Arizona’s home winning streak stayed alive, Arizona’s Big 12 title hopes stayed alive, and it took some serious magic for Arizona to walk away with a 29-28 win over TCU. If Brent Brennan ever needs to show or explain to someone what “Redline” means, he will point to what happened in this game.
History shows that the Wildcats (7-2, 4-2 Big 12) should not have won this game, but they are writing their own history this season. Here are the grades for the offense, defense, special teams, and coaching from the win over the Horned Frogs:
To no one’s surprise, the drive started with a continuation of the Noah Fifita to Isaiah Mizell connection for an early gain of nine. After a 14 yard catch and run for Quincy Craigthe drive ended with Mizell hauling in a 20 yard touchdown to get the scoring started.
The second drive was highlighted by a 27 yard catch by Giovanni Richardson but the drive stalled out around the 30 yard line for a field goal. The third drive was a very quick three and out, with the ensuing drive to have the same result.
It looked like Arizona was about to add onto its lead but Fifita threw a 93 yard pick-six to give TCU its first lead of the night. The offense became nearly non-existent as Fifita was sacked for the second time to kill the next drive.
After a blocked TCU field goal, Arizona drove down the field to retake the lead. A 36 yard catch by Richardson set up a nine yard touchdown run by Fifita. Richardson and Fifita connected once again on the next drive for 46 yards but the drive ended in a field goal attempt.
The offense would only get a couple more opportunities to try and win the game and on the first chance it was forced into a three and out. Then that’s where some serious magic took over.
With 6:35 left in the game, the offense drove down the field with a 23 yard catch and run from Mizell, a 16 yard run on fourth down by Fifita, and a 16 yard catch and run by Mizell.
On third and goal from the TCU 15 yard line, Fifita connected with Craig on a wheel route in the corner of the end zone to give Arizona a chance to tie the game. However, the two-point conversion was unsuccessful leaving the Wildcats down by two.
Luckily, a miraculous onside kick gave the offense an opportunity to either score a touchdown or set up a field goal to take the lead. Arizona went for the latter, and that ended up being the game-winning field goal.
Arizona finished with 441 total yards with 313 through the air and 128 on the ground. Fifita finished going 24-37 for 313 yards and two touchdowns along with a rushing touchdown.
Reescano finished as the leader on the ground with 52 yards on ten carries. Richardson led the way for the receivers with 171 yards on 11 catches. The offense went 5-7 in the red zone but went 5-14 on third down.
Arizona’s offense lost its flow and rhythm for a majority of the game and relied on the Fifita-Richardson/Mizell connection to get most of the yardage. The run game still needs to find its footing to help relieve some pressure off of Fifita and the pass game.
There was little to no production from the first drive for TCU, as a Cooper Blomstrom sack killed the drive and forced a three and out. The second drive also resulted in a punt.
In a bend don’t break moment, the Wildcats’ defense forced TCU into a field goal attempt that pushed wide right. The issues with mobile quarterbacks showed up once again for Arizona as Jaden Craig was able to run it in from seven yards out to put the first points on the board for the Horned Frogs.
Before the half, the defense did not allow TCU to add onto its lead and forced a punt. Coming out of the half, another bend don’t break moment swung the game flow back to the Wildcats with a blocked field goal.
After the offense regained the lead, the defense allowed the Horned Frogs to move down the field with ease and regain the lead. The next drive was more successful for the defense as Tre Smith got his first sack of the season to force a punt.
The next drive was a complete turnaround as TCU converted a third and 15 and a third and 11 to push its lead to eight.
Following that drive, a whole lot of magic from the offense and special teams, the Wildcats’ defense got the last laugh. Tyrese Boss picked off Craig to seal the game and send the Arizona faithful home with a win.
The Wildcats gave up 281 total yards on the night with 232 through the air and 49 on the ground. They had six tackles for loss, and Taye Brown led the way with ten tackles. Smith, Blomstrom, and Prince Williams had the three sacks on the night for Arizona.
It did not look pretty, at a lot of different points in the night, but the defense never let TCU take full control of the game. Penalties, particularly the pass interferences, need to be cleaned up and the secondary needs to get healthy for Arizona to compete with Utah next Saturday.
On his first attempt of the night, Michael Salgado-Medina connected from 43 yards out to give Arizona a double digit lead. His second attempt to start the fourth quarter was successful from 23 yards away.
Smith blocked a TCU field goal attempt on the first drive of the second half, just a preview of the magic special teams would provide for the night.
Ian French had the perfect pooch kick that TCU fumbled and Zuri Watson jumped on the ball to give Arizona a chance to go win the game. Salgado-Medina’s third and final attempt of the night from 37 yards proved to be the game-winner.
It’s been a long time that special teams was the variable, x-factor, or difference for an Arizona win but it came through when Arizona absolutely needed it to.
There is a lot to be said from this game. At many points, Arizona looked like a very good team and at other times it did not.
The offense looked like it was pulling teeth to try and move the ball for a majority of the game. The run game still lacks explosiveness but showed little signs of life tonight. There was also a lack of urgency at the end of the game.
Arizona got the ball back with over six minutes left in the game but could not find the end zone until after the two-minute timeout. There is no guarantee that a successful two-point conversion was in the cards so why not give yourself multiple chances to try and score.
The defense is dealing with a large number of injuries, but allowing third down conversions on third and 15 and third and 11 is not something that can be ignored. Tackling was also a big issue that cannot leak into the Utah game. The Utes will make Arizona pay if it tackles the way it did against TCU.
However, with all this being said, Brennan and his staff showed their true colors. They never let their players lose hope and believed in players like Salgado-Medina, who has struggled over the last two seasons, to still go out and make game winning plays.
Even with the long pick-six, the late score by the Horned Frogs, the unsuccessful two-point conversion, Arizona stuck with it and kept believing that it could win the game. That goes all the way back to Brennan preaching that the Wildcats were a good enough team to beat anyone.
They now have to carry that belief into next week with a very tough and talented Utah team coming to Tucson.
Source: www.azdesertswarm.com
