 Commissioner Bret Yormark for the game against West Virginia.
The Wildcats move to 3-5 (1-4 in Big 12 play) on the season. The team will need to go 3-1 over their final four games to reach a bowl game for the second season in a row. They will look to continue and salvage their season as they head to Orlando, Florida, to take on the UCF Knights next Saturday at FBC Mortgage Stadium.
